Just call it the Gray Apple.
Out of the 30 largest US cities, New York has the largest share of renter households age 60 and up, according to a study released by apartment-search website Rent Cafe last week.
As of 2017, there were a total of 572,132 60-plus renters, making up 27 percent of all renters in the city. That’s a 20 percent increase over the number of renters over 60 in the city in 2007.
In fact, there are more renter households over 60 than there are under 34. (That’s not as surprising, considering New York’s general unaffordability for young people earning smaller salaries.)
It’s also a nationwide trend: The United States’ renter households over 60 increased by 43 percent when measured in 2017 and compared with 10 years earlier.
Rent Cafe analyzed data from more than 300 cities with a population of over 100,000 and found that renters over 60 saw the fastest growth among all age groups in the last 10 years.
While New York has the biggest share of these older denizens, the cities with the biggest increases in senior renters over the last decade are exclusively warm-weather locales. Austin, Texas, saw a 113 percent increase, Phoenix, Ariz., notched a 112 percent gain, Fort Worth, Texas, logged an 83 percent jump and Jacksonville, Fla., increased by 83 percent.
By 2035, seniors will make up one-third of the country’s rental market, Rent Cafe projects.
It’s all relative: The city’s median age right now is a spry 36.6.