An upcoming release of new reports will reveal a neighborhood-by-neighborhood look at the needs of older adults in five New England states.

On May 1, 2025, a new set of The Healthy Aging Data Reports will be released by a team at the Gerontology Institute at University of Massachusetts Boston. The Healthy Aging Data Reports are supported by the Point32Health Foundation and present a detailed picture of aging in America that’s provided nowhere else: a neighborhood-level examination of the challenges faced by older adults. The reports provide valuable tools for local groups, both municipal and non-profit. At a time of tightening budgets, data that point to proven need and measurable impact have become even more crucial.

“This is what is magic about our report: We report at very local levels,” says Elizabeth Dugan PhD, PI of the project and associate professor of gerontology at UMass Boston. “That empowers advocates who live in those communities. It helps policymakers make smarter investments, and helps philanthropists see what their investments yield over time.”

The May release will contain updates for Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, as well as the inaugural Maine report.

The data report team assembled multiple data sets to accomplish this work, including reports from the U.S. Census Bureau, Medicare Summary Beneficiary Files, the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and state health departments. The team used these to drill down to the community level. In Massachusetts, for example, the team evaluates 368 communities, learning such things as:

  • How many older adults in this neighborhood live below the poverty line?
  • How many people there live with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias?
  • What are the most prevalent chronic diseases faced by older adults in this neighborhood?
  • How many hospitals and physicians does this community have?

“What’s advantageous about this approach is that disparities or inequities can be hidden by reporting at the state or county level,” Dugan says. “We can show, for example, there may be a tremendous difference just from a 10-minute walk from one part of town to another. This gives advocates information to work with.”

As more states request these reports from the Healthy Aging Data Report Team, the team’s reach has expanded to the deep south (Mississippi) and west (Wyoming). As it has, the team has gained new insights about how challenges faced by older adults in America differ across geographic areas. For example, New England has higher rates of serious, complex diseases in densely populated areas than in suburban or rural areas, while the opposite was true in more rural states. Yet across all states, the aging population is increasing in numbers, diversity, and educational levels.

Previous releases of Healthy Aging Data Reports have already led to success stories. Due to these reports, fall prevention programs began in Massachusetts, targeting communities that had higher rates of falls. A healthcare organization opened a memory assessment clinic in a Massachusetts neighborhood that had the greatest need for it. Municipalities and non-profits have used the data to increase the competitiveness of their grant applications, and elected officials have used them to better understand their constituents. Students have used the data for dissertations and for GSA conferences.

Dugan compares the team’s work to the relay. As they release the reports, they hand the baton to other groups—legislators, aging service providers, and advocates—to use it to create change for older adults, a group with needs that often go unseen and unmet.

“This is very hands-on social justice,” Dugan says. “It’s incredibly gratifying to be part of this work.” Other members of the 2025 Healthy Aging Data Reports research team include: Nina Silverstein PhD, Qian Song PhD, Taylor Jansen PhD, Jay Lee PhD, Yan-Jhu Su PhD, Yan Lin MS, Shan Qu MS, Tiffany Tang BS, Jeannine Johnson PhD, and Amanda Cox MS.