What does this measure?

The growth or decline in the number of residents of a geographic area, broken down by gender and age.

Why is this important?

Population measures provide insight on the changing size and face of communities, and the distribution of population among ages affects the character of and challenges faced by a community. For example, an area with a large concentration of youth will have different service needs currently and in the future than an area with a large elderly population.

How is our county doing?

From 2000 to 2017-21 in Essex County, there was more growth in older age brackets among both males and females. Among males, the greatest increases were in the age brackets of 60-84 (62%) and 85 or older (73%), along with an increase in the population of females in both of these age brackets. There was a much smaller increase in the age brackets of 20-39 for males (5%) and for females 20-39 (1%). These were similar to trends in Massachusetts and the nation.

Within Essex County, the City of Lawrence had larger increases for both males and females in the age brackets of 40-59 (47% for females and 38% for males). There was a larger increase for males in the age brackets of 60-84 (70%).

How do we compare to similar counties?

Trends in Essex County were very similar to the comparison counties, with more growth in older populations for both males and females, and losses or small growth in younger populations.

Notes about the data

Individuals age into and out of these groups, and this indicator should not be interpreted as a measure of groups moving to or away from the region. The multiyear figures are from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. The bureau combined 5 years of responses to the survey to provide estimates for smaller geographic areas and increase the precision of its estimates. However, because the information came from a survey, the samples responding to the survey were not always large enough to produce reliable results, especially in small geographic areas. CGR has noted on data tables the estimates with relatively large margins of error. Estimates with three asterisks have the largest margins, plus or minus 50% or more of the estimate. Two asterisks mean plus or minus 35%-50%, and one asterisk means plus or minus 20%-35%. For all estimates, the confidence level is 90%, meaning there is 90% probability the true value (if the whole population were surveyed) would be within the margin of error (or confidence interval). The survey provides data on characteristics of the population that used to be collected only during the decennial census. Data for this indicator are released annually in December.