The Bureau of the Census recently released a document(pdf) describing the age and gender profile of America over the past few decades. Some interesting capsules that we see in it are:

  • Everyone knows about the whole “aging boomer” thing, so we won’t belabor that point. However, it’s interesting to see that another fast-growing segment is the 18-24 age category. While the senior population grew 15 percent over the past decade (and the 45-64 age group at a whopping 32 percent), our traditional college-age segment of 18 to 24 year olds grew by 13 percent.
  • The median age of the nation has risen from 29.5 in 1960 to 37.2 today. The oldest state in the nation? Maine, at a median of 42.7. The oldest states are clustered in the northeast other than the notable exception of Florida.
  • Throughout the United States, the county with the highest ratio of men to women is our own Crowley County in southeast Colorado. But single women probably shouldn’t flock there. The ratio is high because of the presence of a state prison for men.

What trends are interesting to you and your work?