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I was going to say this. Median age is biased by families with young children. For me a city full of childless 20-somethings is "younger" than a city full of families that have 2+ young children. Median age is probably lower for the latter, however.
People forget that you can still be young and have a family. Plenty of millenals are starting families before age 30.
Seattle (city of) for example is huge with 20-somethings but low in kids and probably 30-somethings. The Census site isn't working so I can't pull real comparison data.
Median age data doesn't help much, as you don't know which groups are high and low.
Quote:
Originally Posted by whereiend
I was going to say this. Median age is biased by families with young children. For me a city full of childless 20-somethings is "younger" than a city full of families that have 2+ young children. Median age is probably lower for the latter, however.
Yeah I was on my phone waiting for someone and, in that amount of time, wasn't able to find data on specific age brackets.
I also think the "youthful energy" is gonna be a lot stronger in cities where the young people are mostly transplants vs. growing up there, although this is probably also correlated with lower marriage rates / fewer kids per household.
Looking through C-D's data maps, I'm not seeing a statistic like "% of 18-35s who were born in another state" which would really be ideal. But it seems like three statistics that would, together, form a useful proxy for youthful energy are:
1. % born in other state (higher)
2. Median age (lower)
3. Average household size (lower --- to counteract "younger" places that really just have a lot of kids living at home)
Zooming out on the maps to state level, no state really stands out on all three metrics, but it looks like a few that should generally do better are Washington, Colorado, and North Dakota. Among the lowest "youthful energy" states would be Hawaii, California, Michigan, and Louisiana. Hmm...
The ranges aren't convenient to typical like phases, and I wish they used five-year increments consistently, but they still say a lot. I bet a 25-29 increment would be especially stark here.
Most of the variation is in rural areas; most cities are the same middle-ground white color. Santa Fe, NM stands out as a decent-sized city with a higher median age. Ironically, my main association with the city is "Meow Wolf", a documentary I saw about an art collective / funhouse created by 20-somethings there.
Interesting how the two ends of the East Coast are on average older. While Florida isn’t surprising, Maine is. Why Maine?
Core cities is such an apples-to-oranges comparison.. Austin has 3x more people than Pittsburgh in the city limits, despite being a smaller metro. Pittsburgh has several universities and only 300k people, so the high 18 to 24 % makes sense on that front.
Here's the 25-34 population percentage by county, per 2019 Census Bureau estimates:
23.2% San Francisco County, CA
20.6% Davidson County, TN
20.2% Travis County, TX
17.2% Mecklenburg County, NC 15.4% Allegheny County, PA
14.7% Maricopa County, AZ
14.5% Wayne County, MI
14.4% Cuyahoga County, OH
14.3% Erie County, NY 13.9% UNITED STATES
In its urban core, Pittsburgh is not as young as Austin or Nashville, but is younger than its "Rust Belt" peers.
Here's the 25-34 population percentage by county, per 2019 Census Bureau estimates:
23.2% San Francisco County, CA
20.6% Davidson County, TN
20.2% Travis County, TX
17.2% Mecklenburg County, NC 15.4% Allegheny County, PA
14.7% Maricopa County, AZ
14.5% Wayne County, MI
14.4% Cuyahoga County, OH
14.3% Erie County, NY 13.9% UNITED STATES
In its urban core, Pittsburgh is not as young as Austin or Nashville, but is younger than its "Rust Belt" peers.
Interesting how the two ends of the East Coast are on average older. While Florida isn’t surprising, Maine is. Why Maine?
Funny you would mention Maine because it was when I was visiting Maine that I first looked up "states ranked by median age." That was because I turned around and told my husband "Maine must be an old state - I mean, the median age must be old." AND IT IS. Maine is one of the oldest states when it comes to median age. I have no idea why. I come from Texas which is one of the youngest states when it comes to median age. And I had always said "Texas is a place where it's great to be young and make money." I think I was right.
I know this - a few years ago my husband and I were considering relocating and we looked at several states. Wow you can really tell the difference that age makes when you look at overall cost of living for example.
Most of the variation is in rural areas; most cities are the same middle-ground white color. Santa Fe, NM stands out as a decent-sized city with a higher median age. Ironically, my main association with the city is "Meow Wolf", a documentary I saw about an art collective / funhouse created by 20-somethings there.
Cool map. What do Mormons and Latinos have in common? They have kids.
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