The oldest county populations in the U.S. (2000–2020)
Dec 12, 2022
The number of older Americans is increasing. In 2019, the 85+ group (6.6 million) was over 53 times larger than in 1900 (122,362). For comparison, the population 65+ group in the United States is 54.1 million.
Because women’s life span is almost 8 percent on average longer than men’s, the number of women aged 85+ far exceeds the number of men of the same age. In 2020, there were 178 women for every 100 men.
Geographically, the 85-and-older population is primarily concentrated in the upper Midwest and Florida.
