America is aging fast, with the senior population 65 and older surging 3.1% to 61.2 million in 2024, while the number of those 17 and younger slid by 0.2% to 73.1 million.
Continuing growth in the older population and annual declines in the under-18 population have reduced the size difference between these two age groups from a little over 20 million in 2020 to just under 12 million in 2024, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s newly released Vintage 2024 Population Estimates.
The shift is reflected in the advancing U.S. median age, which reached a record 39.1, up 0.1 years from 2023, and up 0.6 years from 38.5 in 2020.
The 65-and-older population has steadily increased from 12.4% of the total population in 2004 to 18.0% in 2024, while the number of children fell from 25.0% to 21.5%. The senior population also increased far faster than the 1.4% increase of working-age adults — those 18 to 64 years old.
“Children still outnumber older adults in the United States, despite a decline in births this decade,” Lauren Bowers, chief of the Census Bureau’s Population Estimates Branch, said in a news release. “However, the gap is narrowing as baby boomers continue to age into their retirement years. In fact, the number of states and counties where older adults outnumber children is on the rise, especially in sparsely populated areas.”
In 2020, only three states had more older adults than children: Maine, Vermont and Florida. As the demographic trend has continued, 11 states are now in this category with the addition of Delaware, Hawaii, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and West Virginia.
From 2020 to 2024, the number of metro areas with more seniors than children has skyrocketed from 58 to 112 — almost 30% of America’s 387 metros.
Almost 294 million people — 86% of the population — lived in one of the nation’s 387 metro areas in 2024, and median ages in metros varied wildly, from 26.4 to 68.1, with 192 having a median age higher than the nation’s.
Some places with high median ages were associated with retirement communities, while some with low medians had colleges or large military installations; or a relatively high proportion of children. Some had both.
And for the first time in 2024, three metro areas with populations of 1 million or more had more older people than children: Cleveland; Providence, R.I.-Warwick, Mass.; and Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, Conn.
There was a similar shift at the county level. In 2020, 983 counties (31.3% of the nation’s 3,144 counties) had more older adults than children. In 2024, 1,411 counties (almost 45%) had this distinction. Most of these counties had small populations and were outside of metro and micro areas.
Different U.S. regions had markedly different median ages in 2024: the lowest being in the West (38.4) and South (38.8); while the Northeast had the highest (40.6), followed by the Midwest (39.3).
The state with the oldest median age in 2024 was Maine (44.8); while Utah had the youngest (32.4).
Counties varied widely in median age in 2024 from 20.9 to 68.1, and 74% had a median age at or above the national median.
But there were plenty of local surprises.
Despite its reputation as a retirement magnet, Florida isn’t uniformly “old,” with some counties much younger than the national median age. Meanwhile some counties within young states like Utah are graying fast. In both cases, these anomalies are the result of migration patterns and the numbers of births and deaths.
Although Maine has the oldest median age (44.8), that number hasn’t increased since 2020.
“Median age is useful as a broad measure of how young or old a state’s population is, but it doesn’t provide insight into specific age groups and, of course, says nothing about younger or older areas within a state,” Marc Perry, a senior demographer in the Bureau’s Population Division, said in a release.
Although Utah’s median age of 32.4 is the lowest, it is aging fast. Utah’s median age increased by 1.0 from 2020 to 2024, making it one of six states where the median increased by at least a year during that period.
As in the past, American women outnumbered men in 2024; there were 3.4 million more women than men, making up 50.5% of the population.
Racial Mix Shifts
The Asian population grew at the fastest rate (4.2%) in 2024 and experienced its largest gains in California, followed by Texas. The annual increase in Texas’ annual growth rate (6.9%) was much faster than California’s (2.7%).
The Hispanic or Latino population had the second-fastest growth rate, 2.9%, for an increase of 1.9 million. The numerical increase was larger than that of all other race and ethnicity groups combined.
The White population was the only one that declined, falling 0.1% between 2023 and 2024.
For the first time in 2024, Hispanic or Latino individuals made up 20% of the total U.S. population. Nine states and 457 counties were at least 20% Hispanic.
For the Census Bureau’s latest population estimates, go here.
