America Is Getting Older
New Population Estimates Highlight Increase in National Median Age
JUNE 22, 2023 ? The nation?s median age increased by 0.2 years to 38.9 years between 2021 and 2022, according to?Vintage 2022 Population Estimates released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. Median age is the age at which half of the population is older and half of the population is younger.
?As the nation?s median age creeps closer to 40, you can really see how the aging of baby boomers, and now their children ? sometimes called echo boomers ? is impacting the median age. The eldest of the echo boomers have started to reach or exceed the nation?s median age of 38.9,? said Kristie Wilder, a demographer in the Census Bureau?s Population Division. "While natural change nationally has been positive, as there have been more births than deaths, birth rates have gradually declined over the past two decades. Without a rapidly growing young population, the U.S. median age will likely continue its slow but steady rise.??
A third (17) of the states in the country had a median age above 40.0 in 2022, led by Maine with the highest at 44.8, and New Hampshire at 43.3.
Utah (31.9), the District of Columbia (34.8), and Texas (35.5) had the lowest median ages in the nation. Hawaii had the largest increase in median age among states, up 0.4 years to 40.7.
 More on America Counts
COVID-19 Impacts on Mortality by Race/Ethnicity and Sex
Males and the Hispanic, American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) populations experienced a disproportionately large number of deaths from 2019 to 2020, the year that includes the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Deaths for the total U.S. population increased 19% in 2020, but some groups were more affected than others, according to new Vintage 2022 Population Estimates released today ? the first to contain final 2020 mortality data by demographic characteristics.
Post-Pandemic Challenges and Opportunities for Population Estimates
The Census Bureau?s recently released 2020 Census Demographic and Housing Characteristics File (DHC) provided a more comprehensive picture of the U.S. population on April 1, 2020.
It also helped gauge the impact of the so-called blended base method used to create the estimates base, or starting point, for our annual time series of population estimates.
Today?s release of Vintage 2022 estimates by age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin provides the opportunity to make the most detailed comparisons between the April 1, 2020, blended base and the DHC. And there are some notable differences, especially in the results by race categories.
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