Record LI aging population faces rising poverty, new report says

With Long Island‘s older population at an all-time high, a new report shows many face an uncertain financial future. 

The report released Tuesday by the Center for an Urban Future found that Long Island is now home to more than 520,000 people aged 65 and older, accounting for 17.8% of the population in Nassau and Suffolk counties, which is up from 14.8% a decade ago. 

Over those past 10 years, the number of Long Islanders aged 65 and older living in poverty has grown by 62%, significantly more than the 24% increase in Long Island’s overall older adult population, according to the report, which was funded by a grant from AARP New York. Statewide, the number of older New Yorkers living below the poverty line increased by 48.1% over the past decade, well below the jump seen on Long Island. 

In 2023, 10.4% of Long Islanders aged 70 and over, about 37,000 people, did not report receiving social security income and 45.3% of those 70 and over living on Long Island, some161,000 people, did not report retirement income from other sources. 

Today, more than 32,000 older adults are living at or below the poverty line, up from 19,846 in 2013. As a result of growing financial insecurity, many more older Long Islanders are staying in the workforce, as the number of working older adults on Long Island increased 53.5% over the past decade, from 76,579 in 2013 to 117,537 in 2023, according to the report. More than one in five older adults (22.6%) are now employed, up from 18.3% ten years ago.  

“Long Island’s population is aging rapidly, but far too many of these older New Yorkers are financially insecure and struggling to make ends meet,” Jonathan Bowles, executive director of the Center for an Urban Future, said in an organization statement. “We’re going to see thousands more older adults fall into poverty unless Long Island’s policymakers act now to address affordability challenges facing so many older adults.”   

The financial challenges are more acute for older adults of color and immigrant seniors. Poverty rates are highest among Hispanic older adults on Long Island, at 9.8%, followed by Black older adults (6.5%), white older adults (6%), and Asian older adults (4.6%). The number of Hispanic older adults in poverty increased by 128% in the past decade, while Asian poverty rates climbed 66.6%, the report found.  

Beth Finkel, state director for the New York State Office of AARP, said the report highlights that too many Long Islanders are struggling to make ends meet as they age. 

“With more than a third of Nassau and Suffolk residents now over 50, the challenges are only growing. Nearly half have no retirement savings, poverty among older adults in Long Island has climbed, and family caregivers, the backbone of our long-term care system, are stretched thin,” Finkel said in the statement. “The good news is, we know what works. By supporting caregivers, expanding affordable housing, and making our communities more age-friendly, we can ensure Long Island is a place where older adults and people of every age can live and thrive.”  

The report also listed several policy solutions aimed at addressing financial insecurity for Long Island seniors. Some of these include creating a state version of the Earned Income Tax Credit for those over 65 who report income, since older adults are excluded from the federal credit; implementing a state tax credit for family caregivers supporting the aging at home; investing in age-friendly workforce development and launching regional programs for older entrepreneurs; lowering prescription drug costs by enabling the state to import less expensive medications from Canada or adopting Canadian-style price schedules; expanding affordable senior housing options for older adults and their family caregivers, with incentives for new housing development and support to scale up the Plus One ADU Program.