Similar measures will become commonplace as boomers age. The Michigan of 10 or 20 years from now will look much like what Florida does today, in terms of age demographics. By that time, one in five residents in Michigan will be 65 or older. Michigan is aging slightly faster than the nation as a whole. The United States' median age was 35.3 in the latest Census, up from 32.9 in 1990.
Immigration makes the difference.
Immigrant families tend to be younger, and Michigan gets fewer immigrants than the rest of the country. In Hamtramck, where immigrants fueled a 25-percent population gain in the 1990s, the median age dropped from 35.2 to 31.5. Other communities in Southeast Michigan became much older. Bloomfield Hills, which had a median age rise from 46.2 in 1990 to 51.9 in 2000, already has more senior citizens than children. John Davey, the mayor of Bloomfield Hills, attributed the rising age of his city to the skyrocketing home prices.