One important aspect of retirement for most people is deciding where to live. In the past, this was not an issue because most elderly persons remained at home where they could be close to family. In contemporary times, parents and grown children go their separate ways, staying in touch through the telephone and, more recently, through e-mail. Every year, more than 400,000 adults who are 55 or older move out of their home state and relocate.
Florida leads all states in the proportion of elderly people-19 percent over 65 years of age, most of whom relocated from other places. Thus, Florida cities have become known as retirement centers. Among those prominently mentioned are Boca Raton, Daytona Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Naples, and Ocala where between 20 and 25 percent of the residents is over 65 years of age. Two other Florida cities, Saint Petersburg and Sarasota, have even higher proportions-25 percent and 32 percent respectively. Other cities that have gained reputations as retirement centers with large number of elderly are Savannah, Georgia, Prescott and Scottsdale, Arizona, Palm Springs, California, and Asheville, North Carolina. Even tourist centers like Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada, where residents pay no income tax and no inheritance or estate taxes, are attracting growing numbers of seniors.
There are also many smaller private development communities that are-packaged as state-of-the-art retirement communities with such amenities as golf courses, lakes for fishing and boating, cultural and recreation activities. They go by such names as Sun City Grand near Phoenix, Arizona, Sun City Palm Desert near Palm Springs California, Sun City Summerland near Las Vegas, Nevada, and Ford’s Colony close to Williamsburg, Virginia among others.
To the extent that the proportion of retired elderly people in towns and regions continues to grow, certain consequences tend to follow. Where such communities are essentially residential, their revenue base depends largely on the individual wealth of their residents. For this reason, the economies of such communities are becoming increasingly dependent on the rise and fall of pensions, Social Security, and Medicare payments. Retirees are also likely to block future industrial development efforts since their priorities emphasize nice climate and attractive places to live and recreate. They are inclined to reject the noise and congestion that comes with new factories and the jobs they bring to the economy.