Long Island gets grayer as younger people leave, data shows

Data Point

65-plus demographic on LI up about 3 percentage points since 2018

Newly released data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey shows that the percentage of households on Long Island with at least one resident who is 65 years or older has risen, indicating Long Island’s growing population of seniors.

Between 2019 and 2023, when the survey was conducted, 38.9% of total households in Nassau County were estimated to have at least one individual who is 65 or older, a 2.9 percentage-point increase from the five-year period ending 2018. In Suffolk County an estimated 36.9% of total households include one individual who is 65 or older, an increase of 3.4 percentage points compared with 33.5% during the five-year period ending 2018. In both instances, the percentage increases are deemed to be statistically significant by the Census Bureau.

The trend mirrors that of nearly all suburban counties in New York State, and Newsday’s previous reporting. It tracks census data that shows the percentage of adults on Long Island age 65 years and older increased to 18.1% in 2020 from 14.3% in 2010. That decade detailing the graying of Long Island was higher than the state’s increase to 16.9% in 2020 from 13.5% in 2010.

This increase in the 65-and-older demographic isn't a natural shift caused by the population increases in Nassau and Suffolk the ACS showed during this period. That's because the percentage of households with individuals under 18 years old is estimated to have dropped on Long Island during the same period.

In Nassau, this percentage of total households with children dropped from 35.5% during the five-year period ending 2018 to 34.7% in the period ending 2023. Similarly in Suffolk County, the percentage of households with at least one individual under 18 has dropped from 33.7% to 31.4%.

This ACS data puts more concrete numbers to what is being seen across Long Island. Long Island's shrinking population of individuals under 18 is indicative of young families leaving the area due to rising housing costs and a strained housing market, in part caused by this group of aging Long Islanders over 65 who are not downsizing out of their homes, creating little inventory.

— Karthika Namboothiri karthika.namboothiri@newsday.com

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