There are massive demographic shifts happening now in the US. Next year, 2019, Millennials (ages19-35) will overtake Boomers as the largest demographic. Their numbers will swell to 73M while Boomers will decline to 72M, according to the US Census Bureau. Gen X-ers are projected to overtake Boomers in 2028.
So where are our demographic age groups living? The Lending Tree’s recent study about what ages are living where looked at the country by county and age. It divided up the population into three large groups:
– Young – ages 0-19 20% of population
– Working adults – ages 20-64 65% of population
– Elderly – ages 65 and over 15% of population
As a whole, Utah is the nation’s youngest state. Tooele County, Utah has
- Young – 35%
- Working adults – 55.1%
- Elderly – 9%
Counties with the highest proportion of working age people are in metros where one industry tends to dominate. Arlington and Alexandria, both near government-dominated Washington DC, are the top 2 counties for working adults, 70.5% and 69.7% respectively. San Francisco, tech-dominated, comes in at third, closely nipping Alexandria with 69.6%. San Francisco also has the lowest share of young people, just 15.0% compared to an average of 25.2%.
These two counties register very high housing demands from high wage earners and, as a result, have high home values.
- Arlington – $672,700
- San Francisco – $1,359,000
- National average – $217,300
Arlington County, Virginia
- Young – 19.2%
- Working adult – 70.5%
- Elderly – 10.3%
San Francisco County, California
– Young – 15.0%
– Working adult – 69.6%
– Elderly – 15.4%
Counties with the largest shares of elderly are concentrated in the Sun Belt, the northern strip from the interior of the Pacific Northwest to Northern Michigan and up through Appalachia and the Alleghenies to Northern New England.
The oldest population groups have opportunities for bargain priced housing in
– Sarasota County, Florida 36.1% $252,400
– Mathews County, Virginia 30.8% $299,900
– Flagler County, Florida 30.1% $219,300
Sarasota County, Florida
- Young – 16.0%
- Working adult – 47.9%
- Elderly – 36.1%
