NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: July 10, 2018
Information Contact: Janell Hyer, (208) 332-3570 ext. 3220

The number of Idaho seniors – people age 65 and older – grew nearly 8 percent from mid-2016 to mid-2017, the highest percentage increase of all age groups. Overall the state experienced a significant population increase of nearly 37,000 or 2.2 percent across all age groups for the same time period, according to estimates recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

While the 2017 Census data shows Idaho seniors represented one out of three people – or 33 percent of the total change in population – all age groups experienced growth. The 19-and-younger age group and the 40- to 64-year-old groups grew by 1.5 percent each, while the 20- to 39-year-old age group grew 2.3 percent. People nineteen years old and younger were the only group to show a decrease in the past seven years, both in 2011 and 2012.

As of mid-2017, Idaho’s median age of 36 was lower than the national median age of 38. Twenty-nine Idaho counties had a median age above the state median age.

Adams County had the highest median age in the state at 55. Boise, Clearwater, Custer, Idaho and Lemhi counties, also has a median age older than 50. Madison County, home to BYU-Idaho, had the lowest median age in the state at 23, and Latah County, home to the University of Idaho, had the state’s second lowest median age at 29.

Twenty-five of Idaho’s 44 counties saw population increases in all four age groups. Nineteen counties experienced a loss in at least one age group. Clearwater and Power counties reported a decrease in three of the four age groups – only the 65-years-and-older age group increased in both counties.

Detailed Idaho data can be found at http://lmi.idaho.gov/census. Detailed data and tables for the nation, states and counties is available on the U.S. Census Bureau website at https://www.census.gov/topics/population.html