The U.S. Census Bureau has released a new report showing that the centenarian population in the United States grew by 50% between 2010 and 2020, rising from 53,364 to 80,139 individuals. Centenarians—those who have reached age 100—represented just two out of every 10,000 people in the country in 2020.
According to the “Centenarians: 2020” special report, this age group experienced faster growth than other older adult groups during the decade. The report draws on data from the 2020 Census and examines characteristics such as age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, living arrangements, and geographic distribution.
In terms of gender distribution, women continued to make up the majority of centenarians at 78.8% in 2020—a slight decrease from 82.8% in 2010. However, there was significant growth among male centenarians: “Between 2010 and 2020, the male centenarian population grew by 85.3% versus a 42.9% increase for female centenarians.”
The racial composition of centenarians also shifted slightly over the decade. While they remained largely White alone and female overall, there was an approximate eight percentage-point decline in the share of White alone centenarians. This change was similar to trends seen among other older adults but less pronounced than those under age 65. One exception was Black or African American alone centenarians: “The percentage of centenarians who were Black or African American alone declined from 12.2% in 2010 to 10.3% in 2020.”
Geographically, regional differences were observed: “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.” Hawaii stood out as the only state with more than four centenarians per ten thousand residents (4.44), while Puerto Rico also exceeded this threshold at (4.14). No state reported fewer than one centenarian per ten thousand; Utah had one of the lowest rates at (1.04), followed by Alaska (1.28).
Patterns regarding living arrangements were highlighted as well: “In 2020, female centenarians lived alone without familiar household members to a much greater extent than male centenarians.” About half (49.7%) of male centenarians lived with others in a household compared to roughly a third (33.8%) for females.
When considering group quarters such as nursing homes: “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 findings shows that about two-thirds (66.2%) of female centenarians lived either alone or in group settings versus about half (50.3%) for males.
There were notable differences by race and ethnicity concerning living situations: “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—as well as those classified as “All Other Races”—were each more likely than White-alone non-Hispanic peers to live with others.
This new data provides insight into how America’s oldest residents are changing demographically and geographically over time.
