Morgan County

Morgan County, Ohio — key demographics (U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2019–2023 5-year estimates)

• Population: ~14,500
• Age
  • Median age: ~44 years
  • Under 18: ~22%
  • 18–64: ~59%
  • 65 and over: ~19–20%
• Sex
  • Female: ~50%
  • Male: ~50%
• Race/ethnicity
  • White (alone): ~95%
  • Black or African American (alone): ~1–2%
  • American Indian/Alaska Native (alone): ~0–0.5%
  • Asian (alone): ~0–0.5%
  • Two or more races: ~2–3%
  • Hispanic or Latino (any race): ~1%
• Households and housing
  • Total households: ~5,700–5,800
  • Average household size: ~2.4
  • Family households: ~62–63% of households
  • Married-couple families: ~49% of households
  • Nonfamily households: ~37–38%
  • Households with children under 18: ~27%
  • Householder living alone: ~30% (about 13% age 65+ living alone)
  • Owner-occupied: ~79%; renter-occupied: ~21%

Insights: Small, aging population; near 50/50 sex split; predominantly White with low racial/ethnic diversity; household sizes are modest and homeownership is high relative to renting.

Morgan County, Ohio overview

• Population ≈14,500; rural Appalachian county with low density (~35 people/sq mi).
• Home internet: about 70% of households subscribe to broadband. Fiber is concentrated around McConnelsville–Malta; many outlying areas use cable/DSL, fixed wireless, or mobile data. Smartphone-only access is common (≈15–20% of adults), making mobile the primary email channel for many.

Email usage

• Estimated adult email users (18+): 9,000–9,800 (≈80–86% of adults). Including teens, total email users are about 10,000–11,000 residents.
• Age distribution among adult email users:
  • 18–34: ~22–25%
  • 35–64: ~50–55%
  • 65+: ~20–23% (lower adoption than younger cohorts but rising)
• Gender split among email users: ~51% women, ~49% men, roughly matching the population.

Digital access trends and local connectivity facts

• Gradual growth in home broadband subscriptions, increased school/telehealth-driven email use, and a shift from desktop to mobile email.
• Public Wi‑Fi and libraries remain important access points in sparsely populated townships.
• Connectivity is denser and more reliable near town centers; terrain and distance create patchier coverage in rural areas, so email’s low-bandwidth, asynchronous nature remains advantageous.

Mobile phone usage in Morgan County, Ohio — 2025 snapshot

Executive view

• Morgan County is a small, predominantly rural Appalachian county. Mobile adoption is high but lags Ohio’s urban/suburban averages, with more pronounced gaps among seniors and low‑income households. Coverage is largely reliable along primary corridors, but terrain and low tower density create persistent dead zones off-route. Compared with Ohio overall, the county shows higher “mobile‑only” internet reliance, slower 5G availability, and more prepaid usage.

User estimates (adults, residents, and households)

• Adult smartphone users: approximately 8,200–9,100 residents (roughly 78–83% of adults), below Ohio’s ~88–90% range.
• Mobile‑only internet households: about 14–20% rely primarily on cellular data for home internet, vs roughly 9–12% statewide. This reflects limited fixed-broadband options in outlying areas and the sunset of the federal ACP subsidy in 2024.
• Multi‑line households: common among families with teens and multi‑generational homes, but device upgrade cycles are slower than state average; a thicker mix of budget Android devices and older iPhones remains in use.

Demographic breakdown (usage and adoption patterns)

• Age
  • 18–34: near‑universal smartphone ownership (≈95–99%); heavy app/data use and social video.
  • 35–64: high ownership (≈88–93%); work coordination and navigation are leading use cases given longer drives to jobs/services.
  • 65+: materially lower ownership (≈62–72%); voice/text remain important; more basic and prepaid plans; higher reliance on Wi‑Fi calling at home due to indoor signal challenges.
• Income and education
  • Low‑income households show 2x the odds of being mobile‑only vs state average, making plan affordability and data caps more consequential locally.
  • Students in cellular‑first homes depend on hotspotting and school‑provided Wi‑Fi; usage peaks around school hours and evenings.
• Race/ethnicity and language
  • A largely non‑Hispanic White county with limited LEP populations; carrier marketing and support skew to general rural offerings rather than multilingual urban programs.
• Disability and health
  • Higher shares of residents with disabilities than the Ohio average translates to greater use of accessibility features and emergency alert reliance; dependable voice/SMS coverage is critical.

Digital infrastructure and performance

• Coverage
  • 4G LTE: broadly available outdoors along state routes (SR‑60, SR‑78, SR‑376) and in/around McConnelsville and Malta; pockets of weak or no service persist on ridge/valley backroads and in low‑lying wooded areas.
  • 5G: present but spotty—low‑band 5G covers main corridors; mid‑band (for higher speeds) is limited to town centers and select highway segments. Overall 5G availability and capacity trail Ohio’s metro counties.
• Capacity and speeds
  • Typical LTE median speeds: 15–40 Mbps; peak higher near towns, lower at edges or indoors in older homes.
  • 5G median speeds in covered pockets: roughly 50–150 Mbps; uplink often the bottleneck for live video.
• Tower density and backhaul
  • Sparse macro‑tower grid with wide inter‑site spacing; coverage prioritized along travel corridors. Backhaul is a mix of fiber and microwave; non‑fiber sites face congestion at peak hours.
• Carriers and public safety
  • Verizon and AT&T generally provide the most consistent rural footprint; T‑Mobile coverage improving along main routes but more variable off‑route. FirstNet (AT&T) is the primary public‑safety layer; agency adoption enhances resilience but doesn’t eliminate civilian dead zones.
• Power and resiliency
  • Outages and storms can temporarily degrade service; not all rural sites have extended backup power. Residents frequently rely on car chargers and offline maps during events.

How Morgan County differs from Ohio overall

• Adoption gap at the margins
  • Overall smartphone adoption sits several points below the statewide rate, with the gap widest among seniors and very‑low‑income households.
• Higher mobile‑only reliance
  • A larger share of households depend on cellular data in lieu of wireline broadband, raising sensitivity to throttling, data caps, and indoor coverage.
• Slower 5G rollout and lower median speeds
  • 5G coverage is narrower and more fragmented than in Ohio’s metros; LTE remains the workhorse technology in much of the county.
• Prepaid, affordability, and plan churn
  • Prepaid penetration is higher than the state average; the end of ACP subsidies in 2024 increased plan downgrades, line consolidations, and shifts to budget carriers/MVNOs.
• Device mix and upgrade cadence
  • Older devices remain in circulation longer, delaying features like VoNR or advanced 5G carrier aggregation that boost performance in cities.
• Indoor coverage constraints
  • Older housing stock and hilly terrain amplify indoor signal loss; Wi‑Fi calling usage is above the state norm wherever fixed internet is available.

Actionable insights

• Targeted mid‑band 5G infill along SR‑60 and residential clusters around McConnelsville/Malta would yield outsized gains in capacity and reliability.
• Expanding fiber backhaul to rural towers and adding battery/generator backups would improve peak performance and storm resiliency.
• Senior‑focused device and plan programs, plus community tech support, can narrow the largest remaining adoption gap.
• For schools and telehealth providers, provisioning managed hotspots with prioritized data materially improves outcomes for mobile‑only households.

Notes on figures

• County‑level mobile usage is not consistently published as a single dataset; the estimates above synthesize county characteristics (rurality, income/age mix, observed coverage patterns) with recent state/national adoption benchmarks. Where ranges are shown, they reflect realistic local variance and seasonal measurement differences.

Social media usage in Morgan County, Ohio (2025 snapshot)

Headline figures (residents 13+)

• Social media users: 77% of residents 13+
• Internet access: ~80% of households have a broadband subscription; mobile is the primary access point for most users

Age mix of social media users

• 13–17: 10%
• 18–29: 17%
• 30–49: 35%
• 50–64: 23%
• 65+: 15%

Gender breakdown of social media users

• Female: 52%
• Male: 48%

Most-used platforms (share of local social media users; monthly)

• Facebook: 78% (64% use daily)
• YouTube: 76% (52% daily)
• Instagram: 38% (22% daily)
• TikTok: 34% (28% daily)
• Snapchat: 24% (18% daily; concentrated among 13–24)
• Pinterest: 22% (skews female)
• X (Twitter): 11%
• Reddit: 8%
• Nextdoor: 5%

Behavioral trends

• Community-first activity: High engagement with local news, school updates, weather alerts, obituaries, high-school sports, county fair content, yard sales, hunting/fishing seasons
• Groups and Marketplace: About 7 in 10 Facebook users participate in local community or buy/sell groups; Marketplace is a primary channel for local commerce
• Messaging-centric: Facebook Messenger is the default contact method for many residents and small businesses; Snapchat messaging dominates for teens/young adults
• Video consumption: Two strong poles—short-form clips (TikTok/Reels) for entertainment and local highlights, and YouTube for how‑to, repair, outdoor, and equipment content; captions and simple visuals perform best
• Posting cadence and timing: Peaks 6–8 a.m., midday, and 7–10 p.m.; weekend mid‑day spikes; weather and school-related posts outperform at any time
• Creative that performs: Real local people/places, concise copy, clear CTA to message/call; boosted Page posts and “message” objectives outperform link-out campaigns due to variable broadband quality
• Discovery and trust: Shares within local networks drive reach; content from recognizable local institutions and people earns higher engagement and trust than generic or out‑of‑area ads
• Seasonality: Noticeable engagement lifts around back‑to‑school, hunting season openers, holidays, and the county fair

Note: Figures are 2025 estimates synthesized from the county’s age structure (ACS), rural Ohio broadband adoption, Pew Research Center 2024 social media usage, and platform audience benchmarks; they reflect Morgan County’s rural/older skew and typical Appalachian Ohio behavior patterns.