Franklin County is young, but getting older

Hey there Franklin County — you don't look a day over 34.7 years old.

By the numbers: That was our county's median age in 2021, per U.S. Census data, the third youngest of Ohio's 88 counties.

• Counties like ours with major college campuses tend to have lower median ages.
• Only Athens (home of Ohio University) and Holmes (the heart of Amish Country) are younger.

Yes, but: Franklin's median age increased slightly between April 2020 and July 2021.

• The county recorded a slight dip in population during that time period, we wrote earlier this year, with thousands of residents moving out during the pandemic.

What's ahead: The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) expects the area's population growth to return and reach an estimated 3 million residents by 2050.

What they're saying: It's possible families with children are taking advantage of being able to work from home and moving away from Columbus' urban center, MORPC data analyst Ethan Hug tells Axios.

• And in general, fewer Americans are having kids, which is skewing our population older.

The bottom line: Just like Violet Beauregarde, we're young, but getting bigger and older by the minute.