The U.S. Census Bureau released a report on September 22, 2025, showing that the number of Americans aged 100 and older increased by 50% between 2010 and 2020. In 2020, there were 80,139 centenarians in the United States, up from 53,364 in 2010. Despite this growth, centenarians made up only about two out of every 10,000 people.
According to the report, “Centenarians: 2020,” the increase in the centenarian population was faster than that of other older age groups during the same period. The data comes from the 2020 Census and includes details about age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, living arrangements, and geographic distribution.
In terms of gender distribution in 2020, women made up nearly four out of five centenarians at 78.8%, a slight decrease from 82.8% in 2010. The male centenarian population grew by more than four-fifths (85.3%), while female centenarians increased by just under half (42.9%).
Racial diversity among centenarians also shifted somewhat over the decade. The share identifying as White alone declined by about eight percentage points since 2010; however, this change was smaller than the decline seen among those under age 65. Black or African American alone centenarians decreased from 12.2% to 10.3%.
Geographically, the Northeast had the highest proportion of centenarians at over three per ten thousand residents (3.19). Hawaii stood out with more than four per ten thousand (4.44), joined by Puerto Rico at a similar rate (4.14). No state had fewer than one centenarian per ten thousand people; Utah had the lowest proportion at just above one (1.04), followed closely by Alaska.
Living arrangements varied between men and women among those reaching age 100 or older in America: “In 2020, female centenarians lived alone without familiar household members to a much greater extent than male centenarians.” About half (49.7%) of male centenarians lived with others in a household compared to about a third (33.8%) for females.
The report found that group quarters living—such as nursing homes—was more common for women: “Among centenarians, 27.6% of females were living in a nursing home while only 14.2% of males were living in a nursing home.” Combining these figures shows that roughly two-thirds of female centenarians either lived alone or in group quarters compared to about half for males.
Racial and ethnic differences also appeared when looking at who lived with others: “Centenarian living arrangement with notably more racial and ethnic diversity in 2020 was ‘living with others in a household,’ while…nursing homes and ‘living alone’…had least racial and ethnic diversity.” Over sixty percent of Hispanic or Latino, Asian alone, and “All Other Races” centenarians lived with others; less than thirty-five percent of White non-Hispanic counterparts did so.
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