August 26, 2003 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Retirees by region

Retired whites are spread fairly equally among four broad geographic regions. About 28 percent of retired white consumer units live in the South, 26 percent in the Midwest, 24 percent in the West, and 22 percent in the Northeast.

[Chart data—TXT]

In contrast, African-American retirees are much more likely to live in the South—almost half of live in that region—and much less likely to live in the West—only 11 percent of African-American retirees live there.

Hispanic retirees are concentrated in the South (41 percent) and the West (40 percent.)

These data are from the Consumer Expenditure Survey program. For more information see "Retirement expenditures for Whites, Blacks, and persons of Hispanic origin," Monthly Labor Review, June 2003. The data used in this article are from the Consumer Expenditure Interview Survey from the first quarter of 1996 through the first quarter of 2001. White means "White, non-Hispanic." Black means "Black, non-Hispanic." The race/ethnic group of the consumer unit is determined by the reference person (the person responding to the survey). Similarly, only the reference person needs to be retired to qualify a husband-and-wife consumer unit as retired.