Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Figure 3.6.
Proportion of seniors in the population of selected cities, 2000
The 52 metropolitan areas with over 1 million inhabitants in 2005 represent 58%
of the US population. Some cities, particularly those attractive to young workers,
have an exceptionally low aging rate (see Figure 3.6). This is especially the case in
some cities of the South, in particular in southern Texas. Austin is the city with the
youngest population in the United States, just ahead of Atlanta, Houston, and Dallas.
In the West, Salt Lake City and Denver also have young populations. Florida's cities
are at the other end of the ranking. West Palm Beach tops the list with twice as many
seniors in its metropolitan population as the national average. Tampa/St Petersburg
comes in second place. Among the declining industrial cities, Pittsburgh
(Pennsylvania), the old capital of steel, leads the ranks just ahead of Buffalo.
Like Florida's cities, some regions adopted local development strategies based
on attracting seniors. Seniors have good incomes and they do not contribute to
crime. The latter is the primary concern of the middle class, and can severely
undermine the image of a city. This strategy may only be short term however, since
welcoming young seniors can cause certain categories of population and economic
activities to flee, and it also leads to an increase in health service charges after a few
decades.
3.4. Immigration to the United States of America
The United States of America is the leading country for immigration in the
world. The country was built on successive waves of immigration, to the point
where people who are purely Indigenous, Inuit, Native American or Hawaiian no
longer represent even 1% of the total population, according to the 2000 census.
