Silver Lake is a Republican stronghold. About 16% of voters here vote Democratic and 84% Republican.
About 54% of adults in Silver Lake typically vote, below the U.S. average of about 62%. Among adults in Silver Lake, ~9% vote Democratic, ~45% Republican, and ~46% don't vote. The map below shows estimated turnout by block group.
How Silver Lake compares
Among cities within 25 miles, Silver Lake leans more Republican than 79 of 94 neighbors.
Silver Lake runs about 27 points more Republican than West Virginia as a whole.
Why Silver Lake 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 Silver Lake, not a ranked or complete list of what matters most.
Areas with a high white share and below-average college attainment vote Republican. In Silver Lake, about 97% of residents are non-Hispanic white, about 24 points above the U.S. average of 72%; about 17% of adults hold a bachelor's degree, about 11 points below the U.S. average of 28%. Rural areas vote Republican, and Silver Lake sits in the bottom quarter on density (about 5%, below 75% of cities). A high family-household share predicts Republican voting, and about 89% of households in Silver Lake are family households, in the top fraction of cities.
Paved land cover and Republican lean
Places with little paved surface tend to lean Republican; Silver Lake, WV sits in the bottom quarter nationally on this measure. Paved ground does not change how people vote; it mostly reflects how urban and built-up a place is.
Why turnout in Silver Lake looks the way it does
Renters vote less often than owners. About 33% of households in Silver Lake rent, about 8 points above the U.S. average of 25%. Crowded housing lines up with lower turnout, and about 5% of homes in Silver Lake have more than one occupant per room, above 89% of cities. Learn more about the findings and methodology on the political spectrum map.
Nearby Cities
- Eglon, WV R+69
- Shafer, WV R+62
- William, WV R+44
- Pierce, WV R+52
- Aurora, WV R+68
- Thomas, WV R+51
- Lead Mine, WV R+59
- Gortner, MD R+62
- Bayard, WV R+76
Cities with Similar Populations
- Kingston, NV R+73
- Brownville, KS R+83
- Arnold, MI R+36
- Luther, MT R+35
- Wheeless, OK R+86
- Milledgeville, OH R+71
- Roscoe, MT R+39
- Oakville, AL R+67
- Gordon, KY R+70
- Emerickville, PA R+65
Sources and methodology
Precinct-level voting records used to fit the model come from West Virginia Secretary of State, 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.