The U.S. Census Bureau released a report showing that the number of centenarians in the United States increased by 50% from 53,364 in 2010 to 80,139 in 2020. Despite their small proportion—just two out of every 10,000 people—centenarians are one of the fastest-growing segments among older adults.
The “Centenarians: 2020” special report uses data from the 2020 Census to describe centenarians based on age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, living arrangements, and geographic distribution. The findings also compare centenarians to other older age groups to highlight how this group differs.
Among key findings, women continued to make up the majority of centenarians at 78.8% in 2020, though this is down slightly from 82.8% in 2010. The male centenarian population grew faster than that of females between 2010 and 2020—an increase of 85.3% for men compared with a rise of 42.9% for women.
The racial composition of centenarians became more diverse over the decade, with an approximately eight percentage-point decline in those identifying as White alone. However, Black or African American alone centenarians saw a decrease from 12.2% in 2010 to 10.3% in 2020.
Regionally, the Northeast had the highest proportion of centenarians at just over three per ten thousand people (3.19). Hawaii led all states with more than four per ten thousand (4.44), followed by Puerto Rico (4.14). Utah and Alaska had the lowest proportions among states but still reported more than one centenarian per ten thousand residents.
Living arrangements differed notably by gender: “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 with only about a third (33.8%) of female centenarians.
Centenarian women were twice as likely as men to live in nursing homes—27.6% versus 14.2%. This results in about two-thirds (66.2%) of female centenarians living either alone or in group settings compared with about half (50.3%) for males.
The report found that living arrangements showed varying degrees of racial and ethnic diversity: “The centenarian living arrangement with notably more racial and ethnic diversity in 2020 was ‘living with others in a household,’ while the centenarian living arrangements with the least racial and ethnic diversity were nursing homes and ‘living alone in a household.’ Centenarians who were Hispanic or Latino, Asian alone, and ‘All Other Races’ were notably more likely to live with others in a household (i.e., each group having over 60% living with others in a household), while White alone and not Hispanic centenarians were much less likely to live with others in a household (i.e., each less than 35% living with others in a household). Black or African American alone centenarians were in the middle with about half living with others in a household.”
There was no associated news release; only a tip sheet was provided for this report.
