Increasing Needs in a Graying County

Orange County’s elderly population could double over the next 20 years, bringing extra demands for new social and health services, according to a report released Wednesday.

Cal State Fullerton’s Center for Demographic Research, which studies social change for local governments, also found that the county’s median age will jump from 32.2 in 1995 to 39.0 by 2015.

Besides the Leisure World retirement communities in Seal Beach and Laguna Hills, the greatest concentration of elderly residents is gathering in coastal resort communities such as Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Dana Point and San Clemente, according to the report.

Those cities are home to more older residents than family-oriented communities in the South County or in immigrant neighborhoods in Santa Ana, Westminster and Anaheim. In 1995, Santa Ana recorded the youngest median age, 26.2, while Seal Beach recorded the oldest at 47.4.

Bill Gyke, director of the center, said the trend will require government to consider the needs of seniors when providing services ranging from the design of parks to staffing of fire stations and ambulances.

“Just look at paramedic service. As a population grows, the demand for paramedic service tends to increase,” Gyke said. “The growth of the retirement-age population will bring with it a whole new menu of demands.”

The findings come as the county is preparing a master plan for dealing with the needs of the elderly. Board of Supervisors Chairman Jim Silva has also called for a first-ever seniors summit to discuss the issue.

Peggy Weatherspoon, director of the county’s Area Agency on Aging, said social services organizations and health-care providers are feeling the effects of the surge and are grappling with ways to meet the coming demands.

“We find that older adults want to remain at home,” she said. “That means home-delivered meals, transportation services for those who don’t drive, as well as adult day care. These are the kinds of critically needed services we expect to see in greater demand.”

The center’s research found that Orange County’s median age rose from 30.5 to 32.2 between 1990 and 1995. People older than 65 now make up about 9% of the population countywide. That could nearly double in 20 years.

Some residents sell their homes and leave the county when they retire, but Gyke said, the vast majority remain here.

Until now, the senior population has consisted mainly of people who lived here before World War II, as well as a second generation who moved into the county during the urbanization of the 1950s and 1960s, the report said.

Now, a third generation of seniors is emerging from the baby boom that promises to be much larger than the first two, Gyke said.

The new seniors also bring different needs than the “second generation,” which was influenced by the Great Depression and World War II.

“The baby boomers are from the ‘me’ generation, so we are seeing trends such as they are more likely to live alone because they gave up their family for career,” Weatherspoon said. “They are also more likely to have spent it as they got it, so there is less [financial] preparation for retirement.”

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Growing Older

The median age of Orange County residents is expected to increase nearly five years between the turn of the century and 2020. The projected trend:

1990: 30.5

2020: 39.0

Source: Center for Demographic Research, Cal State Fullerton

City Contrasts

In 1995, the most recent year for which information is available, just three cities had median ages older than 40 and two younger than 30:

Anaheim: 30.0

Brea: 35.1

Buena Park: 31.1

Costa Mesa: 32.6

Cypress: 34.7

Dana Point: 36.5

Fountain Valley: 35.3

Fullerton: 32.6

Garden Grove: 30.7

Huntington Beach: 34.6

Irvine: 33.5

Laguna Beach: 40.4

Laguna Hills: 39.5

Laguna Niguel: 35.5

La Habra: 31.2

Lake Forest: 33.6

La Palma: 33.9

Los Alamitos: 33.9

Mission Viejo: 35.3

Newport Beach: 40.1

Orange: 31.9

Placentia: 31.9

San Clemente: 35.9

San Juan Capistrano: 32.9

Santa Ana: 26.2

Seal Beach: 47.4

Stanton: 29.6

Tustin: 30.6

Villa Park: 37.5

Westminster: 31.3

Yorba Linda: 34.5

Unincorporated areas: 35.1

Source: Center for Demographic Research, Cal State Fullerton