Average Age of U.S. Senators

Political Explorer: Average U.S. senator is 25 years older than the average American

Average U.S. senator is 25 years older than the average American

Ongoing debate rages over the ages of the presidential nominees. Important to note is that one-third of the U.S. Senate is also up for election, and the members are not getting any younger.

The average age of a U.S. senator in early 2024 was 63.05 years old, far older than the U.S. median of 38.5 years old. Yet the public is paying little attention to the aging of the Senate. Their members range in age from 35 (Jon Ossoff, D-Ga.) to 89 (Charles Grassley, R-Iowa).

A Political Explorer study finds Vermont has the oldest pair of senators in the nation. Independent Bernie Sanders (81-year-old) and Democrat Peter Welch (75-year-old) are not running for reelection this time. The Green Mountain State’s median age in 2022 was 42.9 years, the third-highest figure in the nation.

Vermont’s average senator age is trailed by:

• Idaho (75 years old);
• Massachusetts (74.5);
• Maine (74, the oldest state in the nation) and
• West Virginia (72, fourth-oldest).

On the other end of the scale, Georgia has the youngest Senate delegation in the nation, with a median age of 44 years. The Rev. Ralph Warnock, a 53-year-old Democrat joins the 35-year-old Jon Ossoff. The state’s median age is 38 years old, one of the youngest figures in the nation.

The Georgia delegation’s average is trailed by:

• Missouri (45 years old);
• California (47);
• Oklahoma (49.5, the sixth-youngest state with a median age of 37.1 years old) and
• New Mexico (50.5).