A surge in retirees is coming, but where will they decide to live? Nearly 1.2 million people 55 or older relocated out of state last year, which was a record high.
“Baby boomers are so hard to pin down,” Rodney Harrell, director with the AARP Public Policy Institute, told realtor.com®. “There are so many of them, and they’re choosing a wider range of options than previous generations. … There’s no one size fits all.”
Researchers at realtor.com® sought to identify the fastest-growing retirement destinations by looking at the number of people ages 55 and up and identifying where they moved between 2016 and 2017. Many of the locations on the list are in warmer climates in the South and Southwest.
Realtor.com® identified the following cities as the fastest-growing retirement locales:
1. Punta Gorda, Fla.
- Median list price: $275,100
- Percentage of residents age 60 and up: 47%
2. Cape Coral, Fla.
- Median list price: $299,100
- Percentage of residents age 60 and up: 35%
3. Prescott, Ariz.
- Median list price: $399,100
- Percentage of residents age 60 and up: 40.1%
4. Santa Fe, N.M.
- Median list price: $580,100
- Percentage of residents age 60 and up: 30.4%
5. Tucson, Ariz.
- Median list price: $279,100
- Percentage of residents age 60 and up: 25.7%
6. Morehead City, N.C.
- Median list price: $325,100
- Percentage of residents age 60 and up: 32.5%
7. Asheville, N.C.
- Median list price: $375,000
- Percentage of residents age 60 and up: 29.1%
Source: “Boomer Boomtowns: America’s 10 Fastest-Growing Retirement Hot Spots,” realtor.com® (Jan. 21, 2019)
