I do not see it much in the southeast US. .Net and Java dominate the programming language culture here, and you do not just jump in and learn all of .Net or Java in a year or two. For all of its many shortcomings, the south does seem to have a reverence for age and experience (which might contribute heavily to aforementioned shortcomings).

Even at startups, I would guess that the average programmer is over 30 in my area (Charleston, SC). An older programmer here can pretty much live like a king/queen on their salary with nearly limitless employment, assuming they keep somewhat up to date ("up to date" being more like "knows how to use OOP and a standard ORM", not "has a prolific Github profile and uses TDD"). In fact, many of the top programmers you see here are people who left SF or NYC for more stable employment in finance, cushy consulting, and better real estate prospects.

[Disclaimer: I am neither an older programmer nor a .Net/Java dev, but this has been my anecdotal experience]