Austin is headed for a 'super-aged' future, the city demographer says. Here is what City Hall has done for older adults

Austin is known as a young city, but it is aging. City Demographer Lila Valencia told KUT that more than a quarter of residents are expected to be 65 or older by 2060. Seniors are projected to make up 28.4% of Austin's population that year, compared with 21.7% for Texas as a whole.

Today Austin's median age is a little under 35, younger than Texas (about 36) and the U.S. (about 40), KUT reported. The change will show up in city services: demographers expect fewer people of working age, more demand for health care and different housing needs.

What the demographer found

According to KUT's interview with Valencia, who has been the city's demographer since 2021:

• Austin's Black residents are the city's second-oldest group, followed by Asian residents. The Asian population is aging fastest.
• Most Austin seniors live with a spouse. Living alone is the second most common arrangement.
• Seniors who live alone tend to live in the urban core. Those living with their children are more likely to be in the suburbs.

A UT Austin housing researcher told KUT that a preference for single-family homes, many in car-dependent areas, could add pressure on the housing market. Older adults in those areas may face a choice between driving when it is no longer safe and giving up the car and becoming more isolated.

What our records add

The council's promise. On June 5, 2025, the council voted 11-0 for a resolution affirming Austin as an age-friendly city. It directed the city manager to carry out the 2016 Age-Friendly Action Plan, develop new senior centers in underserved areas, create a specific budget for senior services, work with CapMetro on transportation for older adults, and build a fraud prevention effort. Then-Mayor Pro Tem Vanessa Fuentes led it, with co-sponsors Marc Duchen, Mike Siegel, José "Chito" Vela and José Velásquez.

Money that followed.

• Aug. 7, 2025: At a budget work session, Fuentes proposed an amendment for senior transportation programs and two part-time senior programming positions, saying it built on the age-friendly resolution.
• Sept. 11, 2025: The council approved four contracts for senior services over five years, up to $2,073,690 in total, with the Central Texas Food Bank, Family Eldercare, the Rebekah Baines Johnson Center and the Asian American Community Health Initiative. The vote was 11-0.
• March 12, 2026: It added $100,000 in one-time money to the city's home-delivered meals contract with Meals on Wheels Central Texas, for a revised total of up to $824,570, 11-0.
• March 26, 2026: It approved bylaw changes for the Commission on Aging that created a new Age-Friendly Advisory Committee, 10-0, with Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison off the dais.

And a cut. During this year's budget review, parks staff explained a $171,000 reduction in supplemental programming for youth camps and senior centers. They said it would mean fewer contracted enrichment activities, but that recreation programming would continue.

On the ballot. Proposition A, the $260 million parks bond on the Nov. 3 ballot, includes money for a senior wing at the Gus Garcia senior center in District 4, Siegel said in August. Our bond explainer has the full list and the council vote.

Our records also show earlier help for older Austinites who are homeless: in August 2025 the council added money to Family Eldercare's permanent supportive housing at Pecan Gardens and its Rehousing Aging Adults program, both 10-0.

What's next

The city's Commission on Aging, created by the council in 2014, advises the council on these issues and meets in public. Housing staff have recommended against, for now, a separate idea for cooperative senior housing on city land.