The aging of the suburbs, 1960-1980 ( USA).

Abstract

The suburban population in the US has aged more rapidly than the population as a whole. This paper examines the suburbanization of the elderly during 1960-80 for a national sample of metropolitan regions. The increasing proportion of residents aged 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. Those in the North also had higher density, higher proportions of rental housing, more local employment, and higher taxes than other suburbs. 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.-Authors