Where to Retire Magazine Releases City/County Migrations for Retirement Relocation
Houston, TX (April 3, 2018) – The top destination areas for retirees tend to be regions that attract tourists and are on the outskirts of an urban zone, according to the latest research from the U.S. Census Bureau featured in Where to Retire magazine, the only magazine in America geared toward helping people with retirement relocation decisions. Greater Orlando, FL, clinched the top spot, receiving an estimated 4,460 retiree-age people annually to northern Sumter and northern Lake counties between 2011 and 2015. After Florida comes Arizona, including No. 4 Prescott with 3,251 in-migrants, and South Carolina. The research, detailed in May/June 2018’s “Retirement Relocation: City/County Migration,” is available nationwide on April 10.
“Tourist destinations build connections and offer the kinds of amenities that often attract retirement-age migrants,” said Annette Fuller, editor of Where to Retire. “Vacation experience in a particular community allows individual and couples to imagine living there happily in retirement.”
As for out-migration, sending regions are two types: urban cities, like New York City, Los Angeles, Boston and Chicago, and destinations that send large numbers of counterstream migrants, like Phoenix and Tucson. “Escaping traffic, congestion, crime and a high cost of living often is the goal, and smaller population areas typically have less of these,” Fuller said.
The study, commissioned by Where to Retire, was done by Don Bradley, a professor at Samford University in Birmingham, AL, who has specialized in retiree migration research since 2003. The story is the third in a series of four analyzing census data. Each story, running in the 2018 issues, has maps and charts outlining retiree migration trends.
Each year, 700,000 Americans relocate to new towns to retire. Generally, relocating retirees are healthier, better educated and more affluent than those who choose to not relocate. They bring significant economic benefits to their new states and hometowns. Nationally, two dozen states and hundreds of towns seek to attract retirees as a source of economic development.
Contact:
Kathryn Worrall
kworrall@WhereToRetire.com
(713) 974-6903
