Clinical imaging techniques are unable to consistently identify individuals at risk for hip fracture. Individual differences in falling likelihood partly account for these inconsistencies, but it is also thought that microscopic bone changes may play a role. In this study, subcapital, midneck and trochanteric sites from eight young adult (26 + 7 yr.) and nine older (63 + 3 yr.) males were studied using backscattered electron imaging to identify age-related microscopic structural and mineral changes around the cortex. Additionally, a standardization technique was developed to quantify mineral content differences at the microscopic level. Porosity, amount of hypermineralized tissue, lacunae/mm², osteons/mm², osteonal mineral content and cortical thickness were measured at each of 8 circumferential regions around the femoral neck. Regions of hypermineralized tissue, which may be necrotic in origin, were commonly observed in the more superior regions of the older group. Artifactual cracks occurred preferentially within the hypermineralized phase, suggesting localized fracture toughness reductions and regions that may initiate cracking with a falling impact. At the midneck level, aging osteonal mineral reductions were essentially uniform around the circumference, though superior regions of both ages generally had higher mineral content than did inferior regions. The average difference in cortical thickness between the two age groups was greater at the subcapital (27.7%) and midneck (25.2%) levels than the trochanteric level (10.5%). Significant cortical thinning and hypermineralization were observed together, indicating multiple predisposing factors within the same microscopic regions. Microscopic evidence from this work suggests that some regions of the femoral neck are more likely than others to initiate fracturing events and that currently available clinical imaging methods are unable to distinguish aging changes in these regions.