Data Spotlight: Financial challenges faced by recently widowed older adults
Over 1.2 million adults ages 60 and older lost a spouse in 2019. Many recently widowed older adults own their homes with significant home equity, and a third of them spent at least 30 percent of their income on housing. Newly widowed older adults also face higher poverty rates and challenges to getting the help they need. Using public data from the Census American Community Survey, this spotlight describes key demographic characteristics and the financial circumstances of older surviving spouses to highlight opportunities for improving the financial well-being of this population.