Older Adults Outnumber Children In 11 States & Nearly Half Of U.S. Counties 

In 11 states and nearly half of the nation’s 3,144 counties, adults age 65 and older outnumbered children in 2024, according to statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau. These states are Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and West Virginia. In 2020, only three states were in this situation: Florida, Maine, and Vermont.;;

Nationwide, children still outnumber older adults in the United States, with children representing 21.5% of the population in 2024 and older adults representing 18.0%. However, the gap between the size of the two age . . .