Wisconsin’s Baby Boomer Population Expected To Grow, Data Shows

New data from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services shows the population of Wisconsinites over the age of 55 has grown nearly 15 percent since the last U.S. census, and experts say Wisconsin is on track to continue aging faster than most of the nation.

Wisconsin is one of about a dozen states where there are more baby boomers than millenials. Nationally, millennials outnumber baby boomers.

David Egan-Robertson, a demographer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said he expects the trend to continue in Wisconsin.

“Over a 20- to 25-year range, the working-age population is projected to stay fairly leveled. But again, age 65 and over, will come close to doubling if not more than that,” he said.

Wisconsin has the 14th-largest baby boomer population in the country.

Egan-Robertson added that Wisconsin’s large baby boomer population isn’t the only thing that sets it apart.

“Comparing ourselves to other states, we have generally a lower population of different minority groups, like Asians, African-Americans and so forth,” he said.

Egan-Robertson said that states with fewer minorities tend to have older populations.

“Minority groups in this country tend to have a lower age distribution,” he said.

According to the census, the U.S. will be a majority minority country by 2043. Egan-Robertson said that by that time, the population of Wisconsinites over the age of 60 will have doubled.