Forrest County, Mississippi: Old Confederacy county. In 2024, voted R+18%. Democratic peak: D+88 in 1936.
Key facts
- 2024 presidential margin
- R+18MIT Election Lab
- Political archetype
- Old ConfederacyAkashic typology
- Population
- 78,2722024 5-year
- Median household income
- $53,6402024 5-year
- White (non-Hispanic)
- 56.6%2024 5-year
- Black
- 35.5%2024 5-year
- Hispanic / Latino
- 4.4%2024 5-year
- Peak Democratic margin
- D+88 in 1936MIT Election Lab
- Peak Republican margin
- R+78 in 1964MIT Election Lab
- Most similar
- Prince George County, VA · similarity 0.99
2024 results by precinct
2024 precinct map of Forrest CountyPrecinct-level 2024 presidential results for Forrest County, with each precinct boundary colored by Democratic-vs-Republican margin.
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Margin—
Turnout—
Harris +50Trump +50
Real precinct boundaries. Hover for vote totals.
38 presidential elections
| Year | Won | Margin | Democratic | Republican | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R | 11,475 | 16,579 | 28,466 | ||
| R | 13,755 | 17,290 | 31,654 | ||
| R | 11,716 | 15,461 | 28,064 | ||
| R | 13,272 | 16,574 | 30,236 | ||
| R | 11,622 | 15,296 | 27,184 | ||
| R | 10,220 | 16,318 | 26,745 | ||
| R | 8,500 | 13,281 | 22,251 | ||
| R | 7,965 | 11,278 | 20,442 | ||
| R | 8,333 | 12,432 | 22,753 | ||
| R | 6,953 | 14,249 | 21,318 | ||
| R | 6,786 | 15,719 | 22,576 | ||
| R | 8,274 | 12,656 | 21,327 | ||
| R | 7,914 | 10,770 | 19,120 | ||
| R | 2,933 | 14,418 | 17,898 | ||
| O | 2,957 | 3,294 | 16,226 | ||
| R | 1,128 | 9,291 | 10,419 | ||
| R | 2,068 | 3,412 | 8,632 | ||
| R | 1,928 | 2,256 | 6,013 | ||
| R | 2,936 | 4,480 | 7,416 | ||
| O | 406 | 167 | 5,880 | ||
| D | 3,649 | 436 | 4,085 | ||
| D | 3,075 | 228 | 3,313 | ||
| D | 3,596 | 234 | 3,841 | ||
| D | 2,068 | 182 | 2,280 | ||
| D | 1,793 | 1,447 | 3,240 | ||
| D | 1,826 | 156 | 2,134 | ||
| D | 1,146 | 140 | 1,352 | ||
| D | 1,146 | 54 | 1,262 | ||
| D | 886 | 16 | 1,073 | ||
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Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
12.2%
English
10.6%
Irish
8.5%
German
7.3%
French
2.7%
Scottish
2.3%
Italian
1.6%
African American
28.4%
Multiple ancestry combinations reported; no single grouping above 1%.
American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander combined.
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release. Hispanic/Latino is an ethnicity that overlaps the race categories, so these shares can total more than 100%. Ancestry is a self-reported, multiple-response item; ancestry percentages do not sum to the parent race percentage.
Age distribution by sex
Median age: 32.0 in this county, 39.1 nationally
Male
Age
Female
85+
75–84
65–74
55–64
45–54
35–44
25–34
18–24
5–17
<5
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Median household income
2024 inflation-adjusted dollars
$53,640
Forrest County ranks in the bottom 25% of US counties.
Forrest County$53,640
Mississippi$56,447
United States$80,734
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Poverty rate
All persons below federal poverty line
21.0%
Children face higher poverty than working-age adults.
Children under 1827.5%
Working age (18–64)19.4%
Seniors (65+)13.3%
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
96.1%
speak English only
Spanish2.3%
Asian & Pacific Islander0.7%
Other Indo-European0.5%
Other languages0.3%
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 28.7% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.
Forrest County's Republican margins have narrowed noticeably compared to surrounding rural counties, a pattern driven by Hattiesburg's university presence and a more diverse urban core along the Highway 49 corridor.
The shift began with civil rights. The realignment unfolded over the late twentieth century. The Republican margin reached its widest at seventy-eight points in 1964. The 2024 margin was eighteen points.
The political shift has tracked, in Forrest County, the political shift of the South more broadly. A 57% non-Hispanic-white share, a median household income of $53,640, and a 21% poverty rate describe the demographic context. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Prince George County and Dorchester County.
Most similar counties
Cite this page
All citations released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Akashic Intelligence.
Forrest County, Mississippi — The Long Memory. Akashic Intelligence — The Long Memory. https://akashic.app/county/28035/. Accessed May 20, 2026. License: CC BY 4.0.
License: CC BY 4.0
More old confederacy counties
Frequently asked questions
How did Forrest County, Mississippi vote in 2024?
In 2024, Forrest County, Mississippi voted Republican by 17.9 points (R+18), carried by the Republican candidate. Out of 28,466 votes cast, 11,475 went Democratic and 16,579 went Republican.
What is Forrest County, Mississippi's political archetype?
Akashic classifies Forrest County, Mississippi as a "Old Confederacy" county based on its long-arc presidential voting pattern. Across 38 elections in the dataset, the county has voted Democratic 9 times, Republican 18 times, and other 2 times.
When did Forrest County, Mississippi last vote Democratic?
The most recent presidential election in which Forrest County, Mississippi voted Democratic was 1944.
How many people live in Forrest County, Mississippi?
Forrest County, Mississippi has a population of 78,272 according to the 2024 American Community Survey 5-year estimates from the US Census Bureau.
What is the median household income in Forrest County, Mississippi?
Median household income in Forrest County, Mississippi is $53,640 — below the national median of $80,734. The Mississippi state median is $56,447.
What is the political history of Forrest County, Mississippi?
Akashic tracks 38 presidential elections in Forrest County, Mississippi from 1876 to 2024. Of those, 9 went Democratic and 18 went Republican. The county's archetype — "Old Confederacy" — captures the overall trajectory of that voting record.