How the Age-Friendly Domains Apply to Low-Income Cities and Guide Improvements: Perspectives of Long-Term Residents in New Jersey

The WHO defined age-friendly cities (AFCs) as places with policies, services, settings, and structures that enable people to age in place. Although AFCs have gained attention recently, little is known about the applicability of age-friendly domains to low-income cities. We conducted flexible semistructured interviews with 28 adults aged 65 and older who had lived in New Jersey cities with high poverty rates and low median incomes for at least 15 years. Participants described their neighborhoods in ways that mapped onto the eight AFC domains. Themes of agency and safety linked the domains. Participants suggested ways to change neighborhoods in low-income cities that would make them age friendly. Findings suggest that the AFC domains have utility as a framework for how older long-term residents of low-income cities describe their neighborhoods. They provide unique information about how these domains relate to one another and identify strategies for making low-income places better environments for older people.