Buzz
Delaware was the first to ratify the Constitution on December 7, 1787, earning it the title of the oldest state in the U.S. Pennsylvania and New Jersey joined in that same month. However, when it comes to the median age of a state’s population, the oldest states are a bit further north—specifically, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
Statistician Nathan Yau, on his data visualization site FlowingData, created a chart depicting the median age of the populations in each state (including Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico) based on 2021 data from the American Community Survey (ACS). The ACS is managed by the U.S. Census Bureau, and unlike the decennial census, it is updated every month. Though it’s not all-encompassing, since it’s sent to around million addresses at a time, it provides more timely data compared to the once-a-decade census.
If you’ve forgotten what median means since your high school math days, here’s a quick refresher: The median is the middle value when all the numbers are sorted in order. The average, on the other hand, is the sum of all values divided by the number of values. While averages can be affected by outliers at either extreme, the median always represents the central point, with equal consideration for all values.
Mainers have a median age of 44.7, which is over a year and a half older than New Hampshire’s and two years older than Vermont’s. Puerto Rico, with a median age of 43.1, ranks just ahead of the New England states in terms of age.
The other territory in the rankings, Washington, D.C., has the second youngest median age at 34.3, just three years older than Utah, which takes the top spot. These two locations highlight a key takeaway from the data: As Nathan Yau notes, “the distribution of age doesn’t shift evenly all the way down.” D.C. is younger due to a large number of residents in their twenties and thirties, while Utah's youth is largely attributed to its high number of children.
Check out your state’s median age in the list below, and dive deeper into the age breakdowns on FlowingData.
Ranking | State | Median Age |
|---|---|---|
1. | Utah | 31.3 |
2. | Washington, D.C. | 34.3 |
3. | Alaska | 35 |
3. | Texas | 35 |
4. | North Dakota | 35.2 |
5. | Nebraska | 36.7 |
6. | Idaho | 36.8 |
6. | Oklahoma | 36.8 |
7. | California | 37 |
7. | Kansas | 37 |
8. | Colorado | 37.1 |
8. | Georgia | 37.1 |
8. | South Dakota | 37.1 |
9. | Louisiana | 37.4 |
10. | Mississippi | 37.8 |
11. | Indiana | 37.9 |
11. | Washington | 37.9 |
12. | Arizona | 38.1 |
13. | Minnesota | 38.2 |
14. | Wyoming | 38.2 |
15. | Arkansas | 38.3 |
15. | Iowa | 38.3 |
15. | Nevada | 38.3 |
15. | New Mexico | 38.3 |
16. | Illinois | 38.5 |
16. | Virginia | 38.5 |
17. | Missouri | 38.8 |
17. | Tennessee | 38.8 |
18. | Maryland | 38.9 |
19. | Kentucky | 39 |
19. | North Carolina | 39 |
20. | New York | 39.2 |
21. | Alabama | 39.3 |
22. | Ohio | 39.4 |
23. | Hawaii | 39.6 |
23. | Massachusetts | 39.6 |
23. | Oregon | 39.6 |
23. | Wisconsin | 39.6 |
24. | Michigan | 39.8 |
24. | South Carolina | 39.8 |
25. | Montana | 40 |
25. | New Jersey | 40 |
25. | Rhode Island | 40 |
26. | Pennsylvania | 40.8 |
27. | Connecticut | 41 |
28. | Delaware | 41.1 |
29. | Florida | 42.3 |
30. | West Virginia | 42.6 |
31. | Vermont | 42.7 |
32. | New Hampshire | 43 |
33. | Puerto Rico | 43.1 |
34. | Maine | 44.7 |
