Biggest share of people 65 and over?
🔎 Skip to the answer (ranking table)Guess
Which states have the biggest share of people 65 and over? Tap them most-to-least.
Tapping assigns 1→4 in order
I bet… Florida — retirement beaches, obviously!
Answer
The real order is…
Maine takes it — and retirement-famous Florida is only #3!
📚 Background Everyone says Florida — but Florida is only #3. Maine and Vermont both have a larger share of people 65 and over. That's what a share does: it depends on everybody else too, so a state can have a very large number of older residents and still not lead this list. (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2023) (opens in a new tab)
🔍 Explore more: 🧒『The state where more than one in four is a kid』→ I bet… Florida — retirement beaches, obviously!
Compare
Share of people 65 and over (%, ACS 2023)
Highest: Maine (22.9 %); lowest: Utah (12.2 %).
Note: this is a share — out of every 100 people, how many are 65 or older. A state can have a very large number of older residents and still not lead this list.
Geography is destiny!
Recap
🏅 Today's discovery
🏅 Maine is the USA's #1!
🐕 States in Numbers
Quiz a friend!
📋 See the ranking table (top 50)
| Rank | State | Value |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | Maine | 22.9 % |
| #2 | Vermont | 22.2 % |
| #3 | Florida | 21.7 % |
| #4 | West Virginia | 21.5 % |
| #5 | Delaware | 21.3 % |
| #6 | Hawaii | 21.1 % |
| #7 | New Hampshire | 20.7 % |
| #8 | Montana | 20.5 % |
| #9 | Pennsylvania | 20 % |
| #10 | New Mexico | 19.9 % |
| #11 | Oregon | 19.6 % |
| #12 | Rhode Island | 19.4 % |
| #13 | Arizona | 19.3 % |
| #13 | Michigan | 19.3 % |
| #13 | South Carolina | 19.3 % |
| #16 | Wisconsin | 19.2 % |
| #16 | Wyoming | 19.2 % |
| #18 | Connecticut | 19.1 % |
| #19 | Ohio | 18.8 % |
| #20 | New York | 18.6 % |
| #21 | Iowa | 18.5 % |
| #21 | Massachusetts | 18.5 % |
| #23 | Missouri | 18.4 % |
| #23 | South Dakota | 18.4 % |
| #25 | Alabama | 18.2 % |
| #26 | Arkansas | 18 % |
| #27 | Minnesota | 17.9 % |
| #28 | Kentucky | 17.8 % |
| #29 | New Jersey | 17.7 % |
| #29 | North Carolina | 17.7 % |
| #31 | Illinois | 17.6 % |
| #31 | Kansas | 17.6 % |
| #31 | Mississippi | 17.6 % |
| #34 | Tennessee | 17.5 % |
| #35 | Idaho | 17.4 % |
| #35 | Louisiana | 17.4 % |
| #35 | Nevada | 17.4 % |
| #38 | Maryland | 17.3 % |
| #39 | Indiana | 17.2 % |
| #39 | Nebraska | 17.2 % |
| #39 | Virginia | 17.2 % |
| #42 | North Dakota | 17.1 % |
| #42 | Washington | 17.1 % |
| #44 | Oklahoma | 16.7 % |
| #45 | California | 16.2 % |
| #46 | Colorado | 16.1 % |
| #47 | Georgia | 15.4 % |
| #48 | Alaska | 14 % |
| #49 | Texas | 13.8 % |
| #50 | Utah | 12.2 % |
| 🇺🇸 USA (national figure) | 17.7 % |
Source: U.S. Census Bureau (2023 (ACS 1-year estimates))
Sources
Data as of: 2023 (ACS 1-year estimates)
U.S. Census Bureau: American Community Survey 2023 1-year profile DP05_0024PE (share of people 65 and over) (opens in a new tab) (2026-08-02) — Official published survey estimates (the committed raw file is the API response, unchanged).
↳ On data.census.gov, open profile table “DP05” for 2023 and read DP05_0024PE (share of people 65 and over) by state.