In yet more evidence of an aging population, the US Census Bureau’s Vintage 2022 Population Estimates, released Thursday, indicated that the nation’s median age increased to a record high of 38.9 in 2022.

The bureau reported that the median age increased 0.2 years between 2021 and 2022, continuing a trend from 2021, when the nation experienced its largest median age single-year gain (0.3 years) since 2000.

“As the nation’s median age creeps closer to 40, you can really see how the aging of baby boomers, and now their children — sometimes called echo boomers — is impacting the median age. The eldest of the echo boomers have started to reach or exceed the nation’s median age of 38.9,” said Kristie Wilder, a demographer in the Census Bureau’s Population Division. 

“While natural change nationally has been positive, as there have been more births than deaths, birth rates have gradually declined over the past two decades. Without a rapidly growing young population, the U.S. median age will likely continue its slow but steady rise,” she said.

Additionally, more than a third of the states in the country had a median age above 40 years in 2022, with Maine (44.8) and New Hampshire (43.3) leading the pack, whereas Hawaii experienced the largest increase in median age (0.4 years).

At the state level

No states experienced a decrease in median age, although four states — Alabama (39.4), Maine (44.8), Tennessee (39.1) and West Virginia (42.8) — as well as Washington, DC (34.8), had no change in their median age from 2021 to 2022.

Utah (31.9), Washington, DC (34.8), and Texas (35.5) had the lowest median ages in 2022, according to the Census Bureau.

At the county level

Median ages of the 3,144 counties or equivalents in the United States ranged from 20.9 to 68.1 in 2022. Approximately 75% of the counties had a median age at or above the national figure of 38.9.

Meanwhile, 59% of US counties experienced an increase in median age between 2021 and 2022, up from 51% between 2020 and 2021.

Seven counties had median ages at or above 60, according to the Census Bureau:

  • Highland County, VA (60.0) 
  • Charlotte County, FA (60.2)
  • Jefferson County, WA (60.4) 
  • Harding County, NM (60.5) 
  • Jeff Davis County, TX (61.7) 
  • Catron County, NM (62.1) 
  • Sumter County, FA (68.1)

Sumter County, FL, which is home toThe Villages, has perennially been the nation’s oldest county, according to the Census Bureau.

Additionally, the Census Bureau reported that Jasper County, SC, and Blaine County, ID each saw their median age increase by one year, the largest increases in median age by counties between 2021 and 2022 in the country.