Elizabethton – A Retirement Community…or Is It?

During my time in Elizabethton I’ve often heard many people say, “There are not enough young people here” or “Elizabethton is just a retirement community.” As a planner, my ears perked up when I hear this!

I wanted to explore this topic more to find out if Elizabethton does have a higher concentration of older citizens. I started on the Census Bureau’s website to start by gathering information on age in Elizabethton and Carter County.

I used a formula called a Location Quotient to analyze the information. This analysis is often used in Economic Development to determine if there is a concentration of businesses in a city, but can be used to determine concentrations in other areas.

The analysis returned the concentrated age groups in Elizabethton and Carter County with very little surprise. In Elizabethton, there is a higher concentration of citizens 70 years and older than in the rest of the southeastern United States. An oddity occurred in Carter County’s analysis in that the higher concentration of citizens occurred from ages 55 to 84 rather than continuing after 84. This would suggest that as citizens aged in the county, they were likely to move to the city. This could be because of the concentration of nursing home facilities or older people may desire to downsize and be closer to amenities such as doctors, grocery stores, and shopping areas.

Interestingly, another group also appeared concentrated in Elizabethton. This is the 18 to 24 year old age group – college age young adults. This speaks to the impact that our local colleges and higher education institutions have on Elizabethton. Northeast State at Elizabethton, Milligan College, Tennessee Colleges of Applied Technology, and Emmanuel School of Religion all are within the Elizabethton city limits and the data suggests that these students also choose to live within the city limits. There is also a likelihood that the city sees some “spillover” residents of East Tennessee State University.

The last statistic that I discovered during this analysis is that out of 5 randomly selected citizens in Elizabethton, 1 will be under 18 years old, 1 will be over 65 years old, and the other 3 will be between 18 and 65. While Elizabethton may have a higher concentration of older folks, I think it is safe to say Elizabethton is far from being a retirement community.

Now that we know who lives in Elizabethton, what can we do to encourage new age groups to move here while continuing to engage our existing residence? Let’s talk about it!