When you hear people talk about the average startup, it’s natural to picture a bunch of 20-somethings slaving away at their computers.

But that’s misleading. Older Americans actually tend to start new businesses at a higher rate than younger ones do. According to the Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity, people ages 45 to 54 were responsible for 30 percent of all new businesses in 2013. That’s more than any other age group.

Plus, the startup rate for those ages 55 to 64 was 23.4 percent, higher than people ages 20 to 34. (That group had a 22.7 percent business-creation rate.)

This isn’t a new trend, just a very quiet one. Kauffman Foundation researchers say that people in the 55-to-64 age bracket have been outpacing the younger generation at job creation every year since 1996.

What Seasoned Entrepreneurs Bring to the Table

This just makes sense, if you think about all the assets that more mature people can bring to a new business.

For one, they tend to have more experience in their field and with life in general, which could help them dodge the pitfalls that plague younger entrepreneurs.

Civic Ventures, a think tank devoted to Baby Boomers, surveyed aspiring Boomer entrepreneurs in 2011 and found that 85 percent of respondents already had some management experience—on average, 15 years’ worth. About 37 percent had already started a business or a nonprofit at some point in their lives.

And older entrepreneurs may have more flexibility. If their children are grown, they probably have more time than someone 20 years younger. Depending on their personal finances, they also might have more savings and disposable cash to fund a new business.

The entrepreneurial community definitely sees the opportunity in fostering “encore entrepreneurs.”

Kauffman FastTrac has created a version of its entrepreneurial training program that’s tailored to the Baby Boom generation. The U.S. Small Business Administration and AARP have teamed up for a series of Web-based workshops and resources to help entrepreneurs age 50 and older—that material can be accessed at bit.ly/ZJIeVt.

Try, Try Again

Frankly, the country needs the kind of skill that mature entrepreneurs can offer.

In 2014, the Brookings Institution looked at the U.S. business creation rate compared to the country’s “exit rate” for companies. Researchers found that business “deaths” now outpace “births.” This is a big problem.

“While the reasons explaining this decline are unknown,” report authors Ian Hathaway and Robert Litan wrote, “if it persists, it implies a continuation of slow growth for the indefinite future, unless for equally unknown reasons or by virtue of entrepreneurship-enhancing policies (such as the liberalized entry of high-skilled immigrants), these trends are reversed.”

So there’s a patriotic appeal to starting a business. But don’t forget the excitement, the challenge and the joy that come with giving birth to a new venture. If you happen to be a mature entrepreneur who has exited his or her company, maybe the time is right to try again.