Abstract
This study investigates the extent to which older (age 60 and over) and younger (age 20–34) Americans live in the same neighborhoods. It documents residential segregation by age in 1990, 2000, and 2010 at multiple scales and examines how degrees of age segregation vary across geographic space. Multi-level analysis illustrates the extent to which segregation occurs between states, between counties, between county subdivisions, and at the microscale between blocks within county subdivisions. Mapping and spatial analysis analyze geographic variation in age segregation, assessing regional patterns, and demonstrating spatial clustering. Results show that at the microscale older and younger adults are moderately segregated (at a similar extent as are Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites), and age segregation is stark in certain geographic areas that experience segregation at both macro- and micro-levels.
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Notes
While age 65 and over is a standard retirement age, I’ve used 60 and over because data suggest that retirement migration begins before age 65. Data from Census 2000 indicate that about 25 % of those age 60–64 move and that this proportion drops to 20% of those in their 70s. Similarly, net migration estimates by age (Winkler et al. 2013) suggest that retirement migration is strong at ages 60–64 as well as 65–69.
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Acknowledgments
This work would not have been possible without the technical assistance provided by Rozalynn Klaas at the Applied Population Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I would also like to thank David Long (also of the APL) for his comments and suggestions. A map (co-authored with Rozalynn Klaas) related to this project is published online in the Journal of Maps, Volume 8, Issue 4. Related research was presented at the 2011 Rural Sociological Society annual meeting in Boise, ID, the 2011 Southern Demographic Association meeting in Tallahassee, FL and the 2012 Population Association of America annual meeting in San Francisco, CA. Comments and suggestions provided by several colleagues at those meetings, as well as those provided by the anonymous reviewers and editorial team at PRPR and for this special issue, have improved this project and this manuscript.
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Manuscript prepared for submission as a Research Note to the Special Issue on Census 2010 in Population Research and Policy Review.
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Winkler, R. Research Note: Segregated by Age: Are We Becoming More Divided?. Popul Res Policy Rev 32, 717–727 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-013-9291-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11113-013-9291-8