Updated automatically from official Congressional records. Not partisan. Just math.
The average age of a current member of Congress is 60 years old. This figure covers all 537 serving members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. The Senate skews significantly older than the House. Senators serve 6-year terms compared to 2-year terms in the House, which tends to favor incumbency and longer careers.
The oldest current member of Congress is Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who is 92 years old. Chuck Grassley serves in the U.S. Senate and will be 95 years old when their current term ends in 2029. According to SSA actuarial tables, the probability of completing the term is 7%.
There are currently 8 senators aged 80 or older out of 100 total U.S. senators. That is 8% of the Senate. Senators serve 6-year terms. At age 80, SSA actuarial tables show a completion probability of roughly 85% for the full term. By age 85, that drops to around 73%.
When a U.S. senator dies, resigns, or is otherwise unable to serve, the governor of their state typically appoints a temporary replacement to fill the seat until a special election can be held.
Special elections are expensive. The average cost of a U.S. Senate special election runs between $5M and $100M depending on the state, covering election administration, voter outreach, printing, and poll workers. Larger states like California and New York can exceed $60–100M for a single race.
Beyond the financial cost, a vacancy creates a period of reduced representation. Constituents may go months without a fully empowered senator. Committees may be short-staffed. Close votes in the Senate chamber may shift in outcome.
Too Damn Old calculates the estimated taxpayer cost of each vacancy risk based on the senator's state's historical special election costs and their actuarial probability of not completing their term.
The following five states currently have the highest average ages across their combined Senate and House delegations:
Too Damn Old uses the Social Security Administration (SSA) Actuarial Life Tables to calculate the probability that each member of Congress will survive to the end of their current term.
The SSA publishes annual period life tables showing the probability that a person of a given age will survive to any future age. These tables are based on aggregate U.S. mortality data and are updated annually.
The calculation works as follows: we look up each member's current age and their term length (2 years for the House, 6 years for the Senate). We then find the SSA probability that a person of that age survives for that many additional years. For example, a senator who is 82 years old has a roughly 63% chance of surviving a full 6-year term according to SSA tables.
These are actuarial averages across the general U.S. population. They do not account for individual health status, access to premium medical care, or other personal factors. They are statistical estimates, not predictions.