Cities Where Retirees are Moving

When many Americans reach retirement age, they often consider retiring from work and moving to a new city. Although many Americans move to new cities for a variety of reasons, retirees, in particular, may choose to downsize or seek sunshine or other amenities when they no longer need to be close to an employer or job. In this study, AdvisorSmith examines the American cities that are attracting the most new residents aged 65 or older.

To find the cities where retirees are moving, we used data from the U.S. Census, which provides information about the number of new residents who moved during 2019, based on five-year estimates, classified by age group. We focused on residents aged 65 or older who moved to cities from other counties, out of state, or overseas. We also segmented our analysis into small, midsize, and large cities based upon population.

Large Cities Where Retirees are Moving

AdvisorSmith studied 84 large American cities with at least 250,000 residents each. Among these cities, an average of 2,105 residents of senior age moved in within the past year, according to Census data. 

By far, the most popular large city for retirees in the United States was New York City. Seniors moved to NYC in droves, attracted by the city’s cultural amenities such as restaurants, theatres, and museums. Although the coronavirus pandemic interrupted the flows of seniors in 2020, it is likely that the city will become popular among retirees again once the pandemic subsides.

Also represented in the top 10 were other major U.S. cities including Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Chicago, along with sunbelt cities Houston, Mesa, San Diego, Phoenix, San Antonio, and Jacksonville.

Rank	City	State	Seniors Moving In	Senior Population (%)
1	New York	New York	18,334	15%
2	Los Angeles	California	5,899	13%
3	Houston	Texas	5,739	11%
4	Mesa	Arizona	4,926	17%
5	San Diego	California	4,541	13%
6	Phoenix	Arizona	4,350	11%
7	San Antonio	Texas	4,254	12%
8	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania	3,972	14%
9	Chicago	Illinois	3,724	13%
10	Jacksonville	Florida	3,679	14%
11	Denver	Colorado	3,636	12%
12	Las Vegas	Nevada	3,339	15%
13	Tucson	Arizona	3,069	15%
14	Portland	Oregon	3,053	13%
15	San Jose	California	3,042	13%
16	Dallas	Texas	2,968	10%
17	Fort Worth	Texas	2,844	10%
18	Boston	Massachusetts	2,816	12%
19	Albuquerque	New Mexico	2,732	15%
20	Columbus	Ohio	2,672	10%
21	Austin	Texas	2,607	9%
22	Colorado Springs	Colorado	2,522	14%
23	Charlotte	North Carolina	2,501	10%
24	Oklahoma City	Oklahoma	2,471	13%
25	Nashville	Tennessee	2,467	12%
26	San Francisco	California	2,321	16%
27	Henderson	Nevada	2,288	20%
28	Raleigh	North Carolina	2,169	11%
29	Washington	District of Columbia	2,153	12%
30	Sacramento	California	2,149	13%
31	Seattle	Washington	2,070	13%
32	Indianapolis	Indiana	2,041	12%
33	Kansas City	Missouri	1,999	13%
34	Aurora	Colorado	1,955	11%
35	Virginia Beach	Virginia	1,882	14%
36	Orlando	Florida	1,816	10%
37	Wichita	Kansas	1,801	14%
38	Louisville	Kentucky	1,785	15%
39	Baltimore	Maryland	1,688	14%
40	St. Petersburg	Florida	1,609	19%
41	Atlanta	Georgia	1,584	12%
42	Tulsa	Oklahoma	1,578	14%
43	Omaha	Nebraska	1,514	13%
44	Riverside	California	1,513	11%
45	Tampa	Florida	1,497	12%
46	Chandler	Arizona	1,442	11%
47	Memphis	Tennessee	1,438	13%
48	El Paso	Texas	1,435	13%
49	Corpus Christi	Texas	1,389	14%
50	Lubbock	Texas	1,354	12%

Midsize Cities Where Retirees are Moving

Among midsize cities with between 50,000 and 250,000 residents, an average of 452 new retirement-age residents moved to these cities. We included 734 midsize cities in our analysis. The top 10 midsize cities were dominated by cities in Florida, which accounted for seven of the top 10. The Villages, a well-known retirement community in the state, was the most popular destination for seniors among midsize cities.

Rank	City	State	Seniors Moving In	Senior Population (%)
1	The Villages	Florida	3,316	82%
2	Port St. Lucie	Florida	3,002	21%
3	Scottsdale	Arizona	2,332	24%
4	Lakeland	Florida	1,914	22%
5	Surprise	Arizona	1,781	23%
6	Cape Coral	Florida	1,771	23%
7	Fort Myers	Florida	1,681	22%
8	Bonita Springs	Florida	1,612	42%
9	Vancouver	Washington	1,591	16%
10	Palm Coast	Florida	1,586	28%
11	Frisco	Texas	1,585	8%
12	Lake Havasu City	Arizona	1,524	33%
13	Reno	Nevada	1,478	15%
14	Spring Valley	Nevada	1,472	14%
15	Fort Lauderdale	Florida	1,411	18%
16	Spring Hill	Florida	1,385	23%
17	Gilbert	Arizona	1,341	10%
18	Roseville	California	1,336	17%
19	St. George	Utah	1,317	23%
20	Deerfield Beach	Florida	1,263	22%
21	Boca Raton	Florida	1,232	27%
22	Eugene	Oregon	1,217	16%
23	Palm Bay	Florida	1,212	19%
24	Richmond	Virginia	1,210	13%
25	Spokane	Washington	1,200	15%
26	Palm Desert	California	1,197	36%
27	West Palm Beach	Florida	1,186	19%
28	Fremont	California	1,179	13%
29	Overland Park	Kansas	1,174	15%
30	Peoria	Arizona	1,155	17%
31	Largo	Florida	1,137	26%
32	San Tan Valley	Arizona	1,116	12%
33	Port Charlotte	Florida	1,110	31%
34	Winston-Salem	North Carolina	1,098	14%
35	North Port	Florida	1,097	24%
36	Santa Rosa	California	1,095	17%
37	Clearwater	Florida	1,063	23%
38	Sioux Falls	South Dakota	1,059	13%
39	North Las Vegas	Nevada	1,057	11%
40	Chesapeake	Virginia	1,057	13%
41	Denton	Texas	1,049	12%
42	McKinney	Texas	1,046	11%
43	Georgetown	Texas	1,035	29%
44	Paradise	Nevada	1,035	14%
45	Carlsbad	California	1,025	17%
46	Pompano Beach	Florida	1,016	20%
47	Delray Beach	Florida	1,014	26%
48	Nampa	Idaho	999	13%
49	Salt Lake City	Utah	998	11%
50	Rio Rancho	New Mexico	998	16%

Small Cities Where Retirees are Moving

Smaller cities with between 10,000 and 50,000 residents accounted for 3,144 of the cities in our study. In these smaller cities, approximately 115 seniors moved to each city per year on average. The list of top small retirement cities was dominated by Arizona, with the state having seven of the top 10. Small Florida cities took up the other three spots.

Rank	City	State	Seniors Moving In	Senior Population (%)
1	Sun City	Arizona	1,512	76%
2	Fortuna Foothills	Arizona	1,505	45%
3	Green Valley	Arizona	1,387	80%
4	North Fort Myers	Florida	1,279	47%
5	Oro Valley	Arizona	1,246	34%
6	Venice	Florida	1,236	63%
7	Sun City Center	Florida	1,223	72%
8	Apache Junction	Arizona	1,216	33%
9	Prescott Valley	Arizona	1,138	26%
10	Sun City West	Arizona	1,107	84%
11	Bullhead City	Arizona	1,091	30%
12	Lady Lake	Florida	996	51%
13	Palm Springs	California	979	32%
14	Hallandale Beach	Florida	898	24%
15	New Smyrna Beach	Florida	895	38%
16	Hilton Head Island	South Carolina	853	37%
17	Estero	Florida	796	49%
18	Dunedin	Florida	764	33%
19	Clermont	Florida	732	25%
20	Fountain Hills	Arizona	731	38%
21	Prescott	Arizona	727	37%
22	Ormond Beach	Florida	704	29%
23	Huntley	Illinois	701	33%
24	Bella Vista	Arkansas	684	33%
25	Naples	Florida	670	53%
26	Laguna Woods	California	660	83%
27	Rancho Mirage	California	646	52%
28	Winter Haven	Florida	623	26%
29	Maricopa	Arizona	621	13%
30	La Quinta	California	616	26%
31	Punta Gorda	Florida	606	54%
32	Pahrump	Nevada	605	32%
33	Peachtree City	Georgia	604	19%
34	Englewood	Florida	602	51%
35	Titusville	Florida	591	23%
36	Lacey	Washington	583	17%
37	Four Corners	Florida	582	15%
38	Hot Springs Village	Arkansas	569	59%
39	Kingman	Arizona	563	24%
40	New Bern	North Carolina	548	22%
41	Mesquite	Nevada	545	41%
42	Sahuarita	Arizona	542	22%
43	Spring Hill	Tennessee	542	10%
44	El Dorado Hills	California	537	17%
45	Twin Falls	Idaho	532	14%
46	Hot Springs	Arkansas	531	22%
47	Lincoln	California	528	27%
48	Aventura	Florida	526	29%
49	East Lake	Florida	514	28%
50	Florida Ridge	Florida	496	25%

Methodology

AdvisorSmith determined the cities where retirees are moving using data published by the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey for 2019, based on five-year estimates for cities, towns, villages, boroughs, and census-designated places (CDPs) from around the country. 

This dataset provides the estimated population for each city surveyed, as well as the number of residents aged 65 to 74, and aged 75 or older. It also provides the percentage of the population in each age group that moved to the city from another county in the state, from out of state, or from overseas within the last year.

AdvisorSmith used this data to determine the estimated number of individuals who moved to each city within the past year that were aged 65 or older. We divided cities into three groups based upon population, with small cities having between 10,000 and 50,000 residents, midsize cities having between 50,000 and 250,000 residents, and large cities having over 250,000 residents. For each population group, we ranked the cities by the number of new residents moving to the city that were aged 65 or older. 

Sources

1. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey