In 2020, the population of centenarians in the United States reached 80,139, marking a 50% increase from the 53,364 recorded in 2010, according to a new special report from the U.S. Census Bureau. Despite making up only about 2 out of every 10,000 people, this age group grew at a faster rate than other older adult groups over the decade.
The “Centenarians: 2020” report offers a detailed look at Americans aged 100 and older based on data from the 2020 Census. It examines their demographic characteristics such as age, sex, race and Hispanic origin, living arrangements, and where they reside geographically.
According to the report, “In 2020, centenarians were overwhelmingly female at 78.8%. This was a slight decline from 2010, when centenarians were 82.8% female.” During the same period, the male centenarian population rose by 85.3%, while the number of female centenarians increased by 42.9%.
The data show that although most centenarians remain White and female, there has been an increase in racial diversity within this group—about an eight percentage-point decrease in those identifying as White alone since 2010. However, Black or African American alone centenarians declined as a share of this population from 12.2% in 2010 to 10.3% in 2020.
Regional differences are also evident. “Compared with the national centenarian proportion of 2.42 per 10,000 people in the population, the Northeast had the highest centenarian proportion among regions at 3.19 centenarians per 10,000 people,” according to Census findings. Hawaii stood out as the only state with more than four centenarians per 10,000 residents (4.44), followed by Puerto Rico (4.14). No state had fewer than one centenarian per 10,000; Utah was lowest at just over one (1.04), with Alaska close behind (1.28).
Patterns regarding where these individuals live differ by gender and race or ethnicity. The report notes that “In 2020, female centenarians lived alone without familiar household members to a much greater extent than male centenarians.” Approximately half of male centenarians lived with others in a household compared to about one-third of females.
When it comes to institutional living situations such as nursing homes or similar facilities: “Among centenarians, 27.6% of females were living in a nursing home while only 14.2% of males were living in a nursing home.” Combining these categories shows that two-thirds (66.2%) of female centenarians either lived alone or in group quarters settings compared with half (50.3%) of males.
Living arrangements also reflect racial and ethnic patterns among this oldest age group: “The centenarian living arrangement with notably more racial and ethnic diversity in 2020 was ‘living with others in a household,’ while the least diverse arrangements were nursing homes and ‘living alone.’” Hispanic or Latino and Asian-alone centenarians were each far more likely—over sixty percent—to live with others compared to White non-Hispanic peers (less than thirty-five percent). About half of Black or African American alone centenarians lived with others.
These findings illustrate how America’s oldest citizens are changing both demographically and socially across states and regions.
