- The novel coronavirus is particularly fatal for the older population in the US, according to the CDC.
- We used US Census Bureau data to find which cities have the largest share of people aged 60 and older.
- The Villages, Florida, has the largest share of residents who are at least 60 years old.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Although the novel coronavirus can affect people of any age group, it is especially deadly for the older population.
According to a CDC report covered by Business Insider, around 80% of US coronavirus deaths were of people aged 65 and older as of March 16. Around 45% of US hospitalizations were also from this age cohort, according to the report.
To help this group still get their groceries and supplies, some stores have been opening early for just the elderly and at-risk populations. People have also been told to distance themselves from senior citizens, meaning nursing homes are limiting visits to protect residents from being infected.
To take a closer look at which cities might be more vulnerable to the outbreak, we used population estimates of metro areas from the US Census Bureau's one-year American Community Survey in 2018, the latest year where information was available. This gave us a share of people aged 60 and over in each metro area.
Note metro areas defined by Census generally include a city with at least 50,000 residents and its surrounding suburbs.
Twelve of the 28 cities with the largest shares of residents 60 and over are located in Florida. Nearly 70% of the Villages' population in Florida is at least 60 years old, 16.2 percentage points greater than the city with the second-largest elderly population.
The following are the 28 cities with the largest shares of people 60 years old and over. All of these cities had a share greater than 30% in 2018.
Get the latest coronavirus analysis and research from Business Insider Intelligence on how COVID-19 is impacting businesses.