Age

Visualization Notes:

Each five-year age group through age 54 accounted for between 6.4 and 7.2 percent of the total Arizona population in 2010. The proportion was increasingly smaller in the older age groups, in large part due to deaths. In addition, the original cohort size, based on the number of births, was smaller for those age groups of at least age 65.

Compared to the national average, Arizona had a higher proportion of children less than 15 years of age, a lower proportion of adults from ages 40 through 59, and a higher proportion of senior citizens between the ages of 65 and 74.

Visualization Notes:

In Arizona, in each age group through age 44, the size as a proportion of the total was lower in 2010 than in 2000 (except for no change in the percentage in the 15-19 age group), while the proportion rose between 2000 and 2010 in the 45-69 age groups. The aging of the baby-boom generation (those born from 1946 through 1964) is the primary factor that caused the share of those 35 to 44 to decline and the share of those 55 to 64 to increase.

Relative to the national average, the changes in Arizona were slightly less negative among children, more negative among those 20 to 29, less negative for those 35 to 44, and less positive for those 50 to 59. The change in share among those 60 or older was nearly identical to the U.S. average.

Visualization Notes:

In each five-year age group through age 44, males outnumbered females in Arizona in 2010. In the older age groups, the ratio of females to males was above 1 and rose substantially after age 74 due to the higher mortality rates among men.

Visualization Notes:

The median age of Arizona residents in 2010 was 35.9, less than the national average of 37.2. Coconino and Graham counties had medians less than 32, while Gila, La Paz, Mohave, and Yavapai counties had figures of more than 47.

Visualization Notes:

The median age in Arizona rose 1.9 years between 2000 and 2010, the same increase as the national average. Six Arizona counties had an increase of more than 4.5 years: Gila, La Paz, Mohave, and Yavapai counties have a high and rising proportion of retirees, while the percentage of children fell significantly in Apache and Navajo counties, each of which has a large American Indian population. Two counties experienced a decline in the median age. Yuma County’s decrease was marginal while Pinal County’s decrease resulted from the northern part of the county becoming a suburban area to Phoenix, with many young working-age families moving to the county.

Visualization Notes:

Those less than 18 years old made up just more than one-fourth of all Arizonans in 2010, a little higher share than the national average. The share ranged across Arizona’s counties from less than 20 percent in La Paz and Yavapai counties to more than 30 percent in Apache and Santa Cruz counties. The share of the population 65 or older was 13.8 percent in Arizona, compared to the national average of 13.0 percent. The share ranged widely across Arizona’s counties, from less than 10 percent in Coconino County to nearly one-third in La Paz County.

More than 60 percent of Arizonans were between ages 18 and 64, a lower share than the U.S. average. Not quite half of the La Paz County residents were of this prime working age, compared to more than two-thirds of Coconino County residents.

In Maricopa County, Arizona’s most populous county, the youth share of the population was higher than the state average and 2.4 percentage points more than the national average. The share 65 or older was less than both the state and national figures.

Visualization Notes:

The percentage of Arizona residents less than 18 years of age slipped 1.1 percentage points between 2000 and 2010; nationally, the share dropped 1.7 percentage points. Pinal was the only Arizona county with an increase, as the rapidly increasing suburbanization of the county consisted largely of families of young adults and their children. The percentage of the population 65 or older increased 0.8 percentage points in Arizona, marginally more than the national average. In three counties, including Pinal, the older population share declined.

The share of the population of prime working age (18 to 64) rose slightly in Arizona between 2000 and 2010; the increase was larger nationally. The share rose substantially in some Arizona counties but barely changed in populous Maricopa County and dropped significantly in La Paz County.