Baby Boomers Are Changing the Map

The graying of America has led to a shift in the country’s demographic makeup.

Analysis by The Conversation looked at where the Baby Boomer generation is concentrated in the U.S. It found that while retirement states like Arizona and Florida unsurprisingly maintain an older population, Americans are also aging in the Midwest and Appalachia.

The Conversation also noted that Baby Boomers, and Americans in general, have been increasingly moving to the west and to cities; the percentage of the population living in urban areas saw an increase of about 7 percentage points between 1970 and 2010. Baby boomers are settling into these areas, since people are much less likely to move as they age.

Finally, a declining birth rate matched with the aging Boomers is causing some areas in the U.S. to see a “natural decrease,” or a higher number of deaths than births.

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