Research
Lonelier in the city? Loneliness and support in Tryon and Charlotte
In the CDC's estimates for 2023, 28.1% of adults in Tryon said they feel lonely at least sometimes, against 33.4% in Charlotte, and 18.2% said they get the social and emotional support they need only sometimes, rarely or never, against 24.5%.
By Laura Bass, MSW, LCSW. Published November 12, 2026.
Are people in a small mountain town lonelier, or less supported, than people in a big city? We compared the CDC’s local estimates for Tryon, the other Polk County towns of Columbus and Saluda, Polk County as a whole, Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. The short answer: in the CDC’s estimates, fewer adults in Tryon report feeling lonely or short of support, but much of the loneliness gap comes from Tryon’s older population. The support gap is larger and survives age adjustment, though the confidence ranges for the two places overlap, so it is not a firm difference.
Key numbers
- Figure 1
28.1%
of adults in Tryon feel lonely always, usually or sometimes, against 33.4% in Charlotte.
Source: CDC PLACES 2025 release, 2023
- Figure 2
18.2%
of adults in Tryon get the social and emotional support they need only sometimes, rarely or never, against 24.5% in Charlotte.
Source: CDC PLACES 2025 release, 2023
- Figure 3
31.7% vs 32.8%
loneliness in Tryon and Charlotte once both are adjusted to the same age mix: a gap of 1.1 points.
Source: CDC PLACES 2025 release (age-adjusted), 2023
- Figure 4
24.8% to 44.2%
the range of loneliness estimates across 302 census tracts in Mecklenburg County.
Source: CDC PLACES 2025 release, census tracts, 2023
- Figure 5
58.4 vs 34.5
median age of all residents, Tryon and Charlotte.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024
The data
Place by place
Source: CDC PLACES, 2025 release (BRFSS 2023 model-based estimates). The thin line on each bar is the 95% confidence interval.
| Place | Adults | Lonely, crude | Lonely, age-adjusted | Lack support, crude | Lack support, age-adjusted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tryon | 1,348 | 28.1% (23.1% to 33.2%) | 31.7% (26.5% to 37.1%) | 18.2% (14.9% to 21.6%) | 20.7% (17.2% to 24.2%) |
| Columbus | 885 | 29.4% (24.6% to 34.6%) | 31.7% (26.5% to 37.2%) | 19.2% (15.9% to 22.6%) | 20.9% (17.3% to 24.6%) |
| Saluda | 550 | 26.4% (21.9% to 31.7%) | 29.8% (24.9% to 35.3%) | 16.2% (13.3% to 19.7%) | 18.0% (14.8% to 21.6%) |
| Polk County | 17,006 | 28.8% (23.9% to 33.7%) | 31.7% (26.8% to 37.0%) | 19.0% (15.7% to 22.4%) | 20.7% (17.2% to 24.4%) |
| Charlotte | 675,693 | 33.4% (29.0% to 38.2%) | 32.8% (28.4% to 37.6%) | 24.5% (21.3% to 28.1%) | 24.2% (21.0% to 27.7%) |
| Mecklenburg County | 901,633 | 32.6% (28.0% to 37.1%) | 32.4% (27.9% to 37.0%) | 23.7% (20.2% to 27.3%) | 23.6% (20.1% to 27.2%) |
Adults: residents 18 and over, the population PLACES uses for each place. Crude: the share of all adults. Age-adjusted: the share if every place had the same age mix.
| Place | Median age | Depression, crude | Depression, age-adjusted | Distress, crude | Distress, age-adjusted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tryon | 58.4 | 22.5% (18.8% to 26.5%) | 26.3% (22.3% to 30.6%) | 13.3% (11.4% to 15.5%) | 17.3% (15.0% to 20.0%) |
| Columbus | 54.4 | 23.4% (19.8% to 27.2%) | 26.1% (22.2% to 30.2%) | 14.5% (12.5% to 16.5%) | 17.3% (15.0% to 19.8%) |
| Saluda | 65.4 | 22.6% (19.1% to 26.4%) | 26.5% (22.4% to 30.7%) | 12.4% (10.5% to 14.4%) | 15.9% (13.4% to 18.7%) |
| Polk County | 54.9 | 23.8% (20.0% to 27.8%) | 26.8% (22.6% to 31.3%) | 14.5% (12.4% to 16.9%) | 17.8% (15.2% to 20.6%) |
| Charlotte | 34.5 | 22.9% (19.6% to 26.2%) | 22.3% (19.1% to 25.5%) | 16.4% (14.5% to 18.3%) | 15.9% (14.0% to 17.8%) |
| Mecklenburg County | 35.5 | 22.7% (19.5% to 25.8%) | 22.4% (19.2% to 25.5%) | 15.7% (13.6% to 17.9%) | 15.6% (13.5% to 17.7%) |
Depression: ever told by a doctor, nurse or other health professional that they have a depressive disorder. Frequent mental distress: mental health not good on 14 or more of the past 30 days. Median age: all residents, American Community Survey 2020-2024.
| County | Tracts | Lonely, range | Tracts below Tryon (28.1%) | Lack support, range | Tracts below Tryon (18.2%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polk County | 8 | 26.3% to 32.7% | 3 | 16.3% to 23.0% | 3 |
| Mecklenburg County | 302 | 24.8% to 44.2% | 42 | 14.6% to 35.4% | 45 |
Tracts with a PLACES estimate. Every tract value is in the CSV download.
Findings
What the numbers show
Fewer lonely adults in Tryon, mostly because of age. 28.1% of Tryon’s adults say they feel lonely at least sometimes, against 33.4% in Charlotte. But Tryon is much older: the median age of all residents is 58.4, against 34.5 in Charlotte. When the CDC adjusts both places to the same age mix, loneliness is 31.7% in Tryon and 32.8% in Charlotte, a gap of only 1.1 points.
The support gap is larger, but not certain. 18.2% of Tryon adults get the social and emotional support they need only sometimes, rarely or never, against 24.5% in Charlotte. After age adjustment the figures are 20.7% and 24.2%, still 3.5 points apart, though the confidence ranges for the two places overlap, so this is not a firm difference. Columbus (19.2%) and Saluda (16.2%) are close to Tryon.
Less lonely is not the same as less distressed. Similar shares of adults in Tryon (22.5%) and Charlotte (22.9%) have been told they have depression. On the age-adjusted figures, Tryon’s estimates are higher for depression (26.3% against 22.3%) and for frequent mental distress (17.3% against 15.9%), within overlapping confidence ranges.
Charlotte is many places. Across 302 census tracts in Mecklenburg County, loneliness estimates run from 24.8% to 44.2%. Of those tracts, 42 come in below Tryon’s figure. Polk County’s 8 tracts sit in a narrower band, from 26.3% to 32.7%.
How sure is this? For every Tryon and Charlotte comparison on this page, the two 95% confidence intervals overlap, so each gap is an estimate, not a certainty.
For you
What this means if you are thinking about counseling
- Feeling lonely is common in both places. In every town, city and county in this study, more than a quarter of adults say they feel lonely at least sometimes. If that is you, you are far from alone.
- A small town does not seem to protect people from loneliness: once age is taken into account, Tryon and Charlotte look alike on it. The estimates suggest more adults in Tryon have the support they need, though the confidence ranges overlap, so that difference is not certain.
- In a small town, the people who might support you can also be people you would rather not tell. If privacy is part of what makes reaching out hard, it is reasonable to ask any counselor how confidentiality works before you begin. Our page on anxiety and privacy in a small town talks about this.
- In Charlotte, a citywide figure hides a lot. How connected people feel varies widely from one neighborhood to the next.
- Loneliness is a feeling, not a diagnosis. Counseling is one place to talk it through; friends, family, groups and faith communities are others.
Method
Method, sources and limits
PLACES is the CDC’s set of local health estimates. It does not survey each town. It takes answers to the 2023 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a national telephone survey of adults, and combines them with Census population data in a statistical model that estimates the likely answer for every county, town and census tract. The loneliness and support questions come from the survey’s social determinants module; North Carolina is one of the states that asked them.
We used the PLACES 2025 release (December 2025) figures for the three incorporated towns in Polk County (Tryon, Columbus and Saluda, which also reaches into Henderson County), Polk County, Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, and every census tract in the two counties. Median ages come from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, 2020-2024. A script in the site’s code downloads the data and computes every figure on this page; a second script checks the headline figures against a separate copy of the data.
Limits
- These are modeled estimates, not counts. For small towns the model does much of the work, and the CDC cautions that it cannot show the effect of local programs.
- The confidence intervals for Tryon and Charlotte overlap on every measure here, so treat each gap as approximate.
- The survey answers are from 2023. Tract figures are available as crude estimates only.
- The depression measure counts adults who have ever been told they have depression. It depends partly on whether people have seen a health professional, and it is not a measure of how people feel now.
Sources
- PLACES: Local Data for Better Health, Place Data, 2025 release, CDC. BRFSS 2023 model-based estimates.
- PLACES: Local Data for Better Health, County Data, 2025 release, CDC. BRFSS 2023 model-based estimates.
- PLACES: Local Data for Better Health, Census Tract Data, 2025 release, CDC. BRFSS 2023 model-based estimates.
- PLACES measure definitions: health-related social needs, CDC. updated December 8, 2025.
- American Community Survey, table B01002 (median age), U.S. Census Bureau. 2020-2024 five-year estimates.
These are population figures for places, not a description of any person, and not medical advice. In a crisis, call or text 988.
Reuse
Cite this study
Laura Bass (2026). Lonelier in the city? Loneliness and support in Tryon and Charlotte. Laura Bass Counseling. laurabasscounseling.com/research/loneliness-tryon-vs-charlotte/
Download the data (CSV). You may reuse the table and the figures on this page under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license, with a link back to this page. The underlying public data belongs to the agencies named in the sources.
Journalists and researchers can ask questions about the method through the contact page.
More from our research, including how many therapists Polk County has and grief and widowhood in Polk County, all gathered on our mental health statistics page, or read about counseling in Tryon and counseling in Charlotte.
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