America Counts: Stories Behind the Numbers
States With High Median Ages May Not be as Uniformly Old as You Think
Many assume Florida is one of the nation’s oldest states and Utah to be among the youngest.
But while a retirement magnet, not every corner of the Sunshine (or any other) state is “old” or, for that matter, “young.” Some older states like Florida have counties with much younger populations, while some counties within the youngest states like Utah are graying fast. In both instances, these intra-state discrepancies are driven by migration patterns combined with the numbers of births and deaths.
The nation as a whole is aging. But a look at the median age (the age where half the population is older and the other half is younger) of states and counties tells a more nuanced story.
An Aging Nation: U.S. Median Age Surpassed 39 in 2024
The U.S. median age — the age at which half the population is aged above and the other half below — has increased by 0.6 years from April 2020 to July 2024 when it reached 39.1, according to U.S. Census Bureau population estimates released this week.
Given that nearly 294 million people (86% of the U.S. population) lived in one of the nation’s 387 metro areas in 2024, many metro areas saw an increase in their median ages, too.
Median ages in metro areas in 2024 ranged between 26.4 and 68.1, with 192 metro areas having a median age higher than the nation’s.
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