While it might not be a surprise that Florida takes the lead as having the highest concentration of seniors, the Northeast and Midwest also boast “graying” areas, says Forbes in a recent article.
The rising number of Baby Boomers reaching age 65 is playing a key role in the growing percentage of seniors in the United States — and some cities reflect this demographic switch more than others.
“The metropolitan areas that have seen the biggest jumps in the senior proportion of their populations, have, for the most part, been the same ones that have drawn strong net domestic in-migration of millennials, families and working adults,” Forbes says.
Findings were based on the change from 2000 to 2013 in the share of seniors in the populations of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas — the 52 metropolitan statistical areas that have more than a million residents.
After Florida, the second most graying region is Pittsburgh, Penn., where 18% of the population is over 65, Forbes says, adding, “The old Steel City is followed by a host of Rust Belt metro areas: Cleveland, Rochester, Providence, Hartford, St. Louis and Detroit, all of which have a senior set that makes up 14% or more of the overall population.”
Within Florida, the Tampa and St. Petersburg area has the highest share of seniors in its population at 18.2%. Miami, where 16.7% of its population is over 65, ranks third in the nation, and Jacksonville is 18th, at 13.7%.
“The rise in the share of seniors in these cities isn’t because seniors are moving to them in overwhelming numbers — Census data shows they make major moves less than all other age groups,” Forbes says. “Rather, many of those who have reached 65 since 2000 in the cities that top our list moved to them when they were younger, generally in search of economic opportunities or better lives, and have aged there.”
Notably, graying cities are becoming wealthier too.
Over-65 households have a net worth 2.5 times the national average, according to Census Bureau data.
“Seniors (over 62) were far less damaged in the housing bust than younger households, and their incomes increased more with the tepid economic recovery,” Forbes says.
Read the article here.
Written by Cassandra Dowell
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