Clay County, West Virginia

2024 results by precinct

11 precincts · 3,240 votes cast

Trump · R+62

Harris +50

Trump +50

Real precinct boundaries. Hover for vote totals.

38 presidential elections

Year	Won	Margin	Democratic	Republican	Total
2024	R	−62.3%	580	2,597	3,240
2020	R	−60.6%	641	2,679	3,365
2016	R	−57.8%	568	2,300	2,995
2012	R	−34.5%	931	1,971	3,018
2008	R	−10.2%	1,421	1,755	3,265
2004	R	−8.9%	1,835	2,198	4,072
2000	R	−7.5%	1,617	1,887	3,582
1996	D	+26.2%	2,074	1,137	3,577
1992	D	+18.4%	1,928	1,255	3,657
1988	D	+19.1%	2,263	1,536	3,811
1984	D	+11.9%	2,117	1,667	3,796
1980	D	+19.5%	2,185	1,452	3,762
1976	D	+35.0%	2,662	1,282	3,944
1972	R	−8.5%	1,830	2,168	3,998
1968	D	+11.8%	1,916	1,474	3,739
1964	D	+39.9%	3,182	1,366	4,548
1960	D	+8.6%	2,859	2,406	5,265
1956	R	−3.5%	2,628	2,820	5,448
1952	D	+5.2%	2,814	2,534	5,348
1948	D	+11.4%	2,978	2,366	5,352
1944	D	+6.2%	2,395	2,114	4,509
1940	D	+9.5%	3,485	2,881	6,366
1936	D	+14.8%	3,387	2,513	5,905
1932	D	+10.8%	3,038	2,443	5,499
1928	R	−13.8%	1,929	2,551	4,494
1924	D	+4.9%	2,037	1,843	3,920
1920	R	−12.7%	1,533	1,981	3,514
1916	D	+1.2%	1,047	1,021	2,094
1912	D	+27.6%	932	352	2,105
1908	R	−22.1%	825	1,320	2,235
1904	D	+1.5%	1,058	1,025	2,142
1900	D	+11.3%	902	718	1,631
1896	R	−4.3%	606	661	1,270
1892	D	+0.9%	503	494	1,013
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%

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.

Age distribution by sex

Median age: 45.4 in this county, 39.1 nationally

Male

Age

Female

0.6%

85+

2.0%

3.5%

75–84

2.4%

7.2%

65–74

6.7%

7.5%

55–64

7.7%

6.3%

45–54

6.5%

5.5%

35–44

5.9%

4.1%

25–34

3.1%

4.8%

18–24

4.4%

8.6%

5–17

8.3%

2.3%

2.5%

Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.

Median household income

2024 inflation-adjusted dollars

$42,318

Clay County ranks in the bottom 10% of US counties.

Clay County$42,318

West Virginia$59,608

United States$80,734

Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.

Poverty rate

All persons below federal poverty line

26.4%

Children face moderate poverty.

Children under 1818.0%

Working age (18–64)100.0%

Seniors (65+)18.0%

Source · American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2024 release.

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

Baptist

18.5%

Other Christian

5.6%

Methodist

1.1%

Catholic & Orthodox

1.0%

Pentecostal & Holiness

0.8%

Source · 2020 US Religion Census. Remaining 73.0% of residents not counted as adherents by any reporting body.

Clay County's R+62.2 margin in 2024 reflects a broader Appalachian realignment that has made rural, coal-adjacent communities among the most reliably Republican in the nation over the past decade.

The Democratic margin in Clay County peaked at forty points in 1964. By 2000 the county had flipped, voting Republican for the first time in many years. The 2024 margin was sixty-two points, the most Republican-leaning result in the county's modern history.

The economic context is the key. Clay County's median household income of $42,318 sits well below state and national norms, and 26% of residents live below the federal poverty line. The shift here is part of a broader realignment of working-class places across the country. The county's voting pattern over the last decade is most similar to that of Nicholas County and Summers County.

Most similar counties

Clay County was solidly one party for decades. In the last twenty years, it flipped.