Population measures provide insight on the changing size and face of communities, and the distribution of population among ages affects the character of and challenges faced by a community. Older people may need more supports, particularly those living alone.

In 201-22, 38% of residents in the MetroWest region ages 65 and older lived alone, a decline of 1 percentage point from 2013-17. That's about 141,600 people in MetroWest, and very similar to the state and national rates. Every locality had less than 50%, but more than 20%, of its 65 or older population living alone.

The multiyear figures are from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. The bureau combined 5 years of responses to the survey to provide estimates for smaller geographic areas and increase the precision of its estimates. However, because the information came from a survey, the samples responding to the survey were not always large enough to produce reliable results, especially in small geographic areas. CGR has noted on data tables the estimates with relatively large margins of error. Estimates with three asterisks have the largest margins, plus or minus 50% or more of the estimate. Two asterisks mean plus or minus 35%-50%, and one asterisk means plus or minus 20%-35%. For all estimates, the confidence level is 90%, meaning there is 90% probability the true value (if the whole population were surveyed) would be within the margin of error (or confidence interval). The survey provides data on characteristics of the population that used to be collected only during the decennial census. Data for this indicator are released annually in December.