Census shows Ariz. losing its appeal to retirees

East Valley Tribune reports:

Arizona appears to be losing its luster as a destination for retirees, and the number of schoolchildren is on the rise.

New figures today from the U.S. Census Bureau show the number of people in the state who are 65 and older has increased just 18.3 percent since the beginning of the decade. The result is that the percentage of Arizonans who are of retirement age actually has slipped a bit since 2000.

By contrast, U.S. Census Bureau analysts found statistics to show that Arizona is going to have to keep building schools and hiring teachers — a lot of them.

There are now more than 480,000 Arizonans who are less than 5 years old, 25.7 percent more than were living here when the decennial census was conducted.

That means one out of every 13 Arizona residents is in that age group. Only Utah and Texas have a larger percentage of children younger than 5.

Overall, the state’s median age rose just a hair, from 34.2 when the decennial census was taken to 34.6 now.

Gov. Janet Napolitano said the numbers were no surprise.

“It kind of blows the old stereotype of Arizona as a retirement community,” she told Capitol Media Services.

Arizona "the young state".