2020 Census Data on Age, Sex, Race, Hispanic Origin, Households and Housing

“These statistics belong to the American people. Thank you for your participation in the census and encouraging your friends, neighbors and community to respond. We’re giving these data back to you now to understand and benefit your community,” Census Bureau Director Robert L. Santos said. “2020 Census data will serve as an important baseline for years to come for our annual surveys and population estimates, and in the community planning and funding decisions taking place around the nation.”

The newly released 2020 Census data products go beyond the data already available on the total population, the voting-age (age 18 and older) population, race, Hispanic origin and housing occupancy. This release contains more detailed age groups, the first data available on sex from the 2020 Census, information on families and households, and more detail on housing. They also show the intersection of many of these topics by race and Hispanic origin.

The Demographic Profile provides an overview of the topics covered in the 2020 Census in one, easy-to-reference table for geographies down to the tract level. The DHC provides more detailed tables, many down to the block level. The Demographic Profile and many of the DHC tables are also available for ZIP Code Tabulation Areas — generalized representations of U.S. Postal Service ZIP Code service routes.

The 2020 Census shows the following about the nation’s age and sex composition:

• Between 2010 and 2020, median age in the U.S. grew older due to an increase in the older population.
  • In 2020, there were 55.8 million people age 65 and over in the United States (16.8% of the total population), up 38.6% from 40.3 million in 2010. This growth primarily reflected the aging baby boom cohort.
  • Centenarians grew 50% since 2010, the fastest recent census-to-census percent change for that age group.
  • For people age 70 and over, the male population experienced a larger growth rate between 2010 and 2020 (42.2%) than females (29.5%).
• In 1970, after all the Baby Boomers (1946-1964) had been born, half of the population was younger than 28.1 years old. By 2020, the median age was 38.8, an increase of more than 10 years over the past five decades.
  • In 2020, the population age 45 and over accounted for 42% of the total population, up from 27% in 1940, the census before the Baby Boom began.
  • The share of the population age 65 and over more than doubled between 1940 and 2020, from less than 7% to nearly 17%.
• In 2020, there were over 73.1 million children under age 18 (22.1% of the total U.S. population), down 1.4% from 74.2 million in 2010. The biggest decline was among the under-5 age group, whose share of the population dropped by 8.9% or 1.8 million. This finding is consistent with the decline in the total number of births and the birth rate for the United States since 2015.
• Among the states in 2020:
  • Fourteen states had a median age over 40, twice as many as in 2010.
  • Twenty-five states had higher shares of population age 65 and older than Florida had in 2010 (17.3%), when it had the highest share of any state. In 2020, Maine had the highest share at 21.8%, followed by Florida (21.2%) and Vermont (20.6%).
• Utah and Maine were the youngest and oldest states (as they were in 2010). Nearly half of Utah’s population was under age 31 while more than half of Maine’s population was over age 45.
• In 2020, females continued to comprise a slightly larger share (50.9%) of the total U.S. population — 168.8 million compared with almost 162.7 million males (49.1%). Females have outnumbered males since the 1950 Census. Before that, males outnumbered females from the nation’s earliest colonial times.
• Alaska had the highest sex ratio of any state in 2020, with 108.4 males per 100 females, followed by North Dakota with 104.5 males per 100 females.
  • The five states with the lowest sex ratios in 2020 were Delaware (with 92.9 males per 100 females), Maryland (92.9), Mississippi (93.4), Alabama (93.4), and South Carolina (93.5).
  • In 2020, no state in the South or Northeast had a sex ratio above 100; all these states had more females than males.
• In 2020, the total dependency ratio in the United States was 63.6 children under age 18 and adults age 65 and older for every 100 working-age people ages 18 to 64. The total dependency ratio provides a rough approximation of economic dependency in a population by dividing the dependent-age populations (children and adults age 65 and older, who are not generally expected to work) by the working-age population (ages 18 to 64).
• Ten of the 12 states with the highest total dependency ratios in 2020 were in the West and Midwest. South Dakota and Idaho had the nation’s highest total dependency ratios of any state (73.0 and 72.4, respectively).

The public can explore these age and sex statistics in two data visualizations:

• Exploring Age Groups in the 2020 Census. This interactive map shows certain measures — percent of population, percent change from 2010, percent female and racial and ethnic diversity index and prevalence — for a variety of age groups for the nation, states, counties and census tracts. The visualization also provides ranking lists of the measures.
• How Has Our Nation’s Population Changed? This interactive visualization shows population pyramids and ranked age and sex measures for the total population, as well as race and Hispanic origin groups, for the nation, states, metropolitan areas, micropolitan areas and counties in 2020, 2010 and 2000.

A series of downloadable ranking tables related to each visualization is also available.

More information about age and sex is also available in the America Counts stories: An Aging U.S. Population With Fewer Children in 2020 and 2020 Census: 1 in 6 People in the United States Were 65 and Over, and two briefs: Age and Sex Composition: 2020 and The Older Population: 2020.

The DHC provides age and sex data on the major race and ethnic groups defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. The data show the following about the age and sex composition of race and ethnic groups:

• The Multiracial population was the nation’s youngest race group in 2020, with 32.5% of its population under age 18. Between 2010 and 2020, the Multiracial population increased for every broad age category (under age 18, 18 to 44 years, 45 to 65 years, and 65 years and over) by over 164%.
• In 2020, over one-quarter of the Some Other Race alone (28.6%), the Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone (28.3%), and the American Indian and Alaska Native alone (27.1%) populations were under age 18. All broad age categories for these populations increased from 2010.
• The White alone population was the oldest of all race groups in 2020, with a median age of 43.1, and decreased between 2010 and 2020 in every age category except the population 65 years and over, which grew by more than 25%.
• The Asian alone population was the nation’s second-oldest race group in 2020, with a median age of 37.0. Over the decade, every age category of this population increased by 23% or more.
• The Black or African American alone population increased for all broad age categories except under age 18, which decreased by more than 6% from 2010 to 2020.
• Over the decade, all race in combination groups saw growth across each age category with the Some Other Race in combination population growing the fastest — over 482% for each age category.
• The Hispanic or Latino population, which includes people of any race, was younger in 2020 than the non-Hispanic population. Its median age was 30.0, compared to 41.1 for the non-Hispanic population.

Comparisons between the 2020 Census and 2010 Census race data should be made with caution and take into account improvements the Census Bureau made to the Hispanic origin and race questions and the ways it codes what people report in their responses.

Accordingly, data from the 2020 Census show different but reasonable and expected distributions from the 2010 Census for the White alone population, the Some Other Race alone or in combination population, and the Multiracial population, especially for people who self-identify as both White and Some Other Race. These results are not surprising as they align with Census Bureau research this past decade, particularly with the results from the 2015 National Content Test, about the impacts of question format on race and ethnicity reporting. The improvements more accurately illustrate the richness and complexity of how people identify their race and ethnicity in the 21st century.

More information about Hispanic origin is available in the America Counts story: Hispanic Population Is Younger But Aging Faster Than Non-Hispanic Population.

In September, through the Detailed DHC-A product, the Census Bureau will release 2020 Census population counts and sex-by-age statistics for approximately 370 detailed racial and ethnic groups, such as German, Lebanese, Jamaican, Chinese, Native Hawaiian and Mexican, as well as about 1,200 detailed American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and villages, such as the Navajo Nation.

The 2020 Census provides information on U.S. households, defined as all the people living in a housing unit, including people living alone or in families (two or more people living together related by birth, marriage or adoption).

• Over one-quarter (27.6%) of occupied U.S. households consisted of one person living alone, up from 7.7% in 1940.
• 7.2% of family households were multigenerational.
• 6.1 million or 8.4% of children under age 18 lived in their grandparents’ home, up from 5.8 million (7.9%) in 2010.
• Over half (53.2%) of U.S. households were coupled households, those in which the householder has a spouse or partner living with them.
• Same-sex couples made up 1.7% of coupled households.
• The majority (89.1%) of the 323.2 million people living in U.S. households were either the householder, their spouse or partner or their children.
• Family households accounted for about two-thirds of all U.S. households, as they did in 2010.
• The majority (71%) of family households were married couples.
• There were 126.8 million households, up 8.7% from 116.7 million in 2010.

More information about families and households is available in the America Counts stories: Family Households Still the Majority and Share of U.S. Coupled Households Declined in 2020.

The 2020 Census provides information about occupied and vacant housing units. For occupied units, it includes information on tenure — whether the householder owns or rents the home. For vacant units, the 2020 Census provides information on the reasons for vacancy — whether the unit is for rent, for sale, held for seasonal use, etc.

• Of the 126.8 million occupied housing units in 2020, 80.1 million (63.1%) were owner-occupied. This percentage is also called the homeownership rate. The 2020 rate was the lowest since 1970. It decreased by 2.0 percentage points since 2010, when it was 65.1%.
• In 2020, 46.8 million (36.9%) of the occupied housing units were renter-occupied.
  • Renter-occupied units increased 14.8% from 40.7 million in 2010 to 46.8 million in 2020.
  • The growth of renter-occupied units continues to outpace the growth of owner-occupied units, as it also did between 2000 and 2010.
• Only five states experienced an increase in their homeownership rate between 2010 and 2020. Hawaii saw the largest percentage-point increase (1.2), followed by Alaska (0.8), Idaho (0.5), South Carolina (0.4) and Wyoming (0.1).
• West Virginia and Maine had the highest homeownership rates in 2020 at 72.6% and 71.1%, respectively. The District of Columbia had a lower homeownership rate (38.3%) than all 50 states. (Housing Ranking Table 1: Ranking of Homeownership Rate Differences Between 2010 and 2020 for States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico)
• Among the top 10 metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas with the highest homeownership rates, three were in Florida and three were in Michigan. The Florida areas with the highest homeownership rates were The Villages (88.3%), Homosassa Springs (82.1%) and Punta Gorda (81.3%). Michigan’s high homeownership areas were Holland (82.5%), Iron Mountain (79.6%) and Traverse City (79.3%). (Housing Ranking Table 2: Ranking of the Ten Highest Homeownership Rates in 2020 for Metropolitan or Micropolitan Areas)
• By race, homeownership rates were highest among White (70.5%) householders followed by Asian (58.5%) householders and Multiracial (54.2%) householders. Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander householders had the lowest homeownership rate (39.6%) in 2020.
• Nationally, the homeowner vacancy rate — the proportion of the homeowner housing inventory that is vacant for sale — in 2020 was 1.5%, a decrease of 0.9 percentage points from 2010, when the rate was 2.4%. All but three states experienced a decline in their homeowner vacancy rates. Nevada (-3.7), Arizona (-2.2), Idaho (-1.9), Georgia (-1.8) and Florida (-1.8) had the largest percentage-point decreases.
• In 2020, the national rental vacancy rate was 7.4%, down from 9.2% in 2010. Of the metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas with the 10 largest household populations, Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX, had the highest rental vacancy rate at 10.4%, and was the only one with a rate greater than 10.0% in 2020. (Housing Ranking Table 3: Ranking of Rental Vacancy Rates in 2020 for the Metropolitan Areas with the Ten Largest Household Populations)
• There were 4.4 million U.S. vacant units in 2020 classified as “vacant – for seasonal, recreational, or occasional use,” down from 4.6 million in 2010. As in 2010, Florida was still the leader among states in the absolute number of these units. The 667,000 homes in Florida accounted for 15.3% of the nation’s seasonal, recreational or occasional use units in 2020. Florida was followed by California (295,000), New York (248,000), Michigan (243,000) and Texas (192,000).
• More information about housing is available in the America Counts story: See a Vacant Home? It May Not be For Sale or Rent.