The U.S. Census Bureau has released a new report showing that the centenarian population in the United States grew by 50% from 2010 to 2020. The number of people aged 100 and over increased from 53,364 in 2010 to 80,139 in 2020. Although centenarians made up just two out of every 10,000 people in the country in 2020, their rate of growth was faster than any other older adult age group during the decade.
The “Centenarians: 2020” report provides details on the demographic characteristics and living arrangements of this group, using data from the 2020 Census. It compares centenarians with other older age groups to highlight differences.
Among key findings:
– In 2020, women made up nearly four out of five centenarians (78.8%), although this was a slight decrease from a decade earlier when women accounted for 82.8%.
– The male centenarian population saw an increase of 85.3% between 2010 and 2020, compared to a rise of 42.9% among female centenarians.
– The group became slightly more racially diverse and included more men by 2020. The share of White alone centenarians dropped by about eight percentage points since 2010, similar to trends among other older adults but less pronounced than among those under age 65.
– Black or African American alone centenarians decreased as a proportion of all centenarians from 12.2% in 2010 to 10.3% in 2020.
Geographically, the Northeast had the highest proportion of centenarians at over three per ten thousand residents (3.19). Hawaii stood out as the only state with more than four centenarians per ten thousand people (4.44), followed closely by Puerto Rico at (4.14). No state reported fewer than one per ten thousand; Utah had the lowest proportion at just above one (1.04), followed by Alaska at (1.28).
Patterns for states with high proportions of centenarians were similar to those seen for residents aged between eighty-five and ninety-nine but differed from those for people aged sixty-five to eighty-four.
In terms of living arrangements:
– Female centenarians were much more likely than males to live alone without familiar household members.
– Nearly half (49.7%) of male centenarians lived with others in a household compared to about one-third (33.8%) for females.
– Female centenarians were also twice as likely as males to reside in nursing homes: among women aged one hundred or older, about twenty-eight percent lived in such facilities versus fourteen percent for men.
– Combining these statistics shows that about two-thirds (66.2%) of female centenarians lived either alone or in group settings such as nursing homes; for men it was around half (50.3%).
The report notes greater racial and ethnic diversity among those who lived with others compared to those who lived alone or in nursing homes—where White alone non-Hispanic individuals predominated while Hispanic or Latino, Asian alone, and other races were more likely found living with others.
There is no news release associated with this report; it is presented as an informational tip sheet.
