Retirement to Florida
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Retirement to Florida is a phenomenon in the United States beginning in the 1950s in which retirees have, during certain periods, disproportionately chosen to move to the state of Florida to live out their retirement. This choice is promoted by a number of factors, including the year-round warmer climate in parts of the state, as well as the absence of a state income tax, recreational opportunities, and the development of an abundance of retirement communities.
History
Until the mid-20th century, Florida was the least-populous state in the southern United States. In 1900, its population was only 528,542.[1] Economic prosperity in the 1920s stimulated tourism to Florida and related development of hotels and resort communities. Combined with its sudden elevation in profile was the Florida land boom of the 1920s, which brought a brief period of intense land development. In 1925, the Seaboard Air Line broke the FEC's southeast Florida monopoly and extended its freight and passenger service to West Palm Beach; two years later it extended passenger service to Miami. Devastating hurricanes in 1926 and 1928, followed by the Great Depression, brought that period to a halt. Florida's economy did not fully recover until the military buildup for World War II. In 1939, Florida was described as "still very largely an empty State."[2] Subsequently, the growing availability of air conditioning, the climate, and a low cost of living made the state a haven. Migration from the Rust Belt and the Northeast sharply increased Florida's population after 1945.[3][4]
Post-1950 developments
Summarize
Perspective
In the 1950s and 1960s, migration into Florida was localized, with retirees from places like New York City moving to Miami Beach in large numbers.[5][6]
Retirement communities, which are often built in warm climates, became common in Florida, as well as other warmer states such as Alabama, Arizona, California, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, and Texas. In 2011, The Villages, Florida became the largest of these communities,[7] approaching a population of 80,000 residents by 2020. Some of the characteristics of these communities typically are: the community must be age-restricted or age-qualified,[8] residents must be partially or fully retired, and the community offers shared services or amenities.[8]
Florida also contains a number of niche retirement communities targeting retirees who "share a common interest, hobby or trait".[9] By 2011, niche retirement communities or "niche senior communities' - known as "affinity retirement communities" by industry professionals - [10] had become "one of the biggest trends in retirement living." These communities attract those over 55 who want to be in communities of like-minded individuals from the same ethnic background. In Florida, there are niche retirement communities for Polk County retired letter carriers (which was union-built); for car buffs and RVers, such as Lake Weir Preserve in Marion County; for first-generation Indian immigrants (55-and-over) in Tavares, in the Greater Orlando area, Lake County, Florida. The Villages, in Sumter County, Florida, is Florida's most well-known and fastest-growing retirement community development.[11][12] It has been described as the state's "biggest example of a culturally and ethnically homogeneous retirement community",[13] with a 98.4% white population.[14] The Villages, a gated community reporting low crime rates,[15] offers "free golf for life" on their executive golf courses.[16]
A number of retirement communities in Florida have been structured to have an affiliation with particular organizations. Colleges have created options for retired alumni who enjoy campus life, for example, at the University of Florida in Gainesville and Eckerd College in St. Petersburg's College Harbor Retirement Community, with its Academy of Senior Professionals.[13] Nalcrest, Florida, the name of which is derived from the acronym for National Association of Letter Carriers Retirement, Education, Security and Training,[17] was established in 1963 as a retirement community for postal letter carriers, designed and operated by a branch of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC), the union representing United States Postal Service city letter carriers.[18][19] Maranatha Village, established in 1973, is a Baptist retirement community north of Sebring, Florida, affiliated with the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches.[20]
As of 2011, Florida contains the highest percentage of people over 65 (17.3%) in the U.S.[21] There were 186,102 military retirees living in the state in 2008.[22] About two-thirds of the population was born in another state, the second-highest in the U.S.[23] In 2021, Florida was the most popular state in the country for retirees to move to, with over 78,000 seniors moving from other states to Florida, which was "more than three times as many as Arizona, which ranked second on the list".[24]
See also
References
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