County data desk
Where do the region's 55,917 residents aged 85 and over live? Mostly in St. Louis County, which holds 22,623.
The full fifteen county table, not a ranked verdict: residents aged 85 and over by count, by share of total population, and by share of each county's own residents aged 65 and over.
Methodology
- Metric
- Residents aged 85 and over, presented three ways: count, share of total county population, and share of the county's own residents aged 65 and over. This is a table, not a ranked verdict. Rows are ordered by count for legibility.
- Source
- U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates Program, Vintage 2024 county characteristics files cc-est2024-agesex-29.csv and cc-est2024-agesex-17.csv, columns AGE85PLUS_TOT, AGE65PLUS_TOT and POPESTIMATE, rows coded YEAR 6.
- Reference date
- July 1, 2024.
- Item set
- All 15 counties of the St. Louis MO-IL metropolitan statistical area. No county is omitted and none is filtered out on size.
- Pulled
- September 10, 2026
- Licence
- Public domain, a work of the United States government.
| County | State | Total population | Aged 85 and over | Share of population | Aged 65 and over | 85+ as share of 65+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Louis County | Missouri | 992,929 | 22,623 | 2.28% | 199,345 | 11.3% |
| St. Charles County | Missouri | 423,726 | 8,071 | 1.90% | 76,887 | 10.5% |
| Madison County | Illinois | 263,017 | 5,589 | 2.12% | 51,448 | 10.9% |
| St. Louis city | Missouri | 279,695 | 4,630 | 1.66% | 46,992 | 9.9% |
| St. Clair County | Illinois | 251,149 | 4,583 | 1.82% | 46,500 | 9.9% |
| Jefferson County | Missouri | 231,888 | 3,040 | 1.31% | 41,443 | 7.3% |
| Franklin County | Missouri | 107,256 | 2,170 | 2.02% | 21,777 | 10.0% |
| Macoupin County | Illinois | 43,895 | 1,119 | 2.55% | 9,911 | 11.3% |
| Lincoln County | Missouri | 65,888 | 888 | 1.35% | 10,226 | 8.7% |
| Clinton County | Illinois | 37,087 | 813 | 2.19% | 7,320 | 11.1% |
| Monroe County | Illinois | 34,969 | 789 | 2.26% | 7,471 | 10.6% |
| Warren County | Missouri | 38,478 | 640 | 1.66% | 7,504 | 8.5% |
| Jersey County | Illinois | 21,150 | 497 | 2.35% | 4,663 | 10.7% |
| Bond County | Illinois | 16,576 | 351 | 2.12% | 3,272 | 10.7% |
| Calhoun County | Illinois | 4,224 | 114 | 2.70% | 1,077 | 10.6% |
Regional total: 55,917 residents aged 85 and over, 1.99 percent of the region's 2,811,927 residents and 10.4 percent of its 535,836 residents aged 65 and over.
Three readings, three different leaders
By count, St. Louis County leads with 22,623 residents aged 85 and over, more than the next three counties combined. St. Charles County follows with 8,071 and Madison County, Illinois, with 5,589.
By share of total population the order changes completely. Calhoun County, Illinois, leads at 2.70 percent on a base of 4,224 residents, then Macoupin County at 2.55 percent and Jersey County at 2.35 percent. St. Louis County places fourth on this measure at 2.28 percent.
By the third reading, residents aged 85 and over as a share of the county's own residents aged 65 and over, St. Louis County and Macoupin County tie at 11.3 percent, with Clinton County, Illinois, next at 11.1 percent. At the other end Jefferson County reports 7.3 percent, the lowest internal share in the region, which says its older population skews younger than its neighbours rather than that it holds few older adults.
Why the table is not ranked
A single ranked order would have to choose one of those three columns and present it as the answer, and each answers a different question. A provider planning routes reads the count. A county board reads the share of its own population. Anyone describing the internal structure of an older population reads the third column. The table is published whole so a reader can sort it in their own head.
The same reasoning applies across the desk. Counts are ranked on the county page, shares are ranked statewide on the oldest counties page, and supply is ranked on the ratio page.
Cautions
These are estimates for a single reference date, modelled by the Census Bureau rather than counted door to door, and the smallest counties carry the widest relative uncertainty. Calhoun County's 114 residents aged 85 and over is the smallest cell in the table and the one to read most cautiously.
Age is not a proxy for need. This table counts residents by age band and says nothing about health, independence, living arrangements or whether anyone requires assistance. Sources and limits in full are on the methodology page.
Back to the region at a glance · Sources, vintage and limits