Colorado is getting older, rapidly. Are we prepared? We’re taking a look at how these shifting demographics are affecting housing, the workforce and quality of life, and whether Colorado has the services needed for people to age in place.
Previously in this series:
Everyone is getting older, of course. But for years — decades, actually — Colorado’s population was getting younger. As the state and its outdoor activities became a prime attraction for young professionals who moved here for a job and then started a family, a number of babies helped bring down the median age — at which half of the population is older and half is younger.
But there are fewer babies being born and Colorado has seen migration into the state slow down. Also, longtime Coloradans are retiring and staying put.
“It’s largely aging in place,” said Kate Watkins, the state demographer who took on the role in December. “And we’re seeing lower birth rates across counties. Some of our more rural counties tend to have, on average, slightly higher fertility rates than more metropolitan areas. But across the board, we’re aging in place.”
According to U.S. census data, the median age in Colorado back in 1950 was 29.5, dropped to 27.9 in 1960 and fell even lower by 1970, to 26.2. It started heading up in the 1980s, getting above 29 years old.
It’s now 38.5, according to the state demographer’s forecast, which is projected through 2050.
Here’s a look at which age groups are growing the fastest in Colorado. The bars are split into three age groups, with yellow for children under 15, working-age adults in blue, and those 65 and older are gray.
Oldest (and youngest) counties
The median age by county has also changed since 1990. We’ve charted the oldest counties each year between 1990 to 2050 based on state demographer forecasts:
Areas largely outside the Front Range tend to be in the top 20 oldest counties each year. To see the greatest fluctuations of an aging Colorado, though, look at the youngest counties.
In 1990, four out of six Denver metro counties (Broomfield didn’t become a county until 2001) were among the 20 youngest in the state, led by Adams County, ranked seventh at a median age of 31.7 years, according to the state demographer. El Paso County has remained one of the youngest for decades.
By 2010, there were six in the youngest 20. Adams was the youngest county statewide, but even its residents had aged to a median age of 32.5 years.
This year, five Denver-metro counties remained in the 20 youngest (Adams dropped to fourth and aged up to 36.1 years).
For 2050, the forecast has just three Denver-metro counties in the youngest 20. Adams, the third-youngest, is expected to celebrate a median age of 39.2 years.
Still young compared with the rest of the US
Nationwide, Colorado is nowhere near the oldest state. At a median age of 37.9 years old, Colorado finished in a three-way tie for 41st oldest in 2023. Or, on the flip side, tied for ninth youngest of all 50 states and Washington, D.C.
But there’s another stat that the state’s demography office took notice of a decade ago: Colorado is growing older at a much faster rate than most other states. That’s because there’s a greater population of residents aged 65 and older.
Between 2010 and 2020, “Colorado was the third-fastest aging state for the percentage increase in the population 65 years and over,” Watkins said.
During that decade, the population of Coloradans 65 and older rose 58.1% to 319,070 people. Only Alaska and Idaho grew at faster rates of 73.3% and 59.1%, respectively, she said. The same age group nationwide increased 38.6% during the same period.
The 2023 American Community Survey pulls out another stat: the median age for Coloradans 60 years or older was 69.6 years old, which still ranks the state as one of the youngest of the 50 states and Washington, D.C. Colorado tied with Georgia as the nation’s ninth youngest.
But Colorado’s median age is rising faster among the nation’s 60-and-older crowd. As of 2023, this group of residents tied with Oregon for the third-fastest percentage point increase in growth rate, at a 1.9% change in 10 years. Comparably, Alaska increased the fastest, at 3%, while New Jersey, Rhode Island and North Dakota actually got younger.
Workers 65+ are fastest growing labor force
Adults 60 and older rely on a mix of retirement savings, Social Security and other supplemental income. According to a Gallup poll a few years ago, folks who are still working said they expect to retire at age 66. In reality, retirees said they retired at age 61.
Many continue to work past the traditional retirement age, whether it’s because they don’t have a satisfying retirement plan or because they enjoy their jobs.
This year in Colorado, 22.1% of adults 65 years and older are still part of the labor force — nearly double the participation rate in 2000 when it was 12.1%. (This was higher in 2019, at 24.4%, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.)
Since at least 2010, workers ages 65 and older have been part of the fastest-growing group of workers in Colorado, at least by annual growth.
The state demography office forecasts that workers 65 and older will more than triple between 2010 and 2050, with workers 75 and older quintupling.
More 60+ households staying put in Colorado
In the decade from 2013 to 2023, the number of Colorado households with residents 60 or older increased by nearly 220,000, or 37%, to about 800,000 households, according to the 2023 American Community Survey.
Like folks in all age groups, older households are spending a larger chunk of their income on rent or their mortgage and other housing costs than they were in the past. It’s just more challenging for those who are working less or retired and living on fixed incomes.
Hence, a greater number appear to be staying in their existing homes even if the spaces are too big now that adult children have moved out. According to an analysis of household data by real estate firm Redfin, 25% of Colorado’s empty nesters are still living in their three-bedroom homes.
The ACS data on graphic mobility shows that older adults tend to stay in their same homes longer anyway, though the highest rates of residents living in the same house a year earlier is highest for those 65 and older, said Watkins, the state demographer.
She said the ACS data is “more helpful in telling the story of aging in place.” Among those 65 or older, 94.2% lived in the same home in 2023 as they did in 2022.
“Comparatively, 20-year-olds are the most likely to move, with 64.2% remaining in the same home they lived in a year ago. We see similar patterns each year in the data both for Colorado and across the U.S.,” Watkins said.
For those who have moved to Colorado from another state, the rate has stayed the same in the past decade, at 1.8%. And for those who live here already, fewer are moving to a new home elsewhere in Colorado.
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