Jul 19, 2023 - News
How Pennsylvania's population is aging
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Pennsylvanians are a smidge older than the national average.
Why it matters: An aging workforce could drive worker shortages for years to come — especially in health care, which will become even more crucial as we age, Axios' Emily Peck writes.
Driving the news: The median age of those in the Keystone State was 40.9 years old in 2022, per U.S. Census Bureau data.
- That's higher than the nation's median age, which reached a record high last year at 38.9 years.
Flashback: The national median age was 30 in 1980.
Zoom in: The population of Pennsylvanians aged 65 and older ballooned between 2010 and 2017 and far outpaced the growth rate of the state's general population, per a report from Penn State University.
- Plus: Pennsylvania ranked fifth among 50 states when it came to the size of its population aged 65 and older (2.2 million).