Maine still has the highest median age in the country
By Christopher Burns, Bangor Daily News Staff
Maine still has the oldest population in the nation.
That’s the finding of the U.S. Census Bureau, which released new data on June 22 showing declining birth rates and aging boomers are contributing to a graying of the nation.
Nationally, the median age rose 0.2 years to 38.9 between 2021 and 2022, according to the bureau’s latest population estimates. No state saw its median age fall during that time. The median age means half of people are older and half are younger.
“As the nation’s median age creeps closer to 40, you can really see how the aging of baby boomers, and now their children — sometimes called echo boomers — is impacting the median age. The eldest of the echo boomers have started to reach or exceed the nation’s median age of 38.9,” said Kristie Wilder, a demographer in the Census Bureau’s Population Division. “While natural change nationally has been positive, as there have been more births than deaths, birth rates have gradually declined over the past two decades. Without a rapidly growing young population, the U.S. median age will likely continue its slow but steady rise.”
Maine was one of four states and the District of Columbia where the median age remained flat. Despite that, Maine still has the highest median age in the nation at 44.8, followed closely by New Hampshire at 43.3. A third of states — 17 — have a median age over 40.
In Maine, Piscataquis (51.1), Oxford (51), Hancock (49) and Aroostook (48.7) counties have the highest median ages, while Androscoggin (41), Cumberland (42.3), Penobscot (42.7), and Kennebec (44.1) counties have the lowest median ages.
This comes as the nation continues to grapple with the combined problems of declining birth rates and life expectancy among Americans. While birth rates and life expectancy have been nudging down for years, they were worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. During the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. saw the sharpest drop in life expectancy since World War II. That was partly brought on by deaths from COVID, as well as longstanding problems like overdose deaths, heart and liver disease, and suicide.
In Maine, life expectancy has fallen about six months during the pandemic.