Facts Behind Maine is the Oldest State
It has been difficult to pin anyone down on what it means when they say, Maine is the oldest state, and people have been saying it for a couple of years.
The March 2007 edition of AARP Bulletin lists the rankings and the source of the rankings for the oldest state. The calculation described is simply the median age, the age at which half of the residents are younger and half are older. Maine tops the rankings list by having a median age of 41.2. If you type in on your location bar or click on the following link, you will be able see the complete listings. http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/GRTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-_box_head_nbr=R0101&-ds_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_&-_lang=en&-format=US-30&-_sse=on
If you don't have the time to review the full rankings page, suffice it to say that 11of the first 17 oldest states are in the east, and they are Maine, Vermont, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Florida, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Delaware. Their median age goes from 40.7 in Vermont down to 37.9 in Delaware. The youngest median age in the nation is found in Utah at 28.5.
The national median age is 36.4. There is no doubt that we in Maine are an aging population, and our neighboring states are in much the same predicament.
The U.S. Census Bureau 2005 American Community Survey also offers a variety of looks at the demographics in our nation, it's a fascinating collection of data that provides rankings nationwide for many different characteristics.
Noelle Merrill, Executive Director
Article from the Bangor Daily News
Posted by: Bangor Daily News | March 14, 2007 at 09:46 AM