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Summary

AARP conducts an annual survey of individuals responsible for leading age-friendly initiatives within the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities to assess progress, identify emerging needs, and understand how these efforts are strengthening community life. This year’s (2025) responses highlight a period of rapid expansion, deeper cross-sector investment, and meaningful community impact.
Across the country, Age-Friendly Community Initiatives (AFCI) are reaching more residents than ever. In 2025, 42% of respondents reported serving more than half their population—nearly double the share from 2024—reflecting broader programming and stronger local visibility. Communities also reported robust financial and in-kind support: 93% received contributions, with 79% backed by public-sector partners and 71% supported by private-sector organizations.
AFCIs are increasingly active in disaster preparedness. Twenty-six percent now have a seat at local emergency planning tables, and 23% have launched programs that help residents prepare for and stay safe during emergencies. Communities also adapted to federal policy changes by pursuing new funding sources (45%), engaging in advocacy and education (29%), and recruiting volunteers (34%), often seeing a rise in civic participation as residents contributed time and resources.
Collaboration continues to deepen. Sixty percent of respondents are working alongside related initiatives, including Dementia Friendly Community programs (52%), Main Street initiatives (32%), and age-friendly business efforts (25%).
Taken together, the data shows that age-friendly work is strengthening the built, social and services environments that shape daily life and making communities better places to live for people of all ages.

Key facts

Main target group: Both younger and older people (i.e. intergenerational)

Other target group(s): Age-Friendly Community Initiative Leaders

Sector(s): Information and communication

Desired outcome for older people:
Learn, grow and make decisions

Other issues the Age-friendly practice aims to address:
  • Ageism
  • Accessibility
  • Ageing in place
  • Disasters and emergencies
  • Inequities
  • Inclusion
  • Participation

Contact details

Name: Armbruster, Bill

Email address: warmbruster@aarp.org

Preferred language(s): English

Age-friendly practice in detail (click to expand):

Engaging the wider community

Project lead: Older People’s Association

Others involved in the project:
  • Local authorities
  • Civil Society Organisation
  • Social or health care provider
  • Volunteers
  • Private sector
  • Research institution

Older people’s involvement: Older people were involved in the age-friendly practice at multiple or all stages

Moving forward

Has the impact of this age-friendly practice been analysed: Yes

Was the impact positive or negative:
Positive

Please share with us what you found in detail:
AFCIs are increasingly active in disaster preparedness. Twenty-six percent now have a seat at local emergency planning tables, and 23% have launched programs that help residents prepare for and stay safe during emergencies. Communities also adapted to federal policy changes by pursuing new funding sources (45%), engaging in advocacy and education (29%), and recruiting volunteers (34%), often seeing a rise in civic participation as residents contributed time and resources. Collaboration continues to deepen. Sixty percent of respondents are working alongside related initiatives, including Dementia Friendly Community programs (52%), Main Street initiatives (32%), and age-friendly business efforts (25%).

Evaluation report: AARP-Annual-Survey-2025.pdf

Looking back

Reflections:
We are planning to continue to explore age-friendly “spin-offs”: how they occur, what the “spark” is, as well as the outcomes

Challenges:
the biggest challenge is getting a good response to the survey. We created an outreach strategy for those leading the age-friendly initiatives that included consistent communications, targeted to those who had not completed the survey. This year, we achieved our highest response rate of 62%.