The traditional notion of Florida as the State with the greatest concentration of elderly persons is borne out by the statistics. In fact, the proportion of 65-plus persons in Florida is now about what it will equal for the rest of the States in the year 2020. Florida is also the Nation's oldest State with a median age of 34.7 in 1980 as compared with the youngest State, Utah, with a median age of 24.4. The three large metropolitan areas in 1980 with the greatest proportion of elderly in the United States were all in Floridamore than 20 percent of the population of the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood and Tampa-St. Petersburg metropolitan areas were elderly. In the Miami area, one in six persons was elderly. These three Florida cities also had the largest proportions of persons age 75plus (7 to 8 percent) and 85-plus (1.3 to 1.7 percent) although these proportions were not much above the national average. Houston, TX, was the metropolitan area with the smallest percentage of elderly in 1980, with less than 7 percent. In absolute numbers, only the New York metropolitan area had over 1 million elderly residents. B. SUBURBS IN 1980, FOR THE FIRST TIME, A GREATER NUMBER OF 65-PLUS PERSONS LIVED IN THE SUBURBS THAN IN THE CENTRAL CITIES 1 The growth of the suburban elderly population has touched every major region of the United States. According to results of a nationwide sample of 2,300 suburbs, the average suburban population in 1980 was 11.8 percent elderly. For the first time, in 1980, a greater number of older persons lived in the suburbs (10.1 million) than in central cities (8.1 million). Older persons are found disproportionately in suburbs which were established before World War II. These older suburbs also have lower average resident income levels, more rental housing, lower home values, and higher population densities. (NOTE: Statistics describing the graying of the suburbs should not be confused with those that document that more elderly live in metropolitan areas than nonmetropolitan (primarily rural) areas. Generally, most suburbs are included in metropolitan statistics making interpretation difficult. For instance, according to the 1980 census, almost two-thirds of the elderly lived in "metropolitan areas"-many of which include outlying areas that are defined as suburbs by other measures.) C. COUNTIES RURAL AND SMALL TOWN COUNTIES WITH HIGH PROPORTIONS OF ELDERLY PERSONS ARE AREAS WHERE THE ELDERLY HAVE STAYED AND YOUNGER PERSONS HAVE MOVED Counties with a high percentage of elderly are distributed all across the country (see map). There are now over 500 rural and small town counties in which persons 65 and over make up at least 16 percent of the total population; in 178 counties, the elderly 1 Logan, John R. The Graying Of The Suburbs. Aging. 1984. 46-295 0-85--2 make up over 20 percent of the total population. Over 50 percent of these counties, especially in the Nation's heartland, are agricultural areas where the older population has stayed on while the younger generation has moved out. Heavy out-migration of the young and relatively low fertility has contributed to a high proportion of elderly in such States as Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Arkansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania. Other areas with an exceptionally high proportion of older persons are those to which the older population has relocated in retirement, such as Florida, the Ozark plateau in Arkansas, and the Texas hill country. PERCENTAGE OF POPULATION 65 YEARS AND OLDER OLDER PERSONS CHANGE RESIDENCES LESS OFTEN THAN YOUNGER PERSONS, BUT THOSE WHO MOVE, TEND TO MIGRATE TO THE SUN BELT Today's older generation tend to remain where they have spent most of their adult lives. For both adults and children, rates of moving decline with increasing age. The highest rate of moving is among adults in their early twenties. Between 1982 and 1983, only 4.9 percent of older persons moved, compared to 34.5 percent of 20 to 24 year olds and 16.6 percent of persons of all ages.2 2 U.S. Bureau of the Census. Prepared by Cynthia M. Taeuber. America in Transition: An Aging Society. Series P-23, No. 128. In recent years, the number of older persons who move has been increasing. Estimates from the Retirement Migration Project, using data from the U.S. Bureau of the Census, show a 50-percent increase in the number of older persons who reported migrating from State to State during the 1970's, as compared to a decade earlier. Of the 1,662,520 Americans over the age of 60 who moved out-ofState during this period, nearly half went to five States: Florida, California, Arizona, Texas, and New Jersey (chart 2-1). Three States had an especially large increase in the numbers of older immigrants between 1960 and 1980. Arizona showed a 215-percent increase, Texas a 191-percent increase, and Florida a 110-percent increase. Florida captured over a fourth of all the interstate migrants over age 60 during the last two decades. New York is the top contributor of elderly State-to-State movers while California is second, Illinois third, and Florida and New Jersey fourth and fifth (chart 2-2). Elderly migration is essentially a mirror of a national trend where State-to-State movers are leaving the Northeast and Midwest and moving into the sunbelt States of the South and West. (NOTE: Data in this section on elderly migration are taken from The Retirement Migration Project; The Center For Social Research in Aging; The University of Miami; September 1984.) SOURCE: The Retirement Migration Project, Center for Social SOURCE: The Retirement Migration Project, Center for Social Older persons who move from State to State are relatively affluent, well-educated and are frequently accompanied by a spouse. Many older persons who move to nonmetropolitan areas are motivated by positive images of rural or small town life or negative views of metropolitan life. Most have pre-existing ties to the new area, such as family, friends, or property. E. COUNTERMIGRATION SOME SUNBELT RETIREES "COUNTERMIGRATE" TO THEIR HOME STATES Some 60-plus persons who migrated to the sunbelt in their early retirement years return to their home States or to States outside the sunbelt to be near their children. This trend, called countermigration, is relatively small in absolute numbers, but is statistically significant. Results of the Retirement Migration Project demonstrated that Florida lost significant numbers of elderly migrants to States outside the sunbelt-namely Michigan, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, all States which also send migrants to Florida. For instance, from 1970 to 1980, more than 9,000 residents of Florida moved to New York, which, for 56 percent of them, was the State of their birth. The average age of these countermigrants was 73 years. This was more than double the number who moved to New York from Florida during the previous decade. Another sunbelt State, California, also lost migrants to other areas-but not to States which generally have large numbers moving to California. Those leaving the sunbelt are most likely to have incomes below the poverty line, and many are disabled or are living in institutions or homes for the aged. Chapter 3 ECONOMIC STATUS Older Americans as a group have a lower economic status than other adults in our society. This largely results from changes in status often associated with aging: retirement from the work force, the death of a spouse, or a decline in health. In retirement, the elderly lose earnings and become reliant instead upon Social Security benefits supplemented with pensions and the assets they have accumulated over their own lifetimes. With limited potential to improve their income through their own work, the elderly become economically vulnerable to circumstances over which they have no control: the loss of a spouse, deterioration of their health and selfsufficiency, Social Security and Medicare legislation, and inflation. In recent years, there has been a growing perception that the economic status of the elderly as a group has improved significantly, and that they now have economic resources approximating those of the younger working population. Counting cash income alone, there remains a substantial discrepancy between the young and the old. However, the elderly have economic benefits and resources other than cash which enable them to meet their needs in retirement. If all of these additional resources could be converted to a cash value, the economic status of the elderly as a group would be closer to that of the nonelderly. However, the economic status of the elderly is far more varied than that of any other age group. While some older persons have substantial resources, a surprising number have practically none. Comparisons of average statistics conceal the simple fact that an unusually high proportion of the elderly have incomes and other economic resources below or just barely above the poverty level. A. MEDIAN CASH INCOME OLDER PEOPLE HAVE SUBSTANTIALLY LOWER CASH INCOMES THAN THOSE UNDER 65 Compared strictly on the basis of money income, persons 65 and older, on average, receive substantially less income than those under 65. In 1983, the median income of families with heads aged 65 or older was $16,862, roughly 60 percent of the median income of families with heads aged 25 to 64 ($27,243)1 (see table 3-1). The 1 Unless noted otherwise, 1983 income statistics were tabulated from the March 1984 Current Population Survey (CPS). Many of these statistics were provided by Ed Welniak of the U.S. Bureau of the Census. |