PRB-Oldest-Pop-Background

Which U.S. States Have the Oldest Populations?

While Southern states are regarded as retirement magnets, eight of the 10 states with the highest percentages of older residents are not in the South. What’s driving these regional patterns?

More than 55 million Americans are age 65 or older, according to the Census Bureau’s 2020 population estimates. One-fourth of these older Americans live in one of three states: California, Florida, and Texas. Seven other states—Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania—account for roughly another quarter of the 65+ population.

These 10 states are also the most populous and include over half of the total U.S. population. Sparsely populated states such as Alaska, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Vermont also have very small older adult populations—less than 130,000 each in 2020.

But the states with the most adults age 65 or older do not necessarily have the oldest population age profiles. California is a relatively young state even though it has the largest number of older residents: Only 15% of the state’s total population was age 65 or older in 2020. In contrast, Maine’s relatively small number of older adults represent 22% of its total population, the highest share of older residents in any state.

States Ranked by Percent of Population Age 65 or Older, 2020

wdt_ID Rank State Total Resident Population (thousands) Population Ages 65+ (thousands) Population Ages 65+ (percent of state population)
1 1 Maine 1,350 294 21.8
2 2 Florida 21,733 4,638 21.3
3 3 West Virginia 1,785 374 20.9
4 4 Vermont 623 129 20.6
5 5 Delaware 987 198 20.0
6 6 Montana 1,081 213 19.7
7 7 Hawaii 1,407 275 19.6
8 8 New Hampshire 1,366 263 19.3
9 9 Pennsylvania 12,783 2,448 19.1
10 10 South Carolina 5,218 976 18.7
11 11 Oregon 4,242 790 18.6
12 12 Arizona 7,421 1,374 18.5
13 12 New Mexico 2,106 390 18.5
14 14 Rhode Island 1,057 192 18.2
15 14 Connecticut 3,557 646 18.2
16 14 Michigan 9,967 1,812 18.2
17 17 Wisconsin 5,833 1,048 18.0
18 18 Iowa 3,164 566 17.9
19 18 Ohio 11,693 2,098 17.9
20 20 Alabama 4,922 874 17.8
21 20 Wyoming 582 104 17.8
22 22 Arkansas 3,031 536 17.7
23 22 Missouri 6,152 1,090 17.7
24 24 South Dakota 893 157 17.6
25 25 Massachusetts 6,894 1,198 17.4
26 25 New York 19,337 3,370 17.4
27 27 Kentucky 4,477 771 17.2
28 28 North Carolina 10,601 1,815 17.1
29 28 Tennessee 6,887 1,181 17.1
30 30 New Jersey 8,882 1,510 17.0
31 31 Mississippi 2,967 500 16.9
32 32 Kansas 2,914 488 16.8
33 32 Minnesota 5,657 949 16.8
34 34 Idaho 1,827 306 16.7
35 35 Illinois 12,588 2,089 16.6
36 36 Nevada 3,138 519 16.5
37 36 Indiana 6,755 1,115 16.5
38 36 Nebraska 1,938 319 16.5
39 39 Louisiana 4,645 764 16.4
40 39 Oklahoma 3,981 653 16.4
41 41 Maryland 6,056 987 16.3
42 41 Virginia 8,591 1,401 16.3
43 43 Washington 7,694 1,248 16.2
44 44 North Dakota 765 123 16.1
45 45 California 39,368 5,976 15.2
46 46 Colorado 5,808 876 15.1
47 47 Georgia 10,710 1,575 14.7
48 48 Texas 29,361 3,874 13.2
49 49 Alaska 731 96 13.1
50 50 Utah 3,250 382 11.7

Note: Older adults (ages 65+) made up 13% of the District of Columbia’s population and 22% of Puerto Rico’s population in 2020.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Vintage 2020 Population Estimates.

 

While southern states are regarded as retirement magnets, partly due to their warmer weather and tax benefits for seniors, states in the Northeast and Midwest have among the largest shares of older adults. What’s driving these regional patterns?

Migration, both internal and international, has a large impact on the distribution of older adults. States that have attracted older retirees, such as Arizona, Florida, New Mexico, and South Carolina, have larger proportions of older residents. Many states in the Midwest and Northeast also have large shares of older adults, but for different reasons. As young adults in these states have moved south and west looking for educational and job opportunities, the older population has been left to age in place. In contrast, Texas has been a popular destination for state-to-state and international migrants, which has kept its population relatively young.  Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown was the second-fastest growing metropolitan area in the country between 2010 and 2020, trailing only The Villages in Florida.

The share of older adults will continue to increase as more members of the large baby boom cohort reach retirement age. By 2030, 26 states are projected to have age profiles similar to those of Florida and Maine today, with at least 20% of their residents age 65 or older. This demographic shift has implications for many federal and state programs that support older adults. As more Americans become eligible for federal entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security, spending reductions and tax increases may be inevitable.


Excerpted from PRB’s Population Bulletin, “Elderly Americans,” by Christine L. Himes, and updated in 2021.