Before anyone jumps ALL up on my back, two things:
1) I'm not doubting any increased trends since 2018 or whatever, but not every state had a Senate election, and I am not about to mess around with House district stuff. This is just for fun and to make a cool map, lol.
2) I got the richest and poorest counties from the following articles...
Richest:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/01/24/richest-counties-us-median-household-income/38870227/Poorest:
https://247wallst.com/special-report/2020/01/02/the-poorest-county-in-every-state-4/... on a few that I thought looked odd, I looked up other sources and changed them to be "accurate." I didn't have time to do that for all fifty states, so if you have a correction to make, let me know! I will gladly change it and update the map. The list of counties I used is below the maps.
How the Richest County in Each State Voted in 2016How the Poorest County in Each State Voted in 2016Counties UsedAlabamaRichest: Shelby, Poorest: Dallas
AlaskaRichest: Denali, Poorest: Northwest Arctic
ArizonaRichest: Maricopa, Poorest: Apache
ArkansasRichest: Benton, Poorest: Lafayette
CaliforniaRichest: Santa Clara, Poorest: Lake
ColoradoRichest: Douglas, Poorest: Otero
ConnecticutRichest: Fairfield, Poorest: Windham
DelawareRichest: New Castle, Poorest: Kent
FloridaRichest: St. Johns, Poorest: DeSoto
GeorgiaRichest: Forsyth, Poorest: Telfair
HawaiiRichest: Honolulu, Poorest: Hawaii
IdahoRichest: Ada, Poorest: Madison
IllinoisRichest: Kendall, Poorest: Pulaski
IndianaRichest: Hamilton, Poorest: Blackford
IowaRichest: Dallas, Poorest: Appanoose
KansasRichest: Johnson, Poorest: Elk
KentuckyRichest: Oldham, Poorest: Harlan
LouisianaRichest: Ascension, Poorest: Natchitoches
MaineRichest: Cumberland, Poorest: Piscataquis
MarylandRichest: Howard, Poorest: Somerset
MassachusettsRichest: Norfolk, Poorest: Hampden
MichiganRichest: Livingston, Poorest: Lake
MinnesotaRichest: Scott, Poorest: Mahnomen
MississippiRichest: Madison, Poorest: Holmes
MissouriRichest: St. Charles, Poorest: Shannon
MontanaRichest: Richland, Poorest: Glacier
NebraskaRichest: Sarpy, Poorest: Sheridan
NevadaRichest: Elko, Poorest: Nye
New HampshireRichest: Rockingham, Poorest: Coos
New JerseyRichest: Hunterdon, Poorest: Cumberland
New MexicoRichest: Los Alamos, Poorest: Quay
New YorkRichest: Nassau, Poorest: Bronx
North CarolinaRichest: Wake, Poorest: Bladen
North DakotaRichest: Williams, Poorest: Rolette
OhioRichest: Delaware, Poorest: Adams
OklahomaRichest: Canadian, Poorest: Choctaw
OregonRichest: Washington, Poorest: Malheur
PennsylvaniaRichest: Chester, Poorest: Forest
Rhode IslandRichest: Washington, Poorest: Providence
South CarolinaRichest: Beaufort, Poorest: Dillon
South DakotaRichest: Lincoln, Poorest: Mellette
TennesseeRichest: Williamson, Poorest: Hancock
TexasRichest: Rockwall, Poorest: Starr
UtahRichest: Summit, Poorest: San Juan
VermontRichest: Chittenden, Poorest: Essex
VirginiaRichest: Loudoun, Poorest: Dickenson
WashingtonRichest: King, Poorest: Ferry
West VirginiaRichest: Jefferson, Poorest: McDowell
WisconsinRichest: Waukesha, Poorest: Iron
WyomingRichest: Campbell, Poorest: Albany
Notes- As always, I could have easily made mistakes ... lol.
- With the exceptions of super-blue CA, HI, NY, MA and RI (where both voted Democratic), in every state where the richest county voted Democratic, the poorest county voted Republican. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was “big metro area resentment” epitomized?
- Despite Trump losing the state, it’s interesting that both the richest and poorest county in NH voted for him.
- It does seem that coastal “rich counties” do tend to be more Democratic than non-coastal “rich counties,” at least at a glance (with the exception of NJ’s richest county, Hunterdon, voting Republican). Even Chicagoland’s richest county, Kendall, voted for Trump.
- Utah surprised me.
- Again, at a glance, it would appear that INNER suburbs – specifically in very large and diverse metros – have been much more willing to move toward the Democrats, while OUTER suburbs – specifically in not-as-large metros but not exclusively – have remained much more Republican. This wouldn’t surprise me, as I would imagine that on average they are Whiter and newer (i.e., less urban in dynamic).