The latest U.S. Census data indicate Ridgefield’s population of senior citizens is growing steadily, showing that seniors who have lived in the town a long time are choosing to stay here, and those from other towns are choosing to relocate here, perhaps to the 55-and-over adult condominiums that are so popular they sell out before they are actually built.
Overall, the town’s population blossomed 3% between 2010 and 2015, growing from 24,299 to 25,025 in 2014.
A look at the data in breakouts for age groups shows a telling pattern. It is not young families moving to town that is causing the population to grow, as it would have been in the 1960s and 1970s. Rather, the older adult and senior population is growing. The number of those aged 65 to 74, for example, grew from 1,340 to 1,692 in five years. Those aged 60 to 64 grew from 1,271 to 1,717 in five years.
The number of teenagers aged 15 to 19 who would be attending Ridgefield High School went down fractionally, from 1,886 to 1,885, but those 35 to 44 years old, a prime age for raising a family and buying a home, dropped from 3,838 to 3,224.
The census results clearly show the graying of Ridgefield, and it is no surprise, said First Selectman Rudy Marconi, who has been tracking this trend for some time.
“It’s no surprise because in our society in general, the baby boomers are beginning to age out. That’s a huge bubble that’s moving through the demographics,” Marconi said.
For the town, it means looking at the fire department and the Emergency Medical Services and making sure they are adequate to meet the needs of a growing senior population.
“We may not see stress in the school systems, but we see it in EMS,” Marconi said.
Population growth in the past was usually a bell ringer for the school district and signaled classroom growth and the need for more teachers. That is no longer the case. Rather, the lastest long-term enrollment projections for the school district raise questions on whether there is too much school space.
Not so at the gray end of the spectrum.
“We’re well aware of the growth in the senior population,” Marconi said.
“The difficult part is, how do you plan for that? We know there’s no question we run two-thirds of our ambulance calls for the senior category.”
The aging population will also reflect itself in the real estate market. Not only will condominiums for people 55 and older continue to be hot sellers, but single-family homes that appeal to the older generation will also do well, said Art Meyer, president of the Ridgefield Board of Realtors.
These homes are the ones with master suites and main rooms on one level.
“As we get older, nobody likes walking upstairs,” Meyer said. “I think we are going to see a lot more first-floor master bedrooms and main-floor living. If houses have those features, whether they are ranch style or any other style, you’ll see a demand for that.”
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