The Revitalist

A little light reading for your sunny, summer weekend: Mapping the Growth of Older America: Seniors and Boomers in the Early 21st Century by William Frey from The Brookings Institution (via The Creativity Exchange). The Creativity Exchange's post was less sensitively titled "The Geography of Getting Old." Essentially, the question is: with the senior boom looming, where will they be and where will senior housing/services be hardest pressed? The answer:

The dark orange is 140%+ increase in seniors age 65 and older.

• The aging of the baby boom generation makes pre-seniors this decade's fastest growing age group, expanding nearly 50 percent in size from 2000 to 2010.
• Pre-senior populations are growing rapidly everywhere, especially in economically dynamic Sun Belt areas previously known for their youth, such as Las Vegas, Austin, Atlanta, and Dallas.
• The World War II generation currently entering its senior years is growing fastest in the Intermountain West and South Atlantic states, especially suburban areas there.
• In states where senior populations will grow fastest over the next 35 years, "aging in place" rather than migration will drive this growth.
• Projected boomer aging will cause the suburbs of New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Los Angeles to be considerably "older" than the cities themselves by 2040. 

There is clearly an opportunity here to provide housing and services that meets this group's needs and to combine it with smart growth elements that by happenstance are senior friendly, like walkable neighborhoods that engage people with their neighbors, retail accessible to residential areas and residents on foot, public transportation as an effective alternative to driving. The work that we are already engaged in can easily be focused on this demographic.

Although, I read this and thought of a Wall Street Journal article that I read this week about how practically none of us are saving enough for retirement – gives you chills.