By Hank Russell
A recent report by a New York think tank found that more than six out of 10 senior citizens on Long Island live in poverty.
The Center for an Urban Future, with support from the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), found that the number of Long Islanders 65 and older living in poverty increased by 62% from 2013 to 2023. The percentage outpaced the state’s, which saw a 48.1% jump. Further, 10.4% of those 70 and over — 37,000 individuals — did not seem to have any stable source of income in 2023, and 45.3% — 161,000 individuals — did not report retirement income from other sources.
Currently, there were 520,068 seniors 65 and older living on Long Island two years ago, according to the think tank. That is a record high and a rise of 24% compared to 2013, when the senior population was 419,302. That means 17.8% of Long Island’s population are comprised of seniors, up from 14.8% in 2013.
When broken down by county, Nassau saw a 21.2% rise in its elderly population over a 10-year period to 253,513 two years ago from 209,142 in 2013. Older adults represent 18.3% of Nassau’s population, up from 15.6%.
According to the Center for an Urban Future, 15,433 seniors were living in poverty in 2023 — a sharp increase of 68.2% from 2013, when 9,173 were living in poverty. Overall, 6.1% of older adults live in poverty, up from 4.3% in 2013. Among adults over seventy, 45.7% did not report any retirement income, 11.2% did not report Social Security income, and 4% did not report Supplemental Security Income.
In Suffolk, there was a 26.8% increase in its older adult population over the last decade, growing from 210,160 in 2013 to 266,555 in 2023. Today, older adults represent 17.5% of Suffolk County’s population, up from 14% in 2013. The number of older adults in poverty rose 56.6%, increasing from 10,673 in 2013 to 16,714 in 2023. Fully 6.3% of older adults live in poverty, up from 5.1% in 2013.
As a result, many seniors are still in the workforce. Based on data from the Center, 117,537 seniors on Long Island are working; that is 53.5% more than the previous 10 years, when 76,579 older adults were in the workforce. The percentage of seniors working rose to 22.6% in 2023 from 18.3% ten years ago.
In Nassau, the number of older adults who were working increased by 51.1%, from 39,585 in 2013 to 59,796 in 2023, according to the Center; additionally, 23.6% of older adults are employed, up from 18.9% in 2013. Working older adults in Suffolk increased 56.1%, rising from 36,994 in 2013 to 57,741 in 2023. More than one in five (21.7%) of older adults are employed today, up from 17.6% in 2013.
“Faced with growing financial insecurity, many more older Long Islanders are staying in the workforce,” wrote the report’s authors, Jonathan Bowles and Rachel Neches. “While some older adults are undoubtedly working longer by choice, many more are doing so out of necessity.”