Downtown, Allentown, PA Political Map | Democrat & Republican Areas in Downtown

By the BestNeighborhood data science team. Last updated May 2026.

Downtown leans heavily Democratic by roughly 38 points: about 69% of voters vote Democratic and 31% Republican.

 

About 44% of adults in Downtown typically vote, below the U.S. average of about 62%. Among adults in Downtown, ~31% vote Democratic, ~14% Republican, and ~55% don't vote. The map below shows estimated turnout by block group.

How Downtown compares

Among neighborhoods within 5 miles, Downtown is the most Democratic-leaning.

Downtown runs about 40 points more Democratic than Pennsylvania as a whole. Pennsylvania is roughly evenly split, and Downtown sits clearly on the Democratic side.

Why Downtown leans the way it does

This analysis examined 14,881 data points per neighborhood to find what predicts political lean and turnout. The items below are a few correlations that stood out for Downtown, not a ranked or complete list of what matters most.

Dense areas vote Democratic. More than 99% of residents in Downtown live in densely developed areas, about 64 points above the U.S. average of 36%. A high never-married share predicts Democratic voting, and about 61% of adults in Downtown have never been married, above 94% of neighborhoods. Downtown runs against the grain of Pennsylvania, a Democratic-leaning outlier in a roughly evenly split state.

Walkability and Democratic lean

Places with a highly walkable street grid tend to lean Democratic; Downtown, Allentown, PA sits in the top tenth nationally on this measure. A walkable street grid does not change how people vote; it mostly reflects how urban a place is.

Why turnout in Downtown looks the way it does

Areas with limited routine healthcare access turn out at lower rates. Downtown is in the bottom quarter nationally for routine-care measures such as insurance coverage, preventive screenings, and dental visits. The dental-visit rate here is about 48%, about 15 points below the Pennsylvania average of 64%. Renters vote less often than owners, and about 86% of households in Downtown rent, compared to around 61% in nearby neighborhoods. High-crime urban areas turn out at lower rates, and Downtown sits in the top 15% on a violent-crime measure. Learn more about the findings and methodology on the political spectrum map.

Sources and methodology

Precinct-level voting records used to fit the model come from Pennsylvania Department of State, Bureau of Elections, distributed by the Voting and Election Science Team. Demographic inputs come from the U.S. Census Bureau (ACS 5-year estimates and the 2020 Decennial Census). Health and environmental inputs come from the CDC (PLACES and the Environmental Justice Index). Land cover comes from the USGS and EPA. Election-day and lead-up weather come from PRISM 4km daily grids and the NOAA Global Historical Climatology Network. Mail-voting and election-administration patterns come from the MIT Election Lab's Survey of the Performance of American Elections. Block-group crime detail comes from CrimeGrade. Internet data and modeling support provided by ISPreports.org.

Modeling and analysis by the BestNeighborhood data science team. Full methodology and findings: political spectrum map.

Methodology reviewed by the BestNeighborhood data team. Last updated May 2026.