Cost of falls by state 2018 (CDC data): As the number of Americans 65 and older grows, fall injuries and treatment costs are expected to significantly increase. The data includes direct expenses like hospitalizations, rehabilitation, community-based services, use of medical equipment, prescription drugs, and insurance processing. They do not include indirect costs like diminished quality of life, lost time from work, or disability.
Older Americans 2020: Key Indicators of Well-Being
Report and accompanying XLS subject files with the latest data on the 40 key indicators about the lives of older Americans and their families. It is divided into six subject areas: population, economics, health status, health risks and behaviors, health care, and environment.
USALEEP presents National Center for Health Statistics life expectancy estimates at the census tract level; you can view interactive or static maps or download data in CSV format.
Percentage of adults aged 65 years or older who are currently obese with a BMI >= 30 by state (2015-2019). Data in this visualization come from the BRFSS data set. Information can be filtered by year, gender, ethnicity and age range (50-64; 65 and older).
Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) /Elderly Health Care is a set of large-scale surveys of families and individuals, their medical providers, and employers across the United States. The Elderly Health Care topic has data on older adults’ expenditures, prescription drug usage, and utilization; files are accessible online or can be downloaded.
Minority Aging: Racial and ethnic minority populations increased from 6.3 million in 2003 (17.5 percent of the older adult population) to 9.5 million in 2013 (21.2 of older adults), and are projected to grow to 21.1 million in 2030 (28.5 percent of older adults). This page from the Administration for Community Living provides statistical profiles of African American, Asian American American Indian/Native Alaskan and Hispanic American individuals age 65 including income/poverty, access to care, chronic conditions and self-rated health status.
Institute for Health Metrics & Evaluation (IMHE) Data visualization map for all causes of death: With this interactive map, you can explore health trends in the United States at the county level for both sexes for:
- 21 major causes of death, including
- Life expectancy
- Smoking
- Obesity
- Physical activity
- Alcohol use
- Hypertension
- Diabetes
Adjustable settings can be applied for year, cause of death and sex. There’s also a menu to explore time trends for specific counties. Data is also downloadable for further analysis.
AGID (Aging Integrated Database): From the Administration on Community Living, this query system based on ACL-related data files and surveys includes population characteristics from the Census Bureau for comparison purposes. Find/download data for topics ranging from from Older Americans Act programs to annual spending on elder abuse. Different levels of focus and aggregation of the data are available – including full database access within Data Files. Data is currently available for 2009-2014.
DataExplorer is a free interactive search and visualization tool for data on the 50-plus population. Users can browse and search for information on issues like demographics, health, financial security, housing and transportation by indicators that include age, race/ethnicity, state, income, health status, and languages spoken.
Kaiser Family Foundation State Health Facts: This poverty database provides a quick overview and comparison of percent and number of people living in poverty rate by age and state, accessible in table or map format. Raw data is available for download so you can do your own analysis.
Health, United States, 2013 American Indian or Alaska Native Population:This is a great place to start if covering the health of Native American/Alaskan Native Elders. Data through 2012 on topics like emergency room visits, no usual source of care and health status are available in both pdf and Excel format.
The Digital Ageing Atlas is a portal of age-related changes covering different biological levels. It integrates molecular, physiological, psychological and pathological age-related data to create an interactive portal that serves as the first centralised collection of human ageing changes and pathologies.
The RAND Health and Retirement Study (HRS) Data is a cleaned and easy-to-use version of data from eleven waves of the Health and Retirement Study data, which includes five entry cohorts:
- The original 1992 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) cohort
- The 1993 Study of Assets and Health Dynamics (AHEAD) cohort
- The Children of Depression and War Baby cohorts entering in 1998
- The Early Baby Boomer cohort entering in 2004.
Derived variables covering a broad (though not complete) range of measures have been constructed. Registration is required; a password will be issued within 24 hours. follow the “Datasets and Files” link, then the “RAND Contributed Files” link.
The National Health and Aging Trends Study database (NHATS) is a relatively new resource for the scientific study of functioning in later life. The study is being conducted by the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, with support from the National Institute on Aging. NHATS gathers information via in-person interviews on a nationally representative sample of Medicare beneficiaries on activities of daily life, living arrangements, economic status and well-being, aspects of early life, and quality of life.
Registration (free) is required to access public use data. Additional data is available for institutional researchers.
Among the specific content areas included are: the general and technological environment of the home, health conditions, work status and participation in valued activities, mobility and use of assistive devices. Downloadable ZIP files contain information on:
- Sample Person File (SP File) which includes data from both the SP Interview and the Facility Questionnaire (FQ) Interview
- Other Person File (OP File) which includes data for individuals named in the SP interview as:
- Proxy respondent
- Household members
- Children not residing in SP’s Household
- Social network members
- Helpers with mobility, driving and transportation, self-care, household activities and medical care
- Person the SP is caring for
Statistics on the Aging Population: This page from the Administration on Aging offers census info, minority statistics and historical population estimates.
This Aging Data and Statistics Web site brings together information sources from across CDC. The site offers data about life expectancy, rates of death from specific causes, numbers of people with chronic diseases, health behavior and more.
Federal Interagency Forum on Aging-Related Statistics: A collection of federal reports and summary data related to the aging American population.
Basic statistics on older Americans (from the Administration on Aging)
A comprehensive profile of older Americans (from the Administration on Aging):
A directory of programs serving older Americans across the country, called the ElderCare Locator
Healthy Aging Data Portfolio: This database from the Centers for Disease Control provides the ability to cross reference specific geographic locations with specific diseases, risks, and health objectives.