Is Congress Getting Older

Short answer, yes the average and median age of congress is getting older. The average age of our current congress at election is 57.3 years old, making it the third oldest congress just behind 2020 (57.7) and 2016 (57.5).

Average Age of Congress by Year

Figure 1: The average age of members in Congress plotted by election year, showing a general upward trend over recent decades.

When exploring age alone there is a trend over time to congress getting older, but is that alone significant to justify the media discourse about congress getting older? We need to look at the bigger picture: Has the population's average age or life expectancy increased enough to make older leaders a reasonable match for the country?

Average Age in Congress vs. Nationwide Average Age

Figure 2: Comparison of the average age of Congress against the United States national average baseline over time.

When comparing the average age of congress to the average age of the nation, they both appear to be trending upwards. When comparing the difference between congress’ average age and the nation’s average age, the overall age difference appears to be trending downwards. The age of congress is becoming more representative of the country’s overall age. However, examining Congress as a single entity masks the extremes at both ends of the age spectrum. To get the full picture, let’s break down each age group individually and track how their demographics have evolved over time.

Congress Age Brackets Over Time

Figure 3: Area chart demonstrating age brackets of congress members from 1950 to 2024.

When looking at the population changes of the age brackets in congress over time, you can see the overall trend to larger percentages in the older age brackets. In the current congress, 20.2% of members are over 70 and older when elected. In early years this percentage was consistently single digits (in 1950 it was 6.6%, in 1960 it was 6.3%, in 1970 it was 4.1%, and in 1980 it was 2.8%) and hadn't reached double digits until 2008. Articulating a change in these extremes by comparing multiple graphics can be difficult, we encourage you to examine a specific age bracket in the above graphic and see how it changes over time.

Congress Members Above Life Expectancy

Figure 4: Total number of congressional members whose age exceeds the national life expectancy at the time of election.

In the above graphic, we have plotted the red line as average life expectancy in a given election year, and the blue bars as how many congress members were older than the average life expectancy in that given year.

In the 1950s, an average of 33.4 members of congress were older than the average life expectancy of the nation. As time passed and the life expectancy increased, less members of congress were over the average life expectancy. Between 1976 and 1998, an average of 6.18 members of congress were older than the average life expectancy. From 2010 to 2024, this increased to 11.5 members over the average life expectancy. Our current congress (elected in 2024) have 16 members above the average life expectancy, the most since 1964.

In conclusion to this section, congress is getting older. Reasons to explain that can be an aging country and therefore the representatives of that country could be older, but the rise of congress being at extreme old ages is difficult to tie to representation of the nation.

Effects of an Older Congress

In the previous section, we found that congress is aging, but what does that actually effect? Are older members less active and only occupying seats or are they controlling congress with seniority and experience? We look to explore that in this section.

Exploring impact of members of congress by age can be explored in multiple avenues. A simple approach to this can be exploring how many bills a member of congress has sponsored. Sponsoring a bill means that they are the one leading and presenting the bill to congress. There can be only one sponsor of a bill, however bills usually have additional co-sponsors. The below data was sourced on August 10th, 2026.

Figure 5: Distribution of sponsored bills across age brackets in the 119th Congress, showing wider variance among older age groups.

Looking at our current congress, the 119th congressional body, we see that the distribution of sponsored bills by age bracket and the total count of members in that age bracket. Nobody under 50 years old has sponsored more than 150 bills; meanwhile, 32 members of the 119th congress over 50 years old have sponsored more than 150 bills this congress. As we get to the older age brackets, the boxes get more spread out, meaning there is a larger percentage of members of congress sponsoring bills than younger age brackets.

Median Number of Bills Sponsored Per Congress

Figure 6: Median sponsored bills correlated with tenure, demonstrating an uptick in legislative activity as congressional experience increases.

Historically, a member’s effectiveness in passing legislation correlates directly with their seniority. Data from current members shows a clear upward trend: as the number of terms served increases, the median count of sponsored bills pushed through Congress rises accordingly.

Sponsoring bills isn’t a perfect, or even a great way to compare activity because it can get political, with politicians producing bills they know won’t make progress in order to stall progress. An independent group called the Center for Effective Lawmaking produces a score, called the legislative effectiveness score (LES), which acts as a summary measure that captures how successful a member is at moving their agenda items. They start capturing scores when congress is finished, so we the most recent data we have is the 118th congress (January 2023 - January 2025).

Legislative Effectiveness (LES1) by Age Bracket

When looking at the current congress we see a fairly even distribution across the age brackets with younger groups slightly less effectiveness. The age bracket with this highest effective median is the 90-99 year old bracket, although this group only has 2 members. The highest effective group with significant numbers are those age 40-49.

Looking at congresses historically, we find that the most effective age brackets are the older brackets. This could be for a multitude of reasons, but continues to show that older members of congress are more effective in moving legislation.

Average LES1 Score Per Congress Based On Amount of Congress'

Figure 9: Average LES1 performance grouped by congressional terms served, illustrating diminishing and erratic returns after extended seniority.

We find a similar trend when observing congress members LES scores based on how many congresses they’ve been a member of. Generally, the more experience that members of congress have, the more effective they are. However, once they’ve been in congress for more than 34 years, their effectiveness becomes inconsistent. We currently have 16 members of congress in their 18th congress or more.

Surprising to some, this section highlights that older members of congress are normally more effective at moving legislation, which could be an arguement to the nation having more favorable legislation to older demographics. However, we do highlight that longer tenured members of congress become less consistent, with some continuing to excel but others failing to be as effective as they once were.

2026 Midterm Elections Impact

We’ve talked about the current elected congress’ age, but how could the potential incoming congressional body change the demographics of congress? We’ve collected available age demographics from candidates running as of August 2026 in order to showcase what the demographic change of congress could look like.

Age Difference Between Incumbents & Challengers

Figure 10: Comparison of average ages between incumbent members of Congress and 2026 midterm election challengers.

When comparing returning members of congress (incumbents) to potentially new members (challengers), we find the average incumbent to be 8.3 years older than the challenger across all races.

Average Age Difference Between Challengers and Incumbents by State

Figure 11: State-by-state average age gap between challengers and incumbents for the 2026 midterm elections. Note: we have data on challengers who publicly disclosed their age.

When we break this down by statewide averages, we find that in 40 states, the incumbent politicians have a higher average age than their challenger. The states that have lower average ages for incumbents account for a total 37 out of the 535 available seats in congress. We only found one state with an average age for challengers over 10 years older than incumbents (New Hampshire), while we found 18 states with the reverse.

Note that this analyses and graph includes challengers who have publicly disclose their age.

In conclusion, we see a large percentage of the challengers to congress being younger than the current incumbents.

Should Congress Have Age Limits

In the U.S. a President must be at least 35 years old, a U.S. Senator must be at least 30 years old, and a U.S. House Representative must be at least 25 years old. Across state congresses rules vary, letting people run for either body as young as 18. In no U.S. state or federal legislative body is there a maximum age limit. The U.S. Supreme Court has no lower or upper age requirements to become a Justice. 33 U.S. states have age limits or penalties for state judges ranging between 70 and 90 years old. Supreme court justices are nominated by the president whereas many states elect judges via public elections. Contrasting that those who interpret the laws (judges) are regularly held to an age limit standard, while those who create the laws are not held to this same standard. As age limits have become a popular topic of discussion, in order to determine what that would look like in practice, use the graph below to set age limits you feel appropriate and see how that would effect our current congress.

Congressional Members Age Distribution

Too Low (< 25): 0 (0%) | Too High (> 90): 0 (0%)

Min Age: 25

Max Age: 90

Figure 12: Interactive congressional age distribution histogram with custom minimum and maximum age limit thresholds.

For reference, many countries have age limits for judicial positions similar to the U.S.’s supreme court, specifically Australia, Canada, Brazil,India, Japan, and other European countries have age limits, some starting as young as 62. Some countries have tried presidential age limits, only to repeal them later, such as Cuba, Djibouti, and Uganda.

Appendix

Average Age by Year and Party

Figure 13: Historical comparison of average legislator age by political party affiliation (1950–2024).

There does not appear to be any correlation to average age and party alignment over time.

Average Age by Year and Body of Congress

Figure 14: Historical average age breakdown comparing members of the House of Representatives versus the Senate (1950–2024).

When comparing the bodies of congress, the senate is on average 3.38 years older than the house of representatives.

Distribution of Age at Death For Active Congress Members by Decade

Figure 15: Distribution of age for members of Congress that died while in office grouped by decade.

When exploring if active congress members are dying at higher ages, we can see that in the last two decades the median age of death is higher, however significantly less members of congress are dying while in office.

Individual Congress Seats by Age Bracket

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Figure 16: Unit dot chart representing individual members of Congress categorized by age bracket.

This graphic illustrates the changes of the age brackets of congress over time. One of the more interesting segements of the graph is to observe the dark red 70+ age group over time, to watch the growth of this segment from 2008 onwards.

Median Age by Year

Figure 17: Overall median age trends across all members of Congress per election cycle (1950–2024).

The median age of congress follows a similar pattern as the average of congress, trending higher over time.

Congressional Birth Era Timeline

Click the line between any two inventions to filter candidates born during that era.

Invention Timeline

Figure 18: Timeline depicting significant inventions and which members of congress were born between them.

Selected Candidates (0)

Photo	Candidate	Birth Year	Current Age	Location

Congress is old, so what?