character
Older adults (65+)
Why this matters
Older adults are residents age 65 and older. Thanks to longer lives and the large baby-boom generation, this group is growing quickly across the country, making it one of the most important numbers for local planning.
More older adults means more demand for healthcare, home services, and accessible transit for people who no longer drive. It also shapes housing, since many seniors want to stay in their own homes and communities as they age.
Older residents are also active contributors: they volunteer, work, care for grandchildren, and anchor neighborhoods. Tracking this share helps a community build age-friendly places.
About the Charlotte region
This explorer covers the 14-county, two-state Charlotte region (11 North Carolina and 3 South Carolina counties). Many of these indicators connect to a defining regional story: a landmark Harvard study ranked Charlotte last, 50th of the 50 largest U.S. metros for economic mobility (a child raised in the poorest fifth had about a 4.4% chance of reaching the top fifth), a finding that launched the region's Leading on Opportunity agenda. Updated 2024 data show Charlotte has since climbed to 38th.
Opportunity here is also unevenly mapped. An affluent “wedge” fanning southeast from uptown holds a large majority of the city's wealth on under a quarter of its land, while a ”crescent” to the north, west, and east carries higher poverty, a legacy of redlining, exclusionary zoning, and highway routing that recurs across the race, income, health, tree-canopy, and school maps in this tool. No single indicator is good or bad on its own; together they describe how the region sorted opportunity.
Companion resources: Charlotte-Mecklenburg Quality of Life Explorer · UNC Charlotte Urban Institute · Opportunity Atlas · Methods & sources
Learn more
- ACL — Profile of Older Americans acl.gov
Annual federal summary of demographics, income, and health for adults 65+.
- Population Reference Bureau — Aging in the United States prb.org
Accessible fact sheet on the growth and characteristics of the older population.
- AARP Livability Index livabilityindex.aarp.org
Interactive tool scoring how well communities support residents of all ages.
About the data
Calculated from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (2014–2024), at the Census-tract level, with margins of error. ACS 5-year vintages overlap year to year, so the series is a rolling estimate; compare only non-overlapping periods.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates.