Whitley County

Whitley County, Kentucky — key demographics

Population

• Total population: 36,700 (2023 estimate; 36,712 in 2020 Census)

Age

• Median age: ~39 years (ACS 2019–2023)
• Under 18: ~21.6%
• 18–64: ~60.4%
• 65 and over: ~18.0%

Gender

• Female: ~50.7%
• Male: ~49.3%

Race and ethnicity (ACS 2019–2023)

• White alone, non-Hispanic: ~92.9%
• Black or African American alone: ~1.7%
• American Indian/Alaska Native alone: ~0.5%
• Asian alone: ~0.7%
• Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander alone: ~0.1%
• Two or more races: ~3.2%
• Hispanic or Latino (of any race): ~2.0%

Households (ACS 2019–2023)

• Number of households: ~14,200
• Average household size: ~2.48
• Family households: ~64% of households
• Married-couple households: ~45% of households
• Households with children under 18: ~28%
• Nonfamily households: ~36%
• Living alone: ~31% of households (about 11–12% age 65+)
• Average family size: ~3.0

Insights

• The county is overwhelmingly non-Hispanic White with a slight female majority.
• Age structure skews modestly older than the U.S. overall, with about 18% ages 65+.
• Household composition is family-oriented but with a sizable share of single-person households and a smaller average household size than many rural areas.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (2020 Decennial Census; 2019–2023 American Community Survey 5-year estimates; 2023 Population Estimates Program).

Summary of email usage in Whitley County, Kentucky (2024 estimates)

• Estimated email users: ~22,000 adults. Method: county adult population x rural internet adoption x share of internet users who use email (Pew research consistently shows >90% of internet users use email).
• Age penetration among adults: 18–29 ~94%; 30–49 ~96%; 50–64 ~90%; 65+ ~78%. Older cohorts show slower growth but steady year-over-year gains.
• Gender split: Essentially even; email adoption differences by gender are negligible, so users are ~50% female, ~50% male, mirroring the county’s population mix.
• Digital access trends:
  • Home broadband subscription is lower than state urban averages; smartphone-only access is relatively common, especially outside Williamsburg and Corbin.
  • Fiber and cable gigabit are available in and near the I‑75 corridor; many hollows rely on DSL or fixed wireless, with upload speeds often constrained.
  • Mobile LTE/5G coverage is strong along major roads; off-corridor reliability varies with terrain. Affordability pressures increased after the wind-down of the ACP subsidy in 2024.
• Local density/connectivity facts: Whitley County is rural (~80 people per square mile), with mountainous terrain in the Cumberland Plateau that complicates last‑mile wireline builds; connectivity is densest along I‑75 and thins in outlying valleys.

Mobile phone usage in Whitley County, Kentucky — 2025 snapshot

Overall user estimates

• Population and households: ~36,600 residents; ~13,200 households.
• Mobile phone users (any mobile device): ~31,000 users, or about 85% of residents. This is slightly below Kentucky’s overall mobile reach, reflecting the county’s older age mix and rural topology.
• Smartphone users: ~27,000 users, or about 74% of residents. Adult smartphone uptake is the main driver; youth adoption is high but the 65+ share is lower than the state average.

Demographic breakdown (modeled from ACS 2019–2023 patterns and Pew 2023 age-specific adoption)

• By age (share using any mobile phone / smartphone):
  • 18–29: ~100% / ~96% → ~5,100 mobile users; ~4,900 smartphone users
  • 30–49: ~100% / ~95% → ~9,100 mobile; ~8,700 smartphone
  • 50–64: ~95% / ~83% → ~7,000 mobile; ~6,100 smartphone
  • 65+: ~92% / ~67% → ~6,400 mobile; ~4,700 smartphone
  • Teens 13–17: ~95% phone access; ~90%+ have smartphones → ~2,100 mobile; ~2,050 smartphone
• Income and access:
  • Smartphone-only households (rely on cellular data, no fixed broadband at home): ~24% of households in Whitley vs ~17–19% statewide. That equates to roughly 3,100 smartphone‑only households locally—meaning mobile is the primary on‑ramp to the internet for a materially larger share of residents than Kentucky overall.
  • No home internet of any kind: ~9–11% of households locally vs ~7–8% statewide; this reinforces heavier reliance on mobile data and hotspotting.
• Education and age tilt:
  • A higher share of older adults and lower bachelor’s degree attainment than Kentucky overall correlate with slightly lower smartphone uptake among seniors and more frequent use of basic/older devices; nevertheless, senior smartphone adoption continues to rise year over year.

Digital infrastructure and performance

• Coverage patterns:
  • I‑75 corridor (Corbin–Williamsburg) has the most consistent multi‑carrier coverage, including 5G. Outside the corridor, mountainous terrain produces coverage shadows and the network falls back to LTE more often than statewide averages.
• 5G availability:
  • T‑Mobile mid‑band 5G is prevalent along I‑75 and town centers, delivering typical 100–300 Mbps where signal is strong; AT&T and Verizon provide broader low‑band 5G/LTE coverage with lower peak speeds but better reach in valleys.
  • C‑band 5G is more limited than in Kentucky’s metro areas; upgrades concentrate near higher-traffic sites and along the interstate.
• Capacity and speeds:
  • Typical user experience: 30–80 Mbps on LTE in most settled areas; faster on mid‑band 5G near the corridor; sub‑10 Mbps and outages can occur in hollows and ridge-shadowed pockets.
• First responder and resilience:
  • FirstNet (AT&T Band 14) presence along key routes improves priority coverage for public safety; commercial users benefit indirectly from capacity added to shared sites.
• Home internet via mobile:
  • Fixed‑wireless access (5G/LTE home internet) is available in and near population centers and along I‑75; availability thins quickly in outlying areas. This substitutes for cable/DSL in parts of the county and contributes to the higher smartphone‑only/mobile‑primary pattern.
• Backhaul and tower siting:
  • Macro towers cluster along I‑75 and near towns; fewer ridge-top and infill sites than in Kentucky’s urban counties. Lower tower density and challenging backhaul to remote sites slow uniform 5G expansion.

How Whitley County differs from Kentucky overall

• Higher mobile dependence for primary internet: Smartphone‑only households are ~5–7 percentage points higher than the state, indicating more residents rely on mobile data for schoolwork, telehealth, and day‑to‑day connectivity.
• More uneven 5G experience: Reliable 5G along the interstate, but greater reversion to LTE and more dead zones off‑corridor than the state average.
• Slightly lower smartphone penetration among seniors: The older age profile and income mix pull down overall smartphone share relative to Kentucky as a whole, even as youth and working‑age adoption remain high.
• Greater prepaid and budget plan usage: Price sensitivity and patchy fixed broadband drive higher uptake of prepaid unlimited plans and hotspotting than statewide norms.
• Faster growth of fixed‑wireless home internet: Mobile networks are substituting for wireline in more areas of Whitley than in Kentucky’s metro counties, a trend reinforced by recent 5G rollouts along I‑75.

Implications and outlook

• Mobile networks are the default internet for a larger slice of Whitley County than Kentucky overall; plans with generous data, hotspot allowances, and good LTE fallback matter more here.
• Filling coverage shadows off the interstate—through additional macro sites, targeted small cells, and microwave/fiber backhaul—would close the largest performance gaps relative to the state.
• As mid‑band 5G expands outward from the corridor and BEAD‑funded fiber builds progress, expect gradual improvement in both mobile reliability and the share of households with fixed broadband, but mobile‑primary usage will remain elevated in the near term.

Social media usage in Whitley County, Kentucky (2024 snapshot)

Population and user base

• Total population: ~36,700 (ACS 2023 estimate)
• Adults (18+): ~28,300
• Active social media users (monthly, all ages): 24,200 (66% of total population)
• Adult social media users: 22,100 (78% of adults)

Age profile of social users (share of total users)

• 13–17: 9%
• 18–24: 16%
• 25–34: 20%
• 35–44: 18%
• 45–54: 14%
• 55–64: 12%
• 65+: 11%

Gender breakdown of social users

• Female: 53%
• Male: 47%

Most-used platforms (adults 18+, share using monthly; counts rounded)

• YouTube: 74% (~20,900 adults)
• Facebook: 68% (~19,200)
• Instagram: 35% (~9,900)
• Pinterest: 29% (~8,200)
• TikTok: 28% (~7,900)
• Snapchat: 26% (~7,400)
• X/Twitter: 14% (~4,000)
• WhatsApp: 12% (~3,400)
• Reddit: 12% (~3,400)
• LinkedIn: 11% (~3,100)
• Nextdoor: 6% (~1,700)

Adoption by age cohort (share using platform monthly within each cohort; rounded)

• Teens 13–17: YouTube 93%, Snapchat 74%, TikTok 71%, Instagram 67%, Facebook 28%
• 18–24: YouTube 96%, Instagram 78%, Snapchat 74%, TikTok 66%, Facebook 60%, X 20%
• 25–34: YouTube 90%, Facebook 78%, Instagram 58%, Snapchat 42%, TikTok 40%, Pinterest 34%
• 35–44: YouTube 88%, Facebook 83%, Instagram 48%, Pinterest 40%, TikTok 32%
• 45–64: YouTube 78%, Facebook 76%, Pinterest 32%, Instagram 30%, TikTok 20%
• 65+: YouTube 62%, Facebook 63%, Pinterest 20%, Instagram 18%, TikTok 12%

Gender tendencies by platform

• More female: Pinterest (75% F), Snapchat (60% F), TikTok (58% F), Facebook (55% F), Instagram (~54% F)
• More male: Reddit (70% M), X/Twitter (62% M), YouTube (54% M), LinkedIn (54% M)
• Roughly balanced: WhatsApp

Behavioral trends and local patterns

• Facebook is the community backbone: heavy use of Groups, Events, and Marketplace for school updates, church/faith communities, youth sports, local government notices, missing-pet alerts, and buy/sell activity.
• Video-first shift: short-form video (Reels/TikTok) drives reach; cross-posting between Facebook Reels, Instagram, and TikTok is common among local creators and small businesses.
• Messaging-centric among younger users: Snapchat is the default for daily messaging; Instagram DMs and Facebook Messenger dominate among adults.
• Peak activity windows: weekday early morning (6–8 a.m.), lunch (11:30 a.m.–1 p.m.), and evenings (7–10 p.m.); weekend spikes around high school/college sports and church events.
• Local news and weather: high engagement with county/city public safety pages and regional weather pages during severe weather, road closures, and school schedule changes.
• Commerce: strong response to Marketplace listings, local promotions, and limited-time offers; couponing/savings content and community recommendations (service providers, contractors, auto repair) perform well.
• Content tones that work: family-centric, faith-friendly, local pride, high school and University of the Cumberlands athletics, outdoor/recreation (Cumberland Falls), and practical local information. Overtly national or polarizing content sees engagement but also higher negative feedback.
• Access patterns: predominantly mobile usage; participation rates track with broadband/smartphone access—urbanized pockets near Corbin/Williamsburg are more active than remote hollows.

Method notes

• Figures are 2024 estimates derived by applying recent Kentucky/rural U.S. social media adoption benchmarks (e.g., Pew Research Center 2023–2024) to Whitley County’s age/gender structure (ACS 2023), with adjustments for rural broadband adoption. Counts are rounded; multi-platform use means platform totals overlap.