It’s not news that the country is aging, but the fact that the average U.S. head of household is just six months this side of 50-years-old is pretty startling, according to AdAge.com.

And then factor in these changes:

• regional demographics are diverging more than ever before;
• the West is young and multicultural;
• the mostly white Northeast is old and many communities are nearly childless; and,
• a rapid and economically vital flux of immigrants.

As the U.S. ages, it is more common than ever for older people to live in places where there are few or no children.

In many New England towns only one in five households has any children. (National average is one in three.) The six New England states are among the 10 oldest states by median age – leading the nation with an aging consumer base.

By contrast, the Western region has: 19 percent non-Hispanics; 42 percent of all Hispanics; 46 percent of all Asians; and, 24 percent of the nation’s children.

Two key variables driving states and regions apart as consumer markets are interstate migration and immigration. The latest population estimates from the Census Bureau show the arrival of eight million immigrants in the period between 2000 and 2007. Two-thirds went to the South or West.

Most people who move are young, and they either bring their children with them or have children later. The long-term effect is to make some states or regions older and others younger consumer markets.