Alarming Record High: US Median Age Population Soars to 38.9 in 2022, Hard Challenges for Workforce and Economy

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The median age in the United States reached a record high of 38.9 in 2022, according to data released Thursday by the Census Bureau.It’s a rapid rise. In 2000, the median age was 35, and in 1980, the median was 30. While many 38-year-old millennials may still feel young, that age is an unusually high median for the country.

Stable births, fewer deaths, and a rebound in foreign immigration slowed California’s recent population decline in 2022, with the state’s population estimated at 38,940,231 people as of January 1, 2023, according to new data released today by the California Department of Finance. The median age is 37-year-old.

The new data adds to the evidence that like many European and Asian nations, the United States is graying, posing challenges for the work force, the economy and social programs. Low birthrates are the main driver of the nation’s rising median age, experts said. “It’s simple arithmetic,” said Andrew A. Beveridge, president of Social Explorer, a demographic data firm. “Fewer kids are being born.” Birthrates fell steeply in the first year or so of the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, they have ticked up. Still, since the beginning of the Great Recession, in 2007, fertility has remained very low compared with previous generations.

The trend is international, even affecting countries with much stronger social programs than the United States, such as Norway, Sweden and Finland, which heavily subsidize child care. Across industrialized nations, women of the millennial generation have been more likely to prioritize education and work in their 20s, leading to them marrying older and have fewer children, according to researchers. Among states, Maine (44.8 median age) is the oldest, with New Hampshire (43.3) not far behind.

Utah (31.9), the District of Columbia (34.8) and Texas (35.5) are the youngest, according to the Census Bureau.
Among counties with populations over 100,000, the oldest was Sumter County, Fla., where The Villages retirement community is partially based. The median age there was 68.1. The youngest large county was Utah County, home to the city of Provo, with a median age of 25.7. Not coincidentally, Utah has some of the highest fertility rates in the nation.

The U.S. Latino population is younger and the medium age is 30.