The Towns In Arizona Where Retirees Are Moving To
By Medicare's count, Arizona had 189,966 more residents aged 65 and over in 2025 than in 2020, and Pinal County's older population grew fastest, up 27.0% against 15.6% statewide. In the Census Bureau's latest survey, older residents who had moved from another state outnumbered those moving between Arizona counties nearly four to one. They are settling on the desert edges, below the Santa Catalina and Superstition mountains, and along the Colorado River, while Sun City's older population shrank. Arizona's income tax also excludes Social Security benefits. Twelve towns show both trends: more residents aged 65 and over than in the 2020 survey, and newcomers outpacing the state rate of 3.67%.
Flagstaff
Flagstaff deviates from the statewide pattern because most of its older newcomers are from within Arizona. Residents 65 and over rose from 6,427 to 7,122 between the two surveys. About 6.0% had moved in within the past year, well above the state rate, and 240 of those 425 arrivals came from another Arizona county. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) migration files for 2022 to 2023 list Maricopa, Yavapai, and Navajo counties as the top sources of all movers into Coconino County.
The city sits at 6,905 feet, surrounded by the Flagstaff Ranger District of the Coconino National Forest and overlooked by Humphreys Peak, the state's highest point. Flagstaff Medical Center is a Level 1 trauma center. The Joe C. Montoya Community and Senior Center, beside Thorpe Park, serves lunch weekdays at noon. On Mars Hill Road, Lowell Observatory welcomes visitors to the place where Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto in 1930.
Prescott Valley
At 5,100 feet, Prescott Valley spreads out between the Bradshaw and Mingus mountains. The Prescott Valley Active Adult Center on Manzanita Circle opens on weekdays for lunch, tai chi, and line dancing, with bingo on Friday nights. Dignity Health Yavapai Regional Medical Center East gives the town its own hospital. The Glassford Summit Trail gains 940 feet over 4.6 miles round trip, and Fain Park permits gold panning along Lynx Creek.
Prescott Valley also pulls in more than twice as many older newcomers as Flagstaff. Its residents 65 and over went from 12,997 to 14,689, and 6.7% of those residents were new to the county within the year, against the 3.67% state rate. Of the 988 recent arrivals, 701 had crossed a state line. Tax-return data trace the largest share of Yavapai County's movers to Maricopa County, with Coconino, Los Angeles, and San Diego counties next.
Cave Creek
The town's core runs a mile and a half along the northern foothills of Black Mountain, and its trails reach into the Tonto National Forest. Cave Creek began in 1870 as a mining and ranching settlement and a stop for the US Cavalry, then incorporated in 1986. The Cave Creek Museum, open from October to May, displays a stamp mill with ten 1,000-pound stamps. At the Desert Foothills Library, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Arizona State University has hosted talks.
Cave Creek's numbers run small, with 2,106 residents 65 and over, yet its older share climbed almost 10 percentage points. That group grew from 1,824 and now makes up 41.4% of the town, against 18.9% statewide. Newcomers were 4.2% of older residents, just above the state rate, and 50 of the 89 had moved from other Arizona counties. Pinal, Los Angeles, and Pima counties top the IRS list of origins for Maricopa County.
Gold Canyon
More than half of Gold Canyon's residents are 65 or older, 54.3% against 18.9% for Arizona. That group climbed from 6,352 to 7,112 between the surveys, edging its share up from 53.5%. The 409 older residents who arrived within the year set a newcomer rate of 5.8%, far above Arizona's 3.67%. Of them, 339 came from other states. Gold Canyon is part of Pinal County, the state leader in Medicare growth, which draws most of its movers from Maricopa County.
The unincorporated community sits at the base of the Superstition Mountains, and two golf clubs share its address. Gold Canyon Golf Resort runs two courses, Dinosaur Mountain and Sidewinder, and sells a 2026 to 2027 players' pass. The private Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club adds Prospector and Lost Gold, two Nicklaus Design courses that opened in 1998 and 1999.
Eloy
Like Gold Canyon, Eloy belongs to Pinal County, and it lines Interstate 10 just south of its junction with Interstate 8. Robson Ranch Arizona, a community for active adults 55 and over, opened inside city limits in 2005. It has its own golf club and two clubhouses, the Ranch House and the Desert Sky Sports Club. Skydive Arizona flies what it calls the world's largest fleet of skydiving aircraft from a drop zone in town. Picacho Peak State Park, about a dozen miles southeast, rises over the site of a Civil War battle.
Eloy's older population nearly doubled between the surveys. Residents 65 and over rose 81.9%, from 1,969 to 3,581, against 10.7% growth statewide. Their share of the city climbed to 20.5%, above the 18.9% state share. Recent arrivals made up 7.5% of the older population, about twice the state rate, and movers from beyond Arizona outnumbered in-state ones 211 to 59.
SaddleBrooke
Beneath the Santa Catalina Mountains, SaddleBrooke draws newcomers at well over double the state rate. In the latest survey, 8.3% of its residents 65 and over had moved from another county or state within the year. Of those 775 newcomers, 688 came from out of state. Its older population rose from 8,872 to 9,353 in a Pinal County community where 71.5% of residents are already 65 or older, against 18.9% statewide.
Robson Resort Communities built SaddleBrooke for active adults, and residents have formed more than 200 clubs and groups. The SaddleBrooke One association counts 2,060 homes around a private 27-hole golf facility. SaddleBrooke Ranch, a second Robson community, requires at least one resident 55 or older in each home. It falls within the same census-designated place, although its mail goes to Oracle.
Oro Valley
Oro Valley's streets climb into the western foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains, and Catalina State Park, inside town limits, protects nearly 5,000 saguaros. Sun City Oro Valley, an active-adult community, opens its golf course to public memberships. The Heirloom Farmers Market sets up every Saturday, year-round, at Steam Pump Ranch, a National Register property at the foot of Pusch Ridge. Oro Valley Hospital serves the town from Tangerine Road.
Oro Valley added 1,514 residents aged 65 and over between the two surveys, reaching 17,216. The 992 who arrived in the past year put the newcomer rate at 5.8%, against 3.67% statewide, and 821 of them moved from outside Arizona. Pima County's movers came most often from Maricopa, Cochise, and Pinal counties, according to IRS records. The Pusch Ridge Wilderness bars dogs year-round from its bighorn sheep area.
Marana
More than 2,100 residents 65 and over joined Marana's count between the surveys, a 21.6% rise, roughly double Arizona's 10.7%. The group went from 10,060 to 12,228, and 6.4% of them had arrived in the prior year, well above Arizona's 3.67%. Out-of-state movers accounted for 636 of those 780 newcomers. The town lies in Pima County, and part of it extends into Pinal.
The Tortolita Preserve keeps nine miles of trail across 2,400 acres. Trails in neighboring Tortolita Mountain Park cross a patchwork of private, town, county, and state land. The Marana Senior Program, open to adults 50 and over, charges $40 a year for membership. Its calendar at the Ora Mae Harn Senior Center lists chair volleyball, chair Zumba, and Bone Builders. The 300-acre Marana Heritage River Park follows the Santa Cruz River.
Picture Rocks
Picture Rocks posts a newcomer rate nearly four times the state's. Census figures put the share of its residents 65 and over who moved in within a year at 14.3%. Every one of those 393 newcomers had lived in another state. Residents 65 and over numbered 2,743, up from 2,324. Across Pima County, Los Angeles and San Diego counties led the out-of-state origins for movers of all ages.
The Cam-Boh Picnic Area entrance opens onto Picture Rocks Road in the Tucson Mountain District of Saguaro National Park. Scores of petroglyphs mark a rock outcrop along a short trail at the Redemptorist Renewal Center on Picture Rocks Road. Archaeologist Allen Dart counts the site among the two he most highly recommends. Pima County runs the Picture Rocks Community Center on Sanders Road for the unincorporated community.
Rio Rico
The Santa Cruz River threads through Rio Rico. From a staging area off Río Rico Road, several miles of the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail parallel Anza's route toward Tumacácori. Calabasas Park on Pendleton Drive has a walking and jogging trail. From January through March, Tumacácori National Historical Park leads reserved tours of the Calabazas and Guevavi mission ruins on the first and third Saturdays.
Rio Rico's older population grew 24.8% between the surveys, from 2,203 to 2,750, against 10.7% statewide. Even so, residents 65 and over make up 12.5% of the community, below the 18.9% state share. Arrivals from the prior year accounted for 4.8% of that group, a step above Arizona's rate, split 60 from other Arizona counties and 73 from other states. Santa Cruz County's Medicare rolls for ages 65 and up rose 19.8% from 2020 to 2025, against 15.6% statewide.
Yuma
Some 2,431 more people aged 65 and over lived in Yuma in the latest survey than in the 2020 survey, a 16.0% rise against 10.7% statewide. Newcomers made up 4.7% of the 17,623 total, ahead of Arizona's 3.67%, and 735 of the 831 came from out of state. San Diego and Imperial counties in California rank just behind Maricopa County as sources of Yuma County movers. County Medicare enrollment of people 65 and over grew 22.8% over five years, second only to Pinal.
The city rests just below the confluence of the Colorado River and the Gila River. Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park overlooks the Colorado from a bluff, and the 1,400-acre Yuma East Wetlands keep the riverbank as a nature preserve. Onvida Health, formerly Yuma Regional Medical Center, runs its main hospital on Avenue A. Guinness World Records credits Yuma with the most sunshine on record, 91% of possible hours.
Lake Havasu City
The Colorado backs up behind Parker Dam to form Lake Havasu, and the city grew up on its shore before incorporating in 1978. Robert McCulloch won the bidding for the London Bridge in 1968 for $2.46 million, and its rededication came on October 10, 1971. At Lake Havasu State Park, the 1.75-mile Mohave Sunset Trail winds along the shoreline. The city's Aquatic Center keeps a warm soaker pool for arthritis and yoga classes, and Havasu Regional Medical Center stands on Civic Center Lane.
Lake Havasu City drew 982 out-of-state newcomers aged 65 and over among its 1,057 recent arrivals. Residents 65 and over rose from 18,257 to 20,541, reaching 35.2% of the city, nearly double the state share. Nearly nine in ten movers into Mohave County came from another state, led by Clark County in Nevada and San Bernardino County in California.
Where Arizona's Retirees Land Next
Arizona's older newcomers keep arriving from other states and keep settling at the edges, in Pinal and Pima County towns and along the Colorado River. The Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity's latest estimates show Pinal County's population growing fastest, by 3.7% in the year to July 2025. In Gold Canyon and SaddleBrooke, residents 65 and over already form the majority, so senior services there serve a growing base. Sun City, meanwhile, lost residents 65 and over between the surveys.
