Growing Old In The Suburbs

"America's suburbs, historically a haven for young families with children, are aging more rapidly than the nation's central cities as the first suburban generation grows older.

At the same time, there are early signs of a possible trend of wealthier and more educated older suburbanites moving to the cities.

Those findings in a report released yesterday by the Brookings Institution, a nonpartisan research group, suggest that in most places, the fastest growth in elderly populations will result from the aging of baby boomers already living there, rather than from an infusion of retirees.

The over-65 population in Georgia is projected to rise more than 40 percent in the decade beginning in 2010 as residents grow older, but only 3 percent as a result of migration.

Florida still attracts the most elderly migrants. But the fastest overall growth of elderly people over the next two decades is projected for Georgia and Arizona, the slowest in Pennsylvania and New York.

The Brookings study forecast widening age disparities between cities and increasingly older suburbs by 2040 in, among other places, Chicago, Los Angeles and Philadelphia.

"Suburbs, which previously were considered youthful and family-friendly parts of America, will, as more seniors age in place, become a fast-graying part of our national landscape," said William H. Frey, a Brookings demographer."

"Dr. Frey said the increasing share of the elderly in the suburbs will place new demands on housing, health care, transportation and social services."