The future doesn’t compute: Silicon Valley faces challenges as its population gets older

ALTHOUGH SILICON VALLEY has a reputation for attracting young, tech-savvy workers, the cycle may no longer be true as statistics point toward older adults shifting the dynamic and the area being ill-equipped for the looming change.

Fewer births and longer life expectancies will have Americans age 65 and up outnumbering children by 2030, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But local leaders warn the boom will happen much sooner in Silicon Valley. Birth rates in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties have dropped by 34% over the last 33 years, while residents 65 and up have grown by 28% since 2013, according to this year’s annual report on economic and demographic trends known as the Silicon Valley Index. Yet the region is failing to address its future and needed changes to housing, long-term adult care and mobility as the population grows older.