Gulf Coastal Alaska has Highest Percentage of Elders

Shady Grove Oliver/KBBI

Alaska is getting older. Its population of seniors passed the 70,000 mark last year. That’s according to the Alaska Department of Labor, which released statistics for the aging population on Friday.

The number of Alaskans age 65 and older increased by more than 3,000 since 2013. That group now comprises 10 percent of the state’s population. The state’s median age is 34.

Seniors comprise 13 percent of the population in the Gulf Coast region, which is the highest in the state. That includes the Kenai Peninsula, Kodiak, and the Valdez-Cordova census area.

They make up only six percent of the northern region, which includes Nome, the North Slope, and the Northwest Arctic. That’s the lowest in the state.

Southeast Alaska has the overall highest median age at 39.5 years. Within that, the Haines Borough leads with a median age of 48.

The Northern Region has the overall lowest median age at 29.8 years. But the youngest people reside in the Wade Hampton census area in Southwest Alaska. The median age there is just 23.1 years.