Fairfax County seniors give the county high marks overall but lower scores as a place to retire, based on a new survey whose results were presented Tuesday (Oct. 6) to the Board of Supervisors.
The 87% of survey respondents who ranked Fairfax a good place to live was “down slightly but not significantly” from previous surveys, said John Ruthinoski, a data analyst for the Fairfax County Department of Family Services.
The figure had been 91% in 2019 and 92% in 2022, the last time the Community Assessment Survey for Older Adults (CASOA) was conducted.
When asked whether Fairfax was a good place for retirees, 56% said yes — a significant drop from those who perceive the county as a good place to live in general. The percentage was still the highest reported so far in the survey’s three incarnations.
The 56% is “not an optimal result, but it’s trending in the right direction,” Ruthinoski said.
Some of the biggest challenges facing the 50-plus age group:
- Only 14% of respondents had a positive view of the local area’s cost of living
- Just 18% were positive about the availability of affordable housing
- Only 25% were upbeat about the variety of employment opportunities
Thirty-six percent of respondents held a positive view of the availability of long-term care options in the region, down from 40% in 2022 and 44% in 2019.
On the brighter side, the overall quality of life, parks and recreation, safety, and mental health services each received positive scores from more than 80% of respondents.
The results gave supervisors food for thought as the county begins moving toward an update of its strategic plan for seniors, currently known as SHAPE the Future of Aging.
“Some of the findings I find surprising, many of them I don’t,” said Dranesville District Supervisor Walter Alcorn, who chairs the Older Adults Committee where the results were presented.
Board Chair Jeff McKay agreed with Alcorn that “many of the [responses] in here are entirely predictable.”
The survey was sent to 22,000 households where a senior was believed to be present, coupled with a follow-up mailing. Just fewer than 1,800 surveys were completed, well down from 2,900 in 2022 and 4,800 in 2019.
“It’s just becoming harder to reach people through the mail,” Ruthinoski said.
To augment the results, county planners conducted a follow-up, open-response survey that drew another 1,260 responses.
One of the hardest groups to get responses from was the 50-to-64 age group, whose response rate was one-third lower than its representation among the senior population.
Braddock District Supervisor Rachna Sizemore Heizer voiced concern about the low response rate in that group, pointing to the unique needs of those in that age range compared to older seniors.
Very often, those between 50 and 64 are part of the “sandwich generation” that bears responsibilities of caring for both aging parents and growing children, Sizemore Heizer said.
“The challenges for that generation are very different from 65-plus,” she said.
Other groups underrepresented in survey responses included renters, men and non-white county residents.
“We’re going to need to do a little more intentional targeting” in the future, Ruthinoski said.
The survey was conducted for the county government by Polco. The results will next be shared with the Fairfax Area Commission on Aging and other groups.
Community engagement sessions with seniors are expected to be held in each magisterial district throughout the winter months, county staff said.
The survey comes as county officials are gearing up for an expected boom in the local senior population.
The county’s 65-plus population is expected to grow from about 190,000 today to about 320,000 by 2045, significantly outpacing the county’s overall population growth rate, according to figures reported this summer.
Photo via Vitaly Gariev/Unsplash
