MTFP coordinating statewide reporting project on aging in Montana

Growing old may not be for the faint of heart but, as anyone over 40 will tell you, it sure beats the alternative.

Montana is in the process of putting that truism to the test. The state’s median age, according to U.S. Census data, is 39.8 years, making Montana the 10th oldest state in the nation, and the oldest in the western U.S. The state’s population of residents in their 50s, 60s, and 70s outpaces the national average, and its population of 20- and 30-somethings lags behind.

The economic, cultural, and personal impacts presented by these demographic facts are the subject of a new statewide reporting initiative in which 19 Montana newsrooms will jointly tackle one of the state’s most pressing, and under-covered, stories.