Seniors

All data sources are from the American Community Survey unless otherwise noted.

Methodology

American Community Suvery Data

From the Census: Why We Ask: Grandparents as Caregivers

From the Census: Why We Ask: Age and Date of Birth

Sample Survey Questions on this Topic

It is more trouble than you might guess to get a simple count of the number of people 65 and older in a geography. The most direct route is to take a table which has a universe 'Population 65 Years and Over' and use the value from the first (total) column. As of the 2012 ACS releases, the preferred table for this is B09020. With the 2012 release, B09020 is available in all of the 1-, 3- and 5-year releases.

Otherwise, here are Census tables pertinent to senior citizens:

B09020: Senior citizen living arrangements

Table B09020 can be used to determine how many citizens 65 years or older live alone, live with family members or non-relatives, or live in assisted living or other institutions (what the census calls "Group Quarters"). This table counts citizens who are the "parent-in-law" of the householder separately, while that relationship was previously included with "other relatives."

B11007: Households by presence of senior citizens

Table B11007 counts households instead of individual people. It is another way to identify the number of households with seniors living alone, compared to households with seniors living with other people, family or non-family.

B23004 and C23004: Working seniors

Table C23004 is only available in the 1- and 3-year ACS releases. It provides a simpler view of this data, with no age breakdown and then whether the person was working or trying to work at the time of completing the survey, retired, or long-term unemployed.

Grandparents

The ACS has many tables providing various information about cases where grandparents and grandchildren live together. In various combinations, these tables provide data on the grandparent's responsibility for the grandchildren, the presence of the grandchildren's parent in the home, the employment, disability, poverty and marital status of the grandparents, and information about the housing itself: how long the grandparents have lived in their home, how many housing units are in the home, and more.

For all of these tables, "Grandchildren" refers to children under 18 years old.