Census 2010: Centenarians Are Mostly White Women, Many In California And The South

Men still get paid more than women and they may have greater physical strength, but women have one striking advantage -- if that's how you see it -- over men. The U.S. centenarian "club" is made up of about 80% women, according to a report released Monday analyzing data from the 2010 Census.

For every 100 women who live to be at least 100 years old in 2010, there are just 20.7 men who saw their 100th birthday.

In 2010, 53,364 Americans were over 100 years old, including 5,921 in California, 4,605 in New York and 4,090 in Florida. It makes sense that California had the most, given how populous the state is. Interestingly, when looked at as a percentage of states' populations, North Dakota took the lead, with 3.29 percent of its population being over 100 years old, followed by South Dakota with 2.95 percent. The states with the lowest concentrations were Alaska, with 0.56 percent and Nevada with just 0.75 percent of their populations living to see an entire century.

In addition to gender and region, race was a factor. While whites made up 72.4 percent of the U.S. population in 2010, they made up more -- 82.5 percent -- of the country's centenarians. Conversely, while Latinos made up 16.3% of the population, they made up only 5.8 percent of centenarians.

The American region with the most centenarians was the South, with 17,444 people, followed by the Midwest's 13,112, the Northeast's 12,244 and the West's 10,564. Percentage-wise, the highest concentrations of centenarians were in the Northeast and Midwest.

Check out other notable statistics from the 2010 census: