Seniors more likely to work longer in big metropolitan areas

Seniors in major metropolitan areas, especially in the Northeast and around Washington, D.C., are more likely to continue working past age 65 than those in other areas around the country, according to an analysis of Census data by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

“Those are the areas where all of the jobs are, really,” says Anqi Chen, assistant director for savings research at Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research. “The coastal areas recovered well from the recession, while other areas have not.”

But it’s also the types of jobs in those areas — government, finance, law and academia — that keep seniors working longer, analysts say.

Among counties with at least 6,000 residents, about 12% have at least 21% of their seniors working or actively looking for jobs, according to an analysis of the Census’ 2017 American Community Survey report. Of that group, nearly 25% are located within the Northeast or in Maryland or Virginia. And nearly 15% are within 70 miles of New York, Boston, Philadelphia or Washington, D.C.

“I consider myself to be a very fortunate person to still do what I loved at 27 at 74,” says Steve Burghardt, a professor of social work at the City University of New York. “I feel advantaged being in New York, where you’re exposed to sights and sounds and differences that are always exposing me to new ways to understand myself and to learn from other people.”

Two Washington suburbs in Virginia, Falls Church and Alexandria, are among the nation’s leaders in terms of senior labor force participation, with rates of nearly 37% and nearly 30%, respectively. This area is also home to one of the fastest growing senior labor forces in the country — three of the 11 counties that saw senior participation rates climb the fastest between 2009 and 2017...