Population measures provide insight on the changing size and face of communities, and the distribution of population among ages affects the character of and challenges faced by a community. Older people may need more supports, particularly those living alone.

On par with the state rate, 39% of people in Westchester County ages 65 and older lived alone in 2016-20, 1 percentage point higher than in 2011-15. That's over 45,000 people in Westchester County. The national rate was slightly lower, at 37%, in 2016-20. Westchester County's rate was higher than Rockland at 33%, Nassau at 30% and Putnam at 28%. Several localities had higher rates than the county as a whole, including Mount Vernon, Peekskill and Eastchester, all at 48%, Yonkers at 44%.

The multiyear figures are from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. The bureau combined five years of responses to the survey to provide estimates for smaller geographic areas and increase the precision of its estimates. However, because the information came from a survey, the samples responding to the survey were not always large enough to produce reliable results, especially in small geographic areas. CGR has noted on data tables the estimates with relatively large margins of error. Estimates with three asterisks have the largest margins, plus or minus 50% or more of the estimate. Two asterisks mean plus or minus 35%-50%, and one asterisk means plus or minus 20%-35%. For all estimates, the confidence level is 90%, meaning there is 90% probability the true value (if the whole population were surveyed) would be within the margin of error (or confidence interval). The survey provides data on characteristics of the population that used to be collected only during the decennial census. Data for this indicator are released annually in December.