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An influx of younger residents over the past three years has dropped the median age in the Washington area by six months to just 36 years old, the Post reports. As young people move here or decide to stay after graduating from D.C. colleges, however, Washington is also losing its old residents.

So many young adults flocked to the area while the rest of the nation struggled with mounting job losses and foreclosures that Washington soared in the census rankings for that age group from 45th before the recession to No. 1.

During that period, almost 7,000 more people 55 and older left the area than moved in, a number surpassed only by New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

The Post reports that America’s elderly are headed to recovering housing bust towns like Phoenix and “small town” cities like Austin.

Baby in a suit picture by Shutterstock.