The nation’s median age is getting ever so close to 40 years, according to a new study released by the U.S. Census Bureau—the highest it’s been in the country’s history.
In 1970, that figure stood at 28.1 years.
The actual numbers have the latest median age figures at 38.9 years, with certain pockets of the country well above that figure and others, especially in portions of Texas, well below.
“You can really see how the aging of baby boomers, and now their children, sometimes called ‘echo boomers,’ is impacting the median age,” said Kristie Wilder in a statement.
A demographer for the Population Division of the Census Bureau, Wilder continued: “While the natural change nationally has been positive, as there have been more births than deaths, birth rates have gradually declined over the past two decades.”
Wilder added that “without a rapidly growing young population, the U.S. median age will likely continue its slow but steady rise.”
Two states in New England currently have the highest median age, with Maine at 44.8 and New Hampshire at 43.3. The West, meanwhile, appears to be the region of youth with Texas seeing a median age average of 35.5 and Utah even lower at 31.9.
Looking at matters from a county perspective, two counties in New Mexico had median ages of 60 or above: Harding County at 60.5, and Catron County at 62.1.
Utah and Cache counties in Utah came in at 25.7 years and 25.8 years respectively, while Brazos and Webb counties in Texas were also on the lower end at 26.7 and 29.8 years respectively.
State-wise the future, as it has always been, is in the West: while New York had a median age of 39, with New Jersey at 40, and Pennsylvania at 40.9; New Mexico’s median age was 38.1, followed by Arizona at 37.9; Colorado at 36.9; and Utah, the lowest in the nation, at 31.1 years.
Looking at the Western numbers, the New York Times remarked that states in the West, as well as the South, “have attracted the newest residents in recent years, and those states are also some of the most dynamic demographically.”
By Garry Boulard
