LITTLE ROCK — The aging of the baby boomer generation and flight of Arkansas’ youths from rural counties pushed up the state’s median age over the past decade, new census numbers scheduled for release today show.
The median age of Arkansas residents rose 1.4 years from 36 in 2000 to 37.4 in 2010, slightly higher than the national median age of 37.2, the numbers show. Median refers to the midpoint in a group of numbers.
The census numbers also show that the state’s 65-and-older population grew from 374,019 in 2000 to 419,981 a decade later, a 12.3 percent increase. Those in that age group now make up 14.4 percent of the state’s population.
In a growing number of rural counties, more than a fifth of people are 65 or older.
The numbers suggest the state’s urban centers continue to draw younger Arkansans away from more rural areas.
“It’s hard to keep up with the lure of the big cities,” said Michael Pakko, state economic forecaster and chief economist at the Institute for Economic Advancement at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
The age of the state’s 2.9 million residents was just one of a several pieces of demographic information released by the U.S. Census Bureau today for Arkansas and 12 other states. The numbers, drawn from the 2010 Census count, provide statistics on age, race and households.
Benton and Washington counties, home to many college students, young professionals and the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, were the only two counties to see their median age fall. In Washington County, the median age fell from 30.8 to 30.7. In Benton County, it fell a year, from 35.3 to 34.3.
In Arkansas’ 73 other counties, the median age increased over the decade.
The new census figures reflect the aging of the baby boomers - which the census bureau classifies as people born between 1946 and 1964 - and the “graying of America,” said Maria Reynolds-Diaz,, director for the AARP’s Arkansas chapter.
In Northwest Arkansas, the aging population is likely the result of an influx of retirees, said Molly Longstreth, director of the Survey Research Center for the University of Arkansas.
“This is partly about the growing affluence of Northwest Arkansas,” said Janine Parry, professor of political science at the University of Arkansas. “Affluence tends to come with age. This area in recent decades has become more affluent.”
An analysis of census data shows the average median age in the 12 Northwest Arkansas counties grew by 2.3years to 39.2 years during the past decade.
Aging populations became even more pronounced in the state’s rural counties.
In 2000, people 65 and older made up a fifth of the population in eight counties. In 2010, the number of counties where 1-in-5 were in that age group jumped to 13, census numbers show.
In Baxter County, 28.1 percent of residents reached or exceeded age 65, the highest percentage in the state and up from 26.8 percent a decade ago.
In 2010, 12 other rural counties - mostly in the northern half of the state - had more than 20 percent of their residents age 65 and older.
In some of those counties, such as Baxter, the growthof retirement communities has contributed to the higher median ages, but the reason most of the aging counties are rural is that younger people continue to leave for jobs and schooling in more urban areas, said Pakko of UALR.
As more and more young people continue to leave rural areas, Pakko said, the aging population will continue increasingly to rely on services such as medical care that are already seeing staffing crises.
“The more rural and impoverished areas of the state are where there are more doctor shortages. All across the board there’s a smaller and smaller work force that’s supporting this larger base of retirees,” he said.
In nearly all of those 13 counties the number of children growing up to replace their parents in the work force is declining, the census numbers show. Nine saw the number of residents younger than 18 fall over the decade.
In the state’s Delta counties, which saw huge population losses over the decade, the phenomenon is even more pronounced. Nearly all of those counties saw doubledigit-percent losses in the number of residents under 18 while also posting losses in those age 65 and older.
Lee, Chicot, Phillips and Woodruff counties all saw decreases of more than 25 percent in the number of residents under 18 while also seeing declines in their elderly population.
Monroe County, which lost the most population over the decade, also saw a 35.7 percent decrease in its under-18 population and a 13.1 percent fall in its 65-and-over population - both the largest drops in the state.
While deaths account for some population loss, it boils down to jobs in the Delta counties and most of the state’s rural counties, said economist Kathy Deck, the director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
“Young families move to where there’s an opportunity to thrive so ... communities that are not as economically vibrant have a difficult time attracting those young families,” she said.
“It’s a vicious cycle that not just Arkansas rural areas fight but rural areas all over the country,” she said.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 05/26/2011