BY BARBARA O’HARE
AND WILLIAM O’HARE, Eastern Shore Post —
Every year the U.S. Census Bureau produces a set of population estimates for states, counties, and municipalities.
The estimates that became available on June 25, 2026, reflect the situation in 2025, which allows us to look at the changes since the 2020 Census for different age groups.
No doubt there are some errors in these estimates, but they are the official government estimates used in federal funding formulas and other official applications.
The number of people in some of the age groups is relatively small, and small numbers can produce high percentage change.
For background, the total population of Accomack County grew by 436 people or 1% from 2020 to 2025, and the total population of Northampton County fell by 447 people or 4% over that period.
The overall change in the total population masks a lot of variation for individual age groups and from one county to the other.
Figure 1 (on page 12) shows percent change in Accomack and Northampton counties for six different age groups.
For the youngest age group (preschoolers ages 0 to 4 years old), there was a 1% decrease in Accomack County but a 27% decrease in Northampton County.
For the school-age population (5 to 7 years old), there was an 11% decline in Accomack County and a 25% decline in Northampton County.
For young adults (age 18 to 24) Accomack County shows an increase of 12% while Northampton County experienced a decrease of 18% in this population between 2020 and 2025.
For working-age adults (ages 25 to 64) both counties experienced a decrease, but the decrease for Northampton County is much higher than that in Accomack County, especially for younger working-aged adults (age 25 to 44).
Both counties experienced a substantial increase in the senior population (ages 65 or over) between 2020 and 2025. The increase in Accomack County was 1,379 people or 17%, while the senior population in Northampton County increased by 1,051 people, or 31%.
In summary, the number of children decreased in both counties, but the number of senior citizens increased significantly. However, the rate of increase and decrease for individual age groups is quite different in each county.
— William O’Hare is on the Board of the Eastern Shore of Virginia Community Foundation. Barbara O’Hare is a board member of Go & Grow Eastern Shore. They live in Cape Charles.
