NYC aging as seniors increase, kids decline

I’ve often thought New York City was a place I didn’t want to grow old in. It can be a difficult city, with stress coming in a hundred different ways, from the swarm of people hurrying to nowhere, to the constant background noise. But if we do stay here (as opposed to moving to rural New Jersey where our house is) at least we’ll have plenty of company. The most recent census bureau figures show an increasing population of baby boomers and seniors, while at the same time the number of children is dropping. From WNYC.org:

The latest census figures show New York City has far more baby boomers and seniors and fewer children. According to the 2010 figures, there were 941,313 children between the ages of 5 and 14 across the five boroughs, a 14 percent drop from the 2000 census. At the same time, 890,012 New Yorkers were between the ages of 55 and 64, a 30 percent increase in the last 10 years. [SNIP]

The median age is 35.5, up from 34.2 in 2000, and several years under the state’s median age of 38. Within the city, 47.5 percent of the population is male, and 52.5 percent is female. Just under 1 million, or 31 percent, of the city’s three million housing units were owner-occupied, up marginally from the previous census. While baby boomers experienced solid growth, the city’s 85-plus age bracket also grew — by 16 percent. [emphasis mine] On a related note, who thought Palm Springs could get any older?]]>