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Narrative

Marital Status
• The marital status of St. Louis County's senior population (age 65 and older) approximates that of the state over all with slightly more never-married persons (4.1 percent versus 3.7 percent statewide), married-couples (53.2 percent versus 52.3 percent statewide), and slightly fewer divorced persons (6.5 percent versus 7.1 percent statewide) - see Table 1.
• There is great diversity, however, among areas in the county. The largest percent of married-couples is in the North Ballwin/Manchester Area (69.7 percent) and the smallest percentage is in Jennings (36.8 percent) - see Map 1. Jennings has the largest percentage of seniors widowed with 41.3 percent - see Map 2. The Maplewood/Richmond Heights Area, on the other hand, has the largest proportion of never-married seniors with 12.4 percent.
• The senior population 85 years and older contains slightly more widowed and never-married persons than the state overall - see Table 2. The largest proportion of widowed persons is found in the Des Peres/Valley Park Area accounting for 85.5 percent of residents of this age group. It is not surprising, therefore, that Des Peres/Valley Park has the smallest proportion of married-couples with only 4.8 percent. It is noteworthy that there are two areas each having an unusually large number of "never-married" seniors age 85 and older - 135 in Webster Groves and 113 in Maplewood/Richmond Heights. Other than those two, there are no other areas having more than 45 in the "never married" among the 85 and older population.

Household Type
• Since, as indicated on Table 1, Maplewood/Richmond Heights has the third lowest percentage of married couples (41.7 percent) and the greatest number of "never married" among the areas, it is not surprising that that area has the highest percentage of persons 65 and older living alone (42.9 percent versus only 28.8 percent county-wide) - see Table 3. The North Ballwin/Manchester and Jamestown Areas have the largest proportion of seniors (65 and older) living in families with 79.1 and 76.1 percent respectively compared with only 63.2 percent county-wide and 61.3 percent statewide. That relatively high percentage of family households may reflect the aging of younger seniors who moved to new housing developments in these areas in the early 1990s and are now aging in place.
• The largest proportions of seniors residing in group quarters are in the Town and Country Area (21.4 percent) followed by the Black Jack Area with (15.7 percent) and the Southwest Area with 15.3 percent. These areas claim large nursing home populations.

Change in Household Types 1990-2000
• As indicated in Table 4 there was an increase of 6,015 family (7.1 percent) and 6,465 non-family households (18.5 percent) in St. Louis County from 1990 to 2000.
• There was significant variation among the areas in the extent of change. The number of family households increased in 21 of the 37 Census Tract Areas during the 1990s and declined in the remaining 16. The gain in family households was especially great in the Mehlville (1,420), Sappington/Concord (1,280), Chesterfield (1,227), Jamestown (1,022), West Chesterfield (930) and South Ballwin/Manchester (891) Areas. Together, those six areas added 6,770 family households during the 1990s, greater than the net increase of 6,015 family households in the county. Those six areas are generally on the perimeter of the county and have been the areas hosting much of the new home construction during the 1990s.
• It is of significance that the above six areas not only experienced the greatest increases in family households but several also experienced the greatest increases in non-family households (generally persons living alone). The increase in non-family households generally occurred as a result of death of a spouse or a divorce that typically transforms a family household into a non-family household. The increase in number of non-family households and the percent increase for some of the above areas were as follows: Mehlville had an increase of 481 non-family households (70 percent increase), Sappington/Concord had an increase of 617 non-family households (66 percent increase), Chesterfield had an increase of 555 non-family households (83 percent increase), South Ballwin/Manchester had an increase of 524 non-family households (169 percent increase).
• In addition to the increases in non-family households among the areas, there were nine areas that had a net decline in number of non-family households in the 1990s. The largest decline in non-family households occurred in the Berkeley/Airport, Jennings, Normandy, University City/South and Wellston/Pagedale Areas.
• There were five areas experiencing a significant increase in group quarters population. These included the Black Jack, Chesterfield, Riverwood and West Chesterfield Areas each containing one or more nursing homes.

Maps

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Tables

Population Age 65 and Older by Marital Status, 2000	HTML	PDF
Population Age 85 and Older by Marital Status, 2000	HTML	PDF
Percent of Population 65 and Older by Household Type, 2000	HTML	PDF
Change and Percent Change in Living Arrangements of the Population Age 65 and Older, 1990-2000	HTML	PDF

Graphics

• Population Age 65 and Older Widowed
• Population Age 65 and Older Living Alone
• Population Age 85 and Older Widowed