Introduction
The median age indicates the age distribution of a population. Much like a person, a high median age can be indicative of an aging state, specifically if it increases over the years. When a state has a large number of elderly citizens, it needs a similarly large number of young people to counterbalance. Social Security, Medicare, and state retirement plans are just a few programs that require a healthy working-age population in order to provide for the elderly. The median age, therefore, helps policymakers to take measures according to the age of the population and most importantly according to the way this population evolves – if it is getting older or younger.
According to the CIA’s World Factbook, the median age for the United States as a whole is 38.5 years. However, a different picture is painted when broken down to the state level. Some states have a much younger population than other states. Those differences can be due to a wide variety of social, health, economic, and cultural factors.
Learn for yourself how the median age differs by state by looking at the data in the charts.
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