Here's how old the typical person is in each US state
- The typical age of a state's population varies across the US.
- Using recently released Census data, we looked at the median age in each state and DC.
- States in the western half of the country tend to have lower median ages than the eastern half.
Some US states have older populations than others.
The US Census Bureau recently released statistics from the 2017 American Community Survey, an annual program that asks millions of Americans each year about several social, economic, and demographic attributes. The Bureau publishes figures for each of the 50 states and Washington DC.
One of the questions on the survey asks for the ages of everyone living in a household. Using those answers, the Bureau publishes estimates of the median age for each state, or the age for which half of a state's population is older and half is younger than that age.
Read more: All 50 states and Washington DC, ranked from least to most average
States in the western half of the country tend to have lower median ages than the eastern half. Utah, with a median age of 31.0 years, had the youngest population in the country, followed by DC with a median age of 34.0 years and Alaska with a median age of 34.5 years.
The three states with the oldest populations are all in New England. Maine had a median age of 44.6 years, followed by New Hampshire at 43.2 years, and Vermont at 42.6 years.