Population Under Age 18 Declined Last Decade

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Adult Population in the West Shows Fastest Growth, South Had Largest Increase

The 2020 Census shows that the Northeast had the largest proportion of adult population (79.7%) and the smallest proportion of people under age 18 (20.3%) (Table 2a).

In contrast, the South had the lowest proportion of adult population (77.5%) and the highest proportion of young population (22.5%).

But only the South maintained growth in both age groups from 2000 to 2010 and 2010 to 2020: The young population in that region increased by 2.2 million (8.7%) and by 0.6 million (2.1%), respectively (Table 2b).

The adult population in the South also experienced the largest numeric increase of 11.1 million, or 12.8%, between 2010 and 2020.

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The figure below shows that the adult population grew in all regions during the 2000s and 2010s. The West experienced the fastest population change between 2010 and 2020, adding 7 million (13%) adults.

However, the Northeast was the only region where the adult population grew faster between 2010 and 2020 (6.8% or 2.9 million) than between 2000 and 2010 (6% or 2.4 million).

In the rest of the regions and across the country, the adult population grew at a slower pace over the last decade. The younger population also grew more slowly or declined.

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Use the interactive data visualization below to learn about the size, growth rate and distribution of the adult and under-age-18 populations in your state and county.

**Stella Ogunwole, Megan Rabe and Zoe Caplan are demographic statisticians in the Sex and Age Statistics Branch in the Census Bureau’s Population Division. **

Andrew Roberts is chief of the Sex and Age Statistics Branch.

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