Retiring Guy's Digest: Population loss in Georgia: Clay County/Fort Gaines

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Population loss in Georgia: Clay County/Fort Gaines

It all started here.

Population loss as in major -- 50% or more.

Source: Wikipedia (Clay County, Fort Gaines)

Fort Gaines is the county seat of Clay County.

Population loss by degrees: 80-90%, 70-79%, 60-69%, 50-59%.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts

Percentage of population 25 and older with a bachelor's degree:

8.9% - Clay County
29.9% - Georgia
30.9% - U.S.

Percentage of population 65 and older:

26.8% - Clay County
13.9% - Georgia
16.0% - U.S.

% of population living in poverty:

33.1% - Clay County
14.3% - Georgia
11.8% - U.S.

The last time Clay County voted for a GOP presidential candidate was in 1972. Clinton won 54.8% of the vote in 2016. George Wallace won 48.3% of the vote in 1968, a plurality.

Clay County Library, Fort Gaines

Related reading:
A Doctor's View of Obamacare and Trumpcare from Rural Georgia. (The New Yorker, 6/28/2017)

Kinsell runs Clay County Medical Center, a facility with four exam rooms built out of a former Tastee-Freez. It’s a private practice, but she is a full-time volunteer. There is a receptionist and two other full-time staff members; they see “around thirty to thirty-five patients a day,” Kinsell said. Monty Veazey, the president of the Georgia Alliance of Community Hospitals, told me that “Kinsellcare” is the only health care that’s had a meaningful and positive effect here. “She’s going bankrupt treating everyone that comes in,” he said. “Most have no money, no Internet access, no other basic care. Many don’t have insurance. How much longer can she do that? I don’t know. But she’s their only hope.”