population decline for Clinton County

The U.S. Census Bureau may still be counting the exact number of residents across the country following the just completed 2010 Census year. However, preliminary statistics from the Census Bureau revealed that, unlike the state and nation, Clinton County had a decrease in overall population over a nine-year span.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s website, the local population decreased by some 2.4 percent from the first of April 2000 through the end of June, 2009.

The figures show that as of July 1, 2009, Clinton County’s counted population was 9,403 residents. This compares to a total of 9,634 on April 1 of the year 2000. It also represents a rare time in between decades of reporting that the county population actually decreased instead of showing an increase in persons living here.

Clinton County did not follow Kentucky or the nation during the same time period, as the Commonwealth’s population grew by 6.7 percent from 2000 to 2009. The state population in mid-2009 was 4,314,113 residents, up almost 300,000 from the 4,042,288 that were counted in the 2000 Census.

Nationally, the population in the United States increased dramatically over most of the last decade, going over the 300 million total. In April of 2000, the U.S. population stood at 281,424,602 but rose to a total of 307,006,500 by July 1 of 2009, a 9.1 percent increase.

The following are some facts about the local population as it stood a year-and-a-half ago:

* Percentage of persons under five years of age, 7.0.

* Percentage of persons under 18 years, 23.4.

* Persons 65 and older, 17.1 percent.

* Female persons, 51.8; male persons, 48.2.

* White persons, 98.5 percent.

* Hispanic or Latino origin, three percent.

* 0.8 percent of the local population was listed as foreign born.

* 3.2 percent spoke a language other than English.

* Only 53.5 percent of persons age 25 and over had a high school diploma.

* Only 8 percent of the local population had a Bachelor’s degree or higher.

* The median drive time from home to work was 21 minutes.

* There were 5,125 housing units in the county in 2009.

* In 2008, the median household income was $25,029.

* The percent of persons below the poverty level in 2008 was 26.4.

As compared with the state and nation, Kentucky had 74.1 percent of persons of age 25 with a high school diploma and 17.1 percent with a Bachelor’s degree or above. The percent of Kentuckians overall below the poverty level in 2008 was 17.3 percent.

Nationally, 15.8 percent of the population was of Hispanic or Latino origin and 12.9 percent were African Americans, with 79.6 percent listed as Caucasian.

In 2008, the median household income in Kentucky was much higher than in Clinton County, at $41,489, but much lower than the national average income per household of $52,029.

Also, the total number of residents living in poverty in Kentucky (17.3 percent) was 4.1 percent higher than the 13.2 percent national average at the end of 2008.