Between 2015 and 2025, the number of El Pasoans under age 65 grew by fewer than 4,000. The number of those 65 and older jumped by more than 42,000, including almost 15,000 who were 75 or older.
El Paso County is aging rapidly, Census Bureau population estimates show, which is reshaping a community long accustomed to a population much younger than the national average.
It’s part of a national phenomenon known as the “silver tsunami,” said Tracy Yellen, CEO of the Paso del Norte Health Foundation, which plans to unveil a Healthy Aging Initiative in September to address issues that come with an older population.
“Currently, according to a needs assessment we completed this year, in El Paso County alone, 30% of adults 65 and over have diabetes, 67% have high blood pressure, 15% of Alzheimer’s disease, and 28% have ambulatory difficulty. Chronic disease, cognitive decline, limited mobility, social isolation, lack of trusted information, and caregiver challenges can make aging-related transitions more difficult,” Yellen said.
“We want to make sure that our communities are preparing to engage and support older adults and their caregivers so we all can live healthier, longer,” she said.
Multiple factors are driving the aging of El Paso – longer life spans, a steep decline in births, declining immigration, and continuing losses of young adults leaving El Paso for other communities in search of economic opportunities.
As a result, the number of children under 18 in El Paso County has declined by 10% over the past decade, including a decline of 18% in children under age 5.
At the same time, the number of people ages 65 and older jumped by 45%.
In 2015, one of every nine El Pasoans were 65 or older. In 2025, it was one in every six El Pasoans.
The average lifespan for both women and men in El Paso County is slightly higher than state and national averages, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.
The average expected lifespan for an El Paso woman born in 2014 was 82.5 years, an increase of 4.9% since 1980. For El Paso men, the average expected lifespan was 76.9 years, an increase of 6.8% since 1980, according to IHME.
The COVID-19 pandemic briefly reduced expected lifespans throughout the world, but lifespans in the United States began increasing again in 2023.
El Paso is hardly alone in these aging trends, although they are more pronounced here than in the nation as a whole. Census population estimates show the national population of people 65 and older grew by 35% between 2015 and 2025, about 10 percentage points lower than El Paso County’s trend.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the number of children under age 18 living in U.S. cities of more than 500,000 people declined by 6% in the past decade, 4 points less than the El Paso decline.
For decades, El Paso County has been much younger than the nation, fueled by immigration from Mexico and high birth rates. But that gap is closing.
In 1980, the median age in El Paso County was 25 years, meaning half the population was younger than 25 and half older. The national median age that year was 30, or 20% older than El Paso.
In 2025, El Paso County’s median age was 35 and the national median was 39.4, a 12.5% difference.
In the past 10 years, El Paso’s median age grew by 3.2 years.
By contrast, the national median age grew by 1.6 years between 2015 and 2025, meaning El Paso has aged twice as fast as the nation in that time.
If aging trends of the past decade continue, El Paso County’s median age in 2035 would be near 40, and the national median would be about 40.5.
The aging population will have an impact on almost every aspect of community life in El Paso.
As people age, they spend less money on most consumer goods while spending more on healthcare, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That will reshape the kind of jobs available.
And with the number of children dropping sharply in El Paso over the past decade, that likely will feed a shortage of workers who can provide care for the aging population.
In 1980, El Paso had about nine people in the working age group of 18-64 for every person 65 or older. By 2015, that had fallen to five people of working age for every senior citizen; in 2025 the ratio was 4:1.
If the aging trends of the past decade continue for the next 10 years, El Paso County in 2035 would have fewer than three people of working age for everyone 65 and older.
The United States currently relies heavily on immigrants for direct care workers in the healthcare system. Changing immigration policies in the United States could disrupt the direct-care workforce, placing more pressure on families, research shows.
An aging population will put new strains on the property tax system that funds local government.
In El Paso, the city and school districts offer additional property tax exemptions to homeowners over age 65, which essentially shift more of the tax burden to younger homeowners and commercial property. As more people qualify for those exemptions, local governments will have to consider reduced expenditures, increasing property taxes on younger people, or reducing or eliminating exemptions on people older than 65.
And older El Pasoans will exert increasing influence in local elections as they make up a greater share of voters. If the interests of older and younger voters conflict, elected officials will feel more pressure to meet the needs of older voters.
The 2024 election showed a sign of what’s to come, as the percentage of El Paso voters over age 65 shot up sharply from prior presidential election years.
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