Income of the Population 55 or Older, 2012

Demographic Characteristics

Demographic Characteristics of Aged Persons

Key Terms and Concepts for Section 1 1

Age. Age classification is based on the age of the person at his or her last birthday as of March 2013. A married couple's age is defined as the age of the husband—unless he is under age 55 and the wife is 55 or older, in which case it is the age of the wife.

Aged unit. With age 55 as the cutoff, aged units are defined as married couples living together—at least one of whom is 55 or older—and nonmarried persons 55 or older.

Marital status. Married persons are married and living with their spouse. Nonmarried persons may be divorced, widowed, never married, separated, or married but living apart from their spouse.

Race. The categories White alone, Black alone, and Asian alone reflect respondents who reported only one race. Because of changes to the race category, data on race are not directly comparable to editions prior to 2002. A person's race is his or her reported race. A married couple's race is defined as the race of the husband.

Hispanic origin. Persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race. A married couple is of Hispanic origin if the husband is of Hispanic origin.

Family. A family is a group of two or more people (one of whom is the householder) related by birth, marriage, or adoption and residing together; all such people (including related subfamily members) are considered as members of one family.

Social Security beneficiary. A beneficiary may be receiving retired-worker benefits, dependents' or survivor benefits, disability benefits, or transitionally insured benefits.

Notes

 1 For more information, consult the Glossary for this report.

Tables

Demographic Characteristics of Aged Persons Table 1.1 Percentage with characteristic, by sex, race, Hispanic origin, Social Security beneficiary status, and age, 2012
Characteristic Aged 55–61 Aged 62–64 Aged 65 or older
Total 65–69 70–74 75–79 80 or older
  All persons
Sex  
Men 48.0 46.4 44.6 47.8 45.8 42.6 40.6
Women 52.0 53.6 55.4 52.2 54.2 57.4 59.4
Race  
White alone 81.9 83.1 85.6 84.4 85.0 86.5 87.0
Black alone 11.2 10.5 9.0 9.5 9.3 8.6 8.3
Asian alone 4.6 4.8 3.9 4.1 4.1 3.3 3.7
Hispanic origin 10.1 8.6 7.4 8.2 7.1 7.7 6.4
Marital status  
Married 64.5 64.8 56.6 65.3 63.4 58.5 37.7
Nonmarried 35.5 35.2 43.4 34.7 36.6 41.5 62.3
Widowed 4.5 6.5 25.6 11.5 18.0 26.5 50.4
Divorced 17.2 17.3 11.1 15.1 12.3 9.2 6.0
Never married 9.9 8.4 4.4 5.4 4.1 4.0 3.6
Living with nonspouse family 38.5 27.5 22.3 23.3 20.8 20.5 23.7
Persons in family  
1 23.4 25.4 31.2 25.1 26.6 30.2 44.3
2 44.8 52.5 52.5 56.6 57.3 55.0 41.0
3 or more 31.9 22.1 16.2 18.3 16.1 14.8 14.7
Social Security beneficiary 9.4 36.2 84.0 73.9 87.9 88.9 90.2
Number (thousands) 28,278 10,213 43,287 14,437 10,264 7,598 10,988
  Men
Race  
White alone 83.3 84.7 86.2 85.1 85.5 87.0 88.1
Black alone 10.3 9.3 8.5 8.9 8.9 7.6 7.8
Asian alone 4.2 4.5 3.7 4.1 3.9 3.6 3.1
Hispanic origin 10.2 8.4 7.1 8.0 6.0 7.9 6.4
Marital status  
Married 68.4 69.1 71.4 74.0 76.3 74.8 59.6
Nonmarried 31.6 30.9 28.6 26.0 23.7 25.2 40.4
Widowed 2.1 3.2 12.1 5.2 7.5 10.4 28.7
Divorced 15.2 16.0 9.6 12.8 10.1 7.8 5.6
Never married 10.7 9.3 4.5 5.4 4.3 4.6 3.4
Living with nonspouse family 39.4 26.6 19.7 22.3 18.3 17.1 18.9
Persons in family  
1 23.3 24.9 22.8 21.1 19.5 20.3 30.8
2 42.1 51.9 60.6 59.5 64.3 64.9 55.4
3 or more 34.6 23.2 16.6 19.5 16.2 14.8 13.8
Social Security beneficiary 9.3 35.5 83.0 72.7 87.7 89.4 89.4
Number (thousands) 13,584 4,739 19,298 6,900 4,704 3,233 4,460
  Women
Race  
White alone 80.7 81.8 85.1 83.9 84.5 86.1 86.2
Black alone 12.2 11.5 9.4 10.1 9.6 9.2 8.6
Asian alone 4.9 5.1 4.0 4.2 4.2 3.2 4.0
Hispanic origin 10.0 8.8 7.6 8.4 8.0 7.6 6.5
Marital status  
Married 60.9 61.1 44.8 57.3 52.4 46.4 22.7
Nonmarried 39.1 38.9 55.2 42.7 47.6 53.6 77.3
Widowed 6.7 9.5 36.4 17.2 27.0 38.5 65.3
Divorced 19.1 18.5 12.2 17.2 14.1 10.3 6.2
Never married 9.2 7.7 4.3 5.4 4.0 3.5 3.8
Living with nonspouse family 37.6 28.2 24.5 24.3 23.0 23.0 27.0
Persons in family  
1 23.4 25.8 38.0 28.8 32.7 37.5 53.4
2 47.2 53.1 46.0 54.1 51.3 47.7 31.2
3 or more 29.4 21.1 16.0 17.2 16.0 14.8 15.4
Social Security beneficiary 9.6 36.9 84.8 75.0 88.0 88.6 90.8
Number (thousands) 14,694 5,474 23,990 7,537 5,561 4,364 6,528
  White alone
Sex  
Men 48.8 47.3 44.9 48.1 46.1 42.8 41.1
Women 51.2 52.7 55.1 51.9 53.9 57.2 58.9
Hispanic origin 11.3 9.4 7.9 8.8 7.6 8.0 6.9
Marital status  
Married 67.1 67.1 58.5 67.8 65.8 60.0 38.9
Nonmarried 32.9 32.9 41.5 32.2 34.2 40.0 61.1
Widowed 4.2 5.8 25.1 10.7 17.2 26.1 50.0
Divorced 17.1 17.3 10.7 14.8 11.5 8.9 5.9
Never married 8.5 7.6 3.9 4.6 3.8 3.7 3.3
Living with nonspouse family 36.1 23.9 19.4 20.1 18.1 18.0 20.5
Persons in family  
1 22.6 25.3 31.2 24.3 25.9 30.2 45.4
2 47.2 55.7 54.9 59.9 60.2 57.1 42.3
3 or more 30.2 19.0 13.9 15.7 13.9 12.7 12.3
Social Security beneficiary 9.0 37.1 85.5 75.3 89.2 90.2 91.7
Number (thousands) 23,171 8,489 37,039 12,191 8,720 6,572 9,555
  Black alone
Sex  
Men 43.8 41.1 41.9 44.9 44.0 38.0 38.2
Women 56.2 58.9 58.1 55.1 56.0 62.0 61.8
Hispanic origin 3.4 3.2 3.7 3.6 2.7 5.6 3.5
Marital status  
Married 43.0 44.7 38.9 44.3 40.8 43.5 25.3
Nonmarried 57.0 55.3 61.1 55.7 59.2 56.5 74.7
Widowed 6.9 11.1 30.6 17.2 25.7 30.2 56.0
Divorced 20.9 22.4 16.1 20.2 20.4 13.4 7.5
Never married 20.4 14.7 8.9 11.3 7.9 7.5 7.2
Living with nonspouse family 44.8 39.8 38.0 38.2 35.1 35.3 42.8
Persons in family  
1 33.6 32.8 37.3 35.1 37.9 35.8 41.0
2 33.7 36.7 36.1 36.2 36.2 38.5 34.3
3 or more 32.7 30.4 26.6 28.7 25.9 25.7 24.7
Social Security beneficiary 14.2 36.6 78.1 70.0 82.6 82.6 82.5
Number (thousands) 3,180 1,072 3,893 1,375 956 650 912
  Asian alone
Sex  
Men 44.5 43.3 43.2 47.2 44.2 45.8 34.6
Women 55.5 56.7 56.8 52.8 55.8 54.2 65.4
Hispanic origin 2.7 2.5 1.5 0.9 2.0 1.8 1.5
Marital status  
Married 73.9 73.5 61.3 70.5 71.9 62.8 35.8
Nonmarried 26.1 26.5 38.7 29.5 28.1 37.2 64.2
Widowed 3.1 7.9 23.7 11.5 16.0 23.7 49.8
Divorced 8.6 6.1 5.7 7.1 5.4 6.9 3.0
Never married 8.6 7.0 3.9 5.7 1.2 3.8 4.1
Living with nonspouse family 62.8 57.5 47.8 49.2 42.6 46.0 52.1
Persons in family  
1 11.2 9.5 16.8 12.9 12.3 15.6 28.0
2 31.7 39.2 41.2 44.2 48.8 44.3 26.8
3 or more 57.2 51.3 42.0 42.9 38.9 40.1 45.2
Social Security beneficiary 3.2 21.7 66.2 55.9 72.5 71.0 72.0
Number (thousands) 1,291 488 1,669 594 417 254 404
  Hispanic origin
Sex  
Men 48.7 45.2 42.9 46.6 38.8 43.3 40.5
Women 51.3 54.8 57.1 53.4 61.2 56.7 59.5
Race  
White alone 91.4 90.5 90.5 89.9 90.6 89.2 92.5
Black alone 3.7 3.9 4.5 4.1 3.6 6.2 4.5
Asian alone 1.2 1.4 0.8 0.4 1.2 0.8 0.9
Marital status  
Married 56.3 58.0 52.0 59.7 56.5 49.7 36.4
Nonmarried 43.7 42.0 48.0 40.3 43.5 50.3 63.6
Widowed 5.0 9.2 24.9 13.1 19.4 27.1 48.5
Divorced 17.1 14.1 11.8 12.9 13.8 12.9 7.0
Never married 12.0 9.7 6.5 8.0 5.7 6.5 4.8
Living with nonspouse family 56.4 48.6 42.3 44.3 40.2 40.5 42.5
Persons in family  
1 21.3 23.6 24.5 21.9 23.3 23.1 31.5
2 30.6 35.2 40.9 40.0 42.6 44.1 38.0
3 or more 48.1 41.2 34.5 38.1 34.1 32.8 30.5
Social Security beneficiary 9.0 32.5 73.4 64.9 79.9 76.3 78.7
Number (thousands) 2,859 877 3,213 1,187 729 588 708
  Beneficiary
Sex  
Men 47.3 45.5 44.1 47.0 45.7 42.8 40.2
Women 52.7 54.5 55.9 53.0 54.3 57.2 59.8
Race  
White alone 78.5 85.1 87.1 86.1 86.2 87.8 88.4
Black alone 16.9 10.6 8.4 9.0 8.8 8.0 7.6
Asian alone 1.6 2.9 3.0 3.1 3.4 2.7 2.9
Hispanic origin 9.7 7.7 6.5 7.2 6.5 6.6 5.6
Marital status  
Married 47.1 62.4 55.8 64.6 63.5 58.7 37.4
Nonmarried 52.9 37.6 44.2 35.4 36.5 41.3 62.6
Widowed 11.1 9.0 27.5 12.9 18.4 27.3 51.7
Divorced 23.2 18.8 10.8 15.2 12.6 8.9 5.7
Never married 13.8 7.2 3.9 5.1 3.7 3.4 3.1
Living with nonspouse family 33.6 22.5 20.0 20.9 18.4 18.3 21.7
Persons in family  
1 36.4 28.7 32.8 26.5 27.4 31.2 45.8
2 38.8 54.1 53.1 57.5 58.9 55.9 41.2
3 or more 24.8 17.2 14.0 16.0 13.7 12.9 13.0
Number (thousands) 2,665 3,702 36,355 10,669 9,018 6,756 9,913
  Nonbeneficiary
Sex  
Men 48.1 46.9 47.3 50.0 46.6 40.8 43.9
Women 51.9 53.1 52.7 50.0 53.4 59.2 56.1
Race  
White alone 82.3 82.0 77.7 79.8 75.6 76.2 73.6
Black alone 10.7 10.4 12.3 10.9 13.3 13.4 14.9
Asian alone 4.9 5.9 8.1 6.9 9.2 8.8 10.5
Hispanic origin 10.2 9.1 12.3 11.0 11.8 16.6 14.0
Marital status  
Married 66.3 66.2 61.0 67.4 62.0 56.9 40.6
Nonmarried 33.7 33.8 39.0 32.6 38.0 43.1 59.4
Widowed 3.8 5.1 15.3 7.5 15.6 19.9 38.9
Divorced 16.6 16.5 12.6 14.7 10.1 11.9 8.6
Never married 9.5 9.1 7.1 6.3 7.1 9.1 8.4
Living with nonspouse family 39.0 30.3 34.4 30.1 38.7 37.7 42.2
Persons in family  
1 22.0 23.5 22.7 21.1 21.2 22.4 30.2
2 45.4 51.6 49.5 54.1 45.6 47.8 39.0
3 or more 32.6 24.8 27.8 24.7 33.2 29.8 30.8
Number (thousands) 25,613 6,511 6,932 3,769 1,247 842 1,075
Demographic Characteristics of Aged Persons Table 1.2 Percentage of wives with characteristic, by husband's race, Hispanic origin, Social Security beneficiary status, and age, 2012
Wife characteristic Aged 55–61 Aged 62–64 Aged 65 or older
Total 65–69 70–74 75–79 80 or older
  All husbands
Wife age  
Under 55 38.7 13.8 4.2 7.0 3.8 2.3 0.9
55–61 52.8 46.6 10.3 20.1 7.4 3.1 1.7
62–64 5.4 29.0 13.0 25.3 10.0 3.7 1.9
65 or older 3.1 10.6 72.5 47.6 78.8 91.0 95.4
65–69 2.3 9.3 27.2 40.2 34.7 12.6 5.1
70–74 0.5 1.1 20.4 6.4 37.1 36.1 10.5
75–79 0.2 0.1 14.4 0.7 6.2 37.3 31.1
80 or older 0.1 0.2 10.5 0.2 0.8 4.9 48.8
Wife race  
White alone 85.0 84.7 87.4 86.3 87.4 87.5 89.3
Black alone 7.2 7.0 6.3 6.6 6.3 6.5 5.7
Asian alone 5.7 6.4 5.0 5.6 5.2 4.6 4.0
Wife Hispanic origin 9.7 7.6 7.2 8.3 6.6 6.9 6.1
Wife Social Security beneficiary 7.7 19.9 67.9 47.6 72.7 83.2 86.7
Number (thousands) 9,287 3,273 13,770 5,108 3,587 2,419 2,656
  White alone husbands
Wife race  
White alone 97.2 96.9 98.3 97.6 98.3 98.8 99.1
Black alone 0.2 0.4 0.1 0.2 0.1 0.1 0.0
Asian alone 1.5 1.5 1.0 1.4 1.1 0.7 0.6
Wife Hispanic origin 10.5 7.6 7.7 9.1 7.1 6.9 6.7
Number (thousands) 7,958 2,815 12,090 4,444 3,150 2,116 2,381
  Black alone husbands
Wife race  
White alone 6.7 5.9 4.9 6.6 4.5 5.5 1.2
Black alone 92.2 92.9 93.4 92.0 93.1 94.5 95.8
Asian alone 0.0 0.8 0.8 0.2 1.8 0.0 1.2
Wife Hispanic origin 3.3 5.7 2.0 2.6 1.9 2.5 0.0
Number (thousands) 701 237 915 355 240 164 156
  Asian alone husbands
Wife race  
White alone 5.5 5.3 3.4 4.9 4.2 1.7 0.0
Black alone 0.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Asian alone 93.2 92.6 95.3 93.7 95.6 94.9 99.6
Wife Hispanic origin 2.1 3.3 1.4 1.1 0.0 5.3 0.0
Number (thousands) 440 176 581 237 153 100 90
  Hispanic origin husbands
Wife race  
White alone 93.1 89.4 94.0 94.2 95.0 89.5 97.0
Black alone 2.2 3.7 2.1 2.9 1.8 1.4 1.4
Asian alone 1.8 0.7 0.8 0.7 1.4 0.3 0.9
Wife Hispanic origin 83.1 83.2 86.0 87.4 87.0 82.2 85.6
Number (thousands) 870 243 947 392 213 176 165
  Beneficiary husbands
Wife Social Security beneficiary 23.8 32.9 77.2 57.5 79.8 89.0 93.2
Number (thousands) 689 1,085 11,434 3,679 3,159 2,185 2,411
  Nonbeneficiary husbands
Wife Social Security beneficiary 6.4 13.4 22.5 22.0 20.0 29.7 23.2
Number (thousands) 8,599 2,188 2,336 1,430 428 234 245
Demographic Characteristics of Aged Persons Table 1.3 Percentage of husbands with characteristic, by wife's race, Hispanic origin, Social Security beneficiary status, and age, 2012
Husband characteristic Aged 55–61 Aged 62–64 Aged 65 or older
Total 65–69 70–74 75–79 80 or older
  All wives
Husband age  
Under 55 12.4 3.0 1.2 1.4 0.8 1.1 1.3
55–61 54.8 15.0 2.6 4.9 1.7 0.7 0.6
62–64 17.0 28.4 3.2 7.0 1.2 0.1 0.4
65 or older 15.8 53.6 92.9 86.6 96.3 98.1 97.7
65–69 11.5 38.7 22.6 47.6 11.2 1.8 0.6
70–74 3.0 10.8 26.3 28.8 45.6 10.9 1.8
75–79 0.8 2.7 20.5 7.1 30.0 44.6 7.9
80 or older 0.5 1.5 23.6 3.1 9.5 40.8 87.3
Husband race  
White alone 85.8 86.5 89.2 88.4 89.0 90.4 90.5
Black alone 7.8 7.2 5.9 6.3 5.4 6.2 5.2
Asian alone 4.8 4.8 3.5 3.5 4.4 2.4 3.0
Husband Hispanic origin 7.8 7.5 6.7 7.6 6.4 5.6 6.1
Husband Social Security beneficiary 20.9 51.6 83.0 75.4 87.3 88.5 89.0
Number (thousands) 8,955 3,343 10,748 4,321 2,916 2,027 1,484
  White alone wives
Husband race  
White alone 98.4 98.4 98.9 98.4 98.9 99.3 99.5
Black alone 0.6 0.4 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.1 0.1
Asian alone 0.2 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.0 0.0
Husband Hispanic origin 8.6 8.1 7.0 7.9 6.8 6.0 6.4
Number (thousands) 7,602 2,877 9,572 3,822 2,587 1,828 1,336
  Black alone wives
Husband race  
White alone 2.7 4.0 0.9 0.7 1.8 0.0 a
Black alone 96.6 95.1 99.0 99.3 98.2 100.0 a
Asian alone 0.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 a
Husband Hispanic origin 2.4 3.6 2.7 3.5 2.5 1.1 a
Number (thousands) 666 242 598 255 150 119 74
  Asian alone wives
Husband race  
White alone 19.8 18.6 17.5 18.6 17.3 a a
Black alone 0.7 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 a a
Asian alone 78.8 80.6 80.6 80.2 82.1 a a
Husband Hispanic origin 0.4 1.1 1.4 2.8 0.4 a a
Number (thousands) 515 182 442 182 147 59 54
  Hispanic origin wives
Husband race  
White alone 91.9 92.3 93.4 91.8 94.2 96.0 94.0
Black alone 2.8 4.5 1.6 2.2 1.2 0.0 2.2
Asian alone 1.6 0.1 1.1 0.8 1.1 2.7 0.0
Husband Hispanic origin 80.2 81.5 85.6 88.8 81.7 79.4 90.8
Number (thousands) 740 265 724 317 199 116 92
  Beneficiary wives
Husband Social Security beneficiary 49.9 69.9 91.8 85.9 94.1 95.6 96.9
Number (thousands) 567 1,224 8,855 3,210 2,570 1,782 1,292
  Nonbeneficiary wives
Husband Social Security beneficiary 19.0 41.0 41.7 45.2 36.7 37.4 35.9
Number (thousands) 8,388 2,120 1,893 1,111 346 244 192
a. Fewer than 75,000 weighted cases.