Breathitt County's 13.8 percent loss in 2010 Census highest drop in state
By Jeff Noble
Times-Voice, Jackson, Ky., March 17,2011
The 2010 Census figures are out, and they weren't kind to Breathitt County.
The county's population was listed at 13,878 – a 13.8 percent drop from the 2000
figure of 16,100 – and rated by the U. S. Census Bureau as the highest percentage of
population loss in Kentucky.
They weren't too flattering for the city of Jackson, either. The 2010 figures showed
Jackson's population at 2,231 – a loss of 10.4 percent from 2000, when the city's
population was at 2,490.
Most Eastern Kentucky counties didn't fare too well in the tally, with all but two of
Breathitt's neighboring counties posting losses in population over the past decade.
Only Wolfe and Magoffin Counties showed some population gain – with some in
Campton attributing that to residents living in that city or in Wolfe County and
commuting to jobs in Winchester, Lexington and the Toyota plant in Georgetown.
Some at the Kentucky State Data Center at the University of Louisville attribute the
population losses in mountain counties to an aging population, where in some
counties deaths were greater than births or people settling in. Others note the
problems with deaths from drug addiction as another reason for the fewer people in
the eastern part of the state.
But while Eastern Kentucky – and far Western Kentucky continue to fall behind in the
people count, the so-called “Golden Triangle” counties from Lexington to Louisville
to Northern Kentucky continue to climb in population.
Many say the lack of jobs here, and a better quality of life in the Bluegrass region are
the real reason for the population decline.
“The young people don't find the living conditions to their liking once they return
home from college,” said Fred Landrum, who's vice-president for Business Services at
Hazard Community and Technical College. “They go to college at Morehead,
Richmond, Lexington or elsewhere and find there are jobs in the Bluegrass after they
graduate. But when they come back home, this part of the state doesn't have the
amenities they were used to having while they were in school. And they leave.”
“We also don't have any high-tech jobs that pay well and can attract those with
special talents. It's all about people working, and the jobs' just aren't here,” Landrum
told the Times-Voice on Tuesday morning. “Another thing is, when they're in college
and working where there are jobs, there's things they can do after work, like go to a
movie, or shop, or eat at different restaurants. They're used to a quality of life that
they just don't have when they come home to the mountains."
Landrum is working with a tourism steering committee comprised of members of the
Jackson-Breathitt County Chamber of Commerce and the Breathitt County Action
Team, to make suggestions and work toward improving both job opportunities and a
better quality of life in the area. The group hopes the small steps they plan to make
will make big gains in the years ahead.
“We have a lot of people from Breathitt County who live elsewhere and want to
return home to retire. But again, they're used to the amenities they have where they
live that we don't have. Our medical care has improved greatly over the last 30 years,
but again there's the job situation. That's why we're stressing tourism as a start,
which might lead up to more tourism-related jobs, like restaurants, motels,
tourguides, and catering.”
And here's some numbers to crunch. Of Breathitt County's 13,878 persons counted
in this year's census, 10,658 are 18 years of age or older. Ninety-nine-point-five
percent are white, while 0.6% are Hispanic or Latino. A total of 0.5 percent are Asian,
0.3 percent African-American and 0.1 percent American Indian. The census takers
also found there were 6,231 housing units in the county, with 5,494 of them (88.2
percent) occupied, while 737 housing units in the county (11.8 percent) were vacant.
In Jackson the census takers found that of the 2,231 residents living in the city, 1,758
were 18 years of age or older. Ninety-seven-point-four percent were white, while 1.3
percent were Hispanic or Latino. A total of 0.9 percent were Asian, 0.5 percent were
American Indian, and 0.2 percent were African American.
As for places to live, there were 1,084 housing units in the city, with 966 of them
(89.1%) occupied, while 118 (10.9 percent) were vacant.
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