The Aging of the Suburbs, 1960-1980

The suburban population in the United States has aged more rapidly than the population as a whole. This paper examines the suburbanization of the elderly during 1960-1980 for a national sample of metropolitan regions. The increasing proportion of residents age 65 and over has been accompanied by declining segregation of the elderly among suburbs in most metropolitan regions. During this period suburbs with older populations were relatively poor but had higher municipal expenditures....Increases in proportion elderly are greater in slow-growing inner suburbs but are linked to lower proportions of black residents more trade employment and a stronger tax base. (EXCERPT)