You’re not alone!
H/t beloved Grouchy
The U.S. Census Bureau considers “older Americans” to be those who are 65 years old or older. Here are some interesting facts about older Americans:
- Share of total U.S. population in 2009: 13% or 39.6 million
- Projected share of total U.S. population in 2050: 20% or 88.5 million
- Median 2009 income of households with householders 65 and older: $31,354 (median is that number that divides the population in half)
- Median 2009 income of all U.S. households: $49,777
- Poverty rate for people 65 and older in 2009: 8.9% or 3.4 million
- Poverty rate for U.S. population as a whole: 14.3%
- Number of older Americans in 2009 who were veterans of the armed forces: 9 million
- Percentage of older Americans in the U.S. labor force in 2009: 16%
- Proportion of older Americans in 2009 who had completed high school or higher education: 77%
- Percentage of older Americans in 2009 who had earned a bachelor’s degree or higher: 20% (that’s 1 out of 5!)
- Percentage of older Americans who were married in 2010: 56%
- Percentage of older Americans in 2010 who were widowed: 28% (that’s more than 1 out of every 4)
- Percentage of older Americans in 2009 who lived with relatives: 66%
- Percentage of older Americans in 2009 who lived alone: 27%
- Percentage of older Americans who owned their homes as of 4th quarter 2010; 81%
- Percentage of older Americans who reported having voted in the 2008 presidential election: 70%. Together with Americans aged 45 to 64, older Americans had the highest voter turnout rate of any age group.
- In contrast to younger Americans (30 and under), 66% of whom voted for Obama in 2008, a minority (43%) of older Americans voted for Obama. [Source]
Let’s have an even larger turnout this November and turn our beloved America back onto the right (pun intended) course.