Where Do Baby Boomers Live?

(AmeriStat, November 2001) With the aging of the baby boom generation — people born between 1946 and 1964 — there has been a rapid increase in the U.S. population ages 35 to 54, from 63 million in 1990 to 83 million in 2000. Where do these baby boomers live? Baby boomers account for the largest share of the population in Alaska (33 percent) and several states in the Northeast (New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine). At the other end of the spectrum is Utah, the only state with substantially more children (32 percent) than baby boomers (24 percent).

Below the state level, baby boomers are most concentrated in affluent suburbs, such as Naperville, Illinois (outside of Chicago), Plano and Carrollton, Texas (near Dallas), Coral Springs, Florida (near Fort Lauderdale and Boca Raton), and Simi Valley, California (part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area). Many baby boomers have moved to these areas with their families because they perceive a higher quality of city services, especially schools, compared with the services provided in inner cities or rural areas.

Distribution of the U.S. Population Ages 35 to 54, by County, 2000

Source: United States Census Bureau, Census 2000.

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Analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

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