akashic
1876–2024
Silver Bow County, Montana
Silver Bow County·Montana

Silver Bow County has voted Democratic for as long as anyone can remember.

Butte's union mining heritage keeps Silver Bow a Democratic outlier in Montana

18762024·38 elections
Silver Bow County, Montana · General Services Administration · Wikimedia Commons
Latest
D+7
in 2024
Archetype
Democratic loyalist
since the recent cycles
Population
35,785
2024 ACS
Most similar
Deer Lodge County
MT · similarity 0.98
31 precincts · 18,226 votes cast
Harris · D+7
Margin
Turnout
Harris +50
Trump +50
Real precinct boundaries. Hover for vote totals.
YearWonMarginDemocraticRepublicanTotal
2024D
+7.0%
9,3868,11018,226
2020D
+14.2%
10,3927,74518,658
2016D
+13.6%
8,6196,37616,452
2012D
+32.4%
10,8575,43016,756
2008D
+40.4%
11,6764,81816,965
2004D
+18.2%
9,3076,38116,084
2000D
+16.0%
8,9676,29916,703
1996D
+41.2%
11,1993,90917,677
1992D
+35.6%
9,9603,49118,146
1988D
+38.2%
11,4225,04316,687
1984D
+24.8%
11,0956,63718,010
1980D
+12.5%
9,7217,30119,377
1976D
+20.3%
11,3777,50619,110
1972D
+18.3%
11,7047,96720,404
1968D
+36.4%
12,6265,48819,617
1964D
+51.2%
15,7514,87321,239
1960D
+30.5%
13,7547,29021,190
1956R
−0.6%
11,47511,61923,094
1952D
+12.4%
13,11410,19623,458
1948D
+25.4%
12,7157,30521,335
1944D
+26.7%
13,2287,61021,040
1940D
+37.1%
17,4677,93225,734
1936D
+58.2%
17,6974,52822,623
1932D
+31.3%
13,6266,79221,834
1928D
+8.4%
11,2289,45621,103
1924R
−6.0%
5,3936,52018,814
1920R
−20.2%
6,39410,07418,198
1916D
+29.4%
13,0846,75721,547
1912D
+19.4%
4,5422,23211,896
1908D
+12.0%
6,2554,61813,656
1904D
+3.8%
5,6865,14914,274
1900D
+50.4%
12,1013,87316,310
1896D
+77.2%
9,9921,27511,296
1892R
−7.2%
2,6483,2518,426
1888
No data
1884
No data
1880
No data
1876
No data
Demographics
Race, ethnicity, and ancestry
Click any group to see the ancestries typically reported within it.
American
100.0%
Irish
0.7%
Sample size too small to break out by ancestry reliably.
Multiple ancestry combinations reported; no single grouping above 1%.
Sample size too small to break out by ancestry reliably.
American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander combined.
Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release. Ancestry is a self-reported, multiple-response item; ancestry percentages do not sum to the parent race percentage.
Language at home
Population aged 5 and older
0.0%
speak English only
Source · ACS 5-year estimates, 2024.
Religious adherents
Adherents per capita by tradition
Catholic & Orthodox
32.3%
Other Christian
4.3%
Mainline Protestant
2.6%
Pentecostal & Holiness
2.2%
Baptist
1.7%
Methodist
0.5%
Non-Christian
0.3%
Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 56.1% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.

One of Montana's few reliably Democratic counties, Silver Bow anchors its leftward lean in Butte's century-old labor movement and a working-class Irish Catholic demographic identity that has proven durable even as rural Montana has trended sharply Republican.

The Democratic margin in Silver Bow County reached its widest at seventy-seven points in 1896. The margin in 2024 was seven points — still decisive.

Silver Bow County's loyalty is rooted in its place. Median household income of $61,754, a 91% non-Hispanic-white share, and a population of 35,785 together describe a community whose political habits are deeply settled. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Deer Lodge County and Costilla County.