Shady Side leans slightly Republican by roughly 6 points: about 47% of voters vote Democratic and 53% Republican.
About more than 99% of adults in Shady Side typically vote, above the U.S. average of about 62%. Among adults in Shady Side, ~50% vote Democratic, ~57% Republican, and ~-7% don't vote. The map below shows estimated turnout by block group.
How Shady Side compares
Among cities within 25 miles, Shady Side leans more Republican than 84 of 125 neighbors.
Shady Side runs about 34 points more Republican than Maryland as a whole. Maryland leans Democratic overall, while Shady Side is one of the few Republican-leaning pockets.
Why Shady Side leans the way it does
This analysis examined 14,881 data points per city to find what predicts political lean and turnout. The items below are a few correlations that stood out for Shady Side, not a ranked or complete list of what matters most.
Shady Side votes Republican even though it is densely developed (about 25%, well below the Maryland average of 43%). State and regional patterns outweigh the Democratic lean that density usually predicts here. Shady Side runs against the grain of Maryland, a Republican-leaning pocket in a Democratic-leaning state.
High-school completion, uninsured rate, and voter turnout
Places that combine high-school-completion-heavy adults and a low uninsured rate tend to turn out at a higher rate, as Shady Side, MD does.
Why turnout in Shady Side looks the way it does
Areas with strong routine healthcare access turn out at higher rates. Shady Side is in the top quarter nationally for routine-care measures such as insurance coverage, preventive screenings, and dental visits. The dental-visit rate here is about 71%, about 11 points above the U.S. average of 60%. High high-school completion lines up with higher turnout, and about 99% of adults in Shady Side have completed high school, above 98% of cities. Learn more about the findings and methodology on the political spectrum map.
Nearby Cities
- West River, MD R+14
- Galesville, MD R+8
- Deale, MD R+9
- Churchton, MD R+13
- Mayo, MD R+11
- Tracys Landing, MD R+15
- Highland Beach, MD D+29
- Harwood, MD R+11
- Edgewater, MD D+4
- Annapolis Neck, MD D+27
Cities with Similar Populations
- Oglesby, IL R+17
- Wanamassa, NJ D+3
- Honokaa, HI D+20
- Chaffee, MO R+60
- Utica, OH R+53
- Newton, AL R+77
- Hometown, IL R+3
- Lopezville, TX Even
- Scranton, SC R+41
- Bloomfield, IN R+53
All Local Stats
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Sources and methodology
Precinct-level voting records used to fit the model come from Maryland State Board 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.