County's median age higher than state's

County's median age higher than state's, Census 2000 shows

October 9, 2001

By Tom Vaughan
Mancos Times Editor

The popular belief that Montezuma County is filling up with retirees in rural subdivisions is supported by the Census 2000 data.

First, the median age of Montezuma County’s population is several years higher than that of Colorado generally — 38 years of age compared with 34.3 years statewide.

Second, the median ages of the municipalities range from 36.4 years in Dolores and Cortez to 38.1 in Mancos. The median age in Towaoc is 24.7 years. A large proportion of the 58 percent of the county’s population living outside the incorporated areas must be 40 and older to bring the median age of the county up to 38.

Third, if you allow for the fact that nursing-home populations in Cortez and Mancos will tend to raise the median age of those municipalities, the median age of rural residents must be even higher.

The age distribution within the community varies across the county, too.

The towns of Mancos and Dolores reflect the countywide age pattern. Countywide, 34.6 percent of the population is under 25 years old. That age group represents 34.4 percent of the Dolores population and 34.9 percent of Mancos.

The 25-to-64-year-old population is 51.5 percent of the county, 50.6 percent of Dolores and 51.6 percent of Mancos.

Those 65-and-over are 13.8 percent of the county, 14.9 percent of Dolores and 13.6 percent of Mancos.

Cortez has proportionately fewer in the 25-64 range (48.2 percent) and more at each end of the scale — 35.4 percent under 25 and 16.4 percent who are 65 years or older.

Towaoc’s population is generally much younger, with 50.6 percent under 25 years old, 45.9 aged 25-64 and only 3.6 percent 65 or older.

In addition to supporting the perception of growing numbers of retirees in the rural areas, Census 2000 information indicates Montezuma County’s need for senior-citizen services is proportionately higher than that of the state generally.

Add the fact that the 3,299 residents who were 65 or older on the census date are spread over 2,084 square miles of dirt roads and the cost of obtaining those services becomes much higher than it would be in a compact urban area with public transportation.

The relatively older population of Montezuma County, compared with the state, also implies a higher reliance on Medicare/Medicaid coverage. Witnesses at the recent Durango legislative hearing on rural health care repeatedly reported that Medicare/Medicaid reimbursements fail to cover the actual cost of delivering medical services.

If the census trend toward an older population in rural areas of the county continues, health-care problems and shortages may lie ahead.