Baby Boomer Facts and Figures

50+ Demographics

• There were 40.3 million people age 65 and older on April 1, 2010, an increase of 5.3 million since the 2000 census. The 65+ age group grew at a faster rate than the total U.S. population, increasing by 15.1 percent as compared to 9.7 percent for the total population.
  Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010
  
  
• The number of people 65 and older in the United States is expected to increase to 55 million in 2020; to some 70 million by 2030, and to 88.5 million — or 20 percent of the population — in 2050. (Put yet another way, between 2006 and 2030, the U.S. population of adults aged 65+ will nearly double from 37 million to 71.5 million people.)
  Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010
  
  
• Among the age groups within the older population, the 85-to-94-year olds experienced the fastest growth between 2000 and 2010, rising from 9.5 million to 12.4 million.
  Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010
  
  
• The number of people age 85 and older will increase from about 14 percent of the older population today to 21 percent in 2050.  
  Source: The Next Four Decades: The Older Population of the United States, U.S. Census Bureau  2010

House and Home

• States with the highest concentration of people age 50+: Maine, New Hampshire, Montana, Vermont, West Virginia, Michigan, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Ohio and Alaska. In each of these states from 33.5 percent (Alaska) to 36.8 percent (Maine) of the total adult population was born between 1946 and 1964. 
  Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2012 American Community Survey PUMS as analyzed by the AARP Research Center
  
  
• 87 percent of adults age 65+ want to stay in their current home and community as they age. Among people age 50 to 64, 71 percent of people want to age in place. 
  Source: AARP PPI, "What is Livable? Community Preferences of Older Adults," April 2014

Getting Around

• By 2025, one in four drivers will be age 65 or older. 
  Source: Planning Complete Streets for an Aging America, May 2009
  
  
• More than 50 percent of nondrivers over age 65 do not leave home most days, partly because of a lack of transportation options. 
  Source: Aging in Place: A State Survey of Livability Policies and Practices, December 2011
  
  
• Highest percentage of age 50+ people who don't have a vehicle: Washington, D.C. (29.6 percent), New York (19.9 percent), Alaska (8.3 percent).
  Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2012 American Community Survey PUMS as analyzed by the AARP Research Center