Older adults outnumber kids in Northeast Tennessee

Older adults are increasingly starting to outnumber children across the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That trend includes Northeast Tennessee.A recent press release from the agency noted that the U.S. population of adults 65 and older rose slightly from 2023 to 2024, while the population of people under 18 decreased marginally.While children still outnumber older people in the nation, the changes in population contribute to an increasingly aging demographic.It's a trend reflected locally. Adults 65 and older outnumber kids under 18 in Carter, Hawkins, Sullivan, Unicoi and Washington counties, according to data from the agency's 2023 American Community Survey 5-year estimates.Across the five counties, people 65 and older cumulatively make up about 21% of the population, or just under 90,000 people. The population of children clocks in a bit lower at around 80,000 people, or just under 19% of the total population.Older adults outnumber children in each individual county, too. In each one except Washington — where the numbers are more evenly matched — those aged 65 and up make up about 22-23% of the county population. This generally outnumbers people under 18 by about 2 to 5 percentage points in each county.Nearly half of the nation's counties had more older adults than children in 2024, according to the Census Bureau. It's a significant increase from 2020, where only a third of counties in the U.S. fell within that category. The agency notes that most of these counties had small populations outside of metro areas.In the same time period, the number of states that follow the trend has increased from just three to 11. This includes the nearby state of West Virginia."The gap is narrowing as baby boomers continue to age into their retirement years," said Lauren Bowers, chief of the Census Bureau's Population Estimates Branch, in the news release. "The number of states and counties where older adults outnumber children is on the rise, especially in sparsely populated areas."