The median age in America reached its highest point ever at 35.3 years, up from 32.9 years in 1990, according to recently released data from Census 2000. By "median age," the Census Bureau means that half of the American people are now older and half younger than 35.3 years.
While attributing the jump to aging baby boomers, Census Bureau analysts noted that the 65-and-over population actually increased at a slower rate than the overall population for the first time in the history of the census.
"While the median age increased by nearly two and a half years between 1990 and 2000," said Campbell Gibson, a senior Census Bureau demographer, "the growth of the population aged 65-and-over was by far the lowest recorded rate of growth in any decade for this age group."
"The slower growth of the population 65 and over," Gibson said, "reflects the relatively low number of people reaching 65 during the past decade because of the relatively low number of births in the late 1920s and early 1930s."
The increase in median age from 32.9 years in 1990 to 35.3 in 2000 reflects a 4-percent drop in the number of persons between 18 to 34 years old combined with a 28-percent increase in the population between 35 to 64 years of age.
The most rapid increase in size of any age group in the profile was the 49 percent jump in the population 45-to-54-years-old. This increase, to 37.7 million in 2000, was fueled mainly by the entry into this age group of the first of the "baby boom" generation (those born from 1946 to 1964).
Besides data on age, the U.S. profile contains data on sex, household relationship and household type, housing units, and renters and homeowners. It also includes the first population totals for selected groups of Asian, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, and Hispanic or Latino populations.
The findings above are from a Census 2000 profile of the U.S. population, released May 15, 2001.
Here are more highlights from Census 2000 data released to date:
While attributing the jump to aging baby boomers, Census Bureau analysts noted that the 65-and-over population actually increased at a slower rate than the overall population for the first time in the history of the census.
"While the median age increased by nearly two and a half years between 1990 and 2000," said Campbell Gibson, a senior Census Bureau demographer, "the growth of the population aged 65-and-over was by far the lowest recorded rate of growth in any decade for this age group."
"The slower growth of the population 65 and over," Gibson said, "reflects the relatively low number of people reaching 65 during the past decade because of the relatively low number of births in the late 1920s and early 1930s."
The increase in median age from 32.9 years in 1990 to 35.3 in 2000 reflects a 4-percent drop in the number of persons between 18 to 34 years old combined with a 28-percent increase in the population between 35 to 64 years of age.
The most rapid increase in size of any age group in the profile was the 49 percent jump in the population 45-to-54-years-old. This increase, to 37.7 million in 2000, was fueled mainly by the entry into this age group of the first of the "baby boom" generation (those born from 1946 to 1964).
Besides data on age, the U.S. profile contains data on sex, household relationship and household type, housing units, and renters and homeowners. It also includes the first population totals for selected groups of Asian, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, and Hispanic or Latino populations.
The findings above are from a Census 2000 profile of the U.S. population, released May 15, 2001.
Here are more highlights from Census 2000 data released to date:
- The number of males (138.1 million) edged closer to the number of females (143.4 million), raising the sex ratio (males per 100 females) from 95.1 in 1990 to 96.3 in 2000.
- The nation's housing units numbered 115.9 million, an increase of 13.6 million from 1990.
- The average household size in 2000 was 2.59, down slightly from 2.63 in 1990.
- Of the 105.5 million occupied housing units in 2000, 69.8 million were occupied by owners and 35.7 million by renters; the homeownership rate increased from 64 percent to 66 percent.
- The number of non-family households rose at twice the rate of family households 23 percent versus 11 percent.
- Families maintained by women with no husband present increased three times as fast as married-couple families 21 percent versus 7 percent. Married-couple families dropped from 55 percent to 52 percent of all households.
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