Older U.S. residents disproportionately concentrated in higher wildfire risk areas

In areas with higher wildfire risk, the share of older populations is greater than in places with lower wildfire risk. The average age of the population in the United States has been increasing as the older population has grown, and, at the same time, wildfire risks to communities have increased because of environmental and human factors. Researchers with USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) examined census data and found that people ages 20–29 and 30–39 were more concentrated in lower risk census blocks, while people ages 50–59, 60–69, and 70–79 were more concentrated in moderate, high, and highest risk blocks. In areas with high/highest wildfire risk, 29 percent of residents were over age 60 in 2020, compared with 23 percent of the U.S. population that was over 60. Older people face a greater risk of dying in a fire than younger people and may need different kinds of resources and programs to improve their ability to mitigate wildfire risk. A version of this chart appears in the ERS report Aging and Wildfire Risk to Communities, published in February 2025.