The Towns In California Where Retirees Are Moving To
California's Medicare rolls counted 6,609,836 people 65 and older in 2025, up 831,358 since 2020. San Benito led the state, with Placer, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties close behind. Siskiyou, Nevada, and Tuolumne counties were among those growing at less than half the state's 14.4% pace. The direction runs outward from the big metro counties. In Internal Revenue Service data for 2022 to 2023, 43,859 households headed by someone 65 or older changed counties within California, while 37,690 left the state. Across all ages, Public Policy Institute of California researchers estimate that nearly 900,000 Californians left the state between 2010 and 2021 primarily because of housing.
Rio Vista, California
Nearly half of Rio Vista's residents are 65 or older, a 46.6% share against 15.8% statewide. The Solano County town on the Sacramento River still gained 498 older residents between the 2020 and 2024 Census surveys. In a single year, 2.8% of its seniors arrived from another county or state, well above California's 1.8%. Contra Costa and Alameda counties sent Solano County more newcomers of all ages than any other county.
The city's general plan expected Trilogy at Rio Vista, an age-restricted development of just over 3,000 homes, to supply about a third of its growth through 2020. On Main Street, the Rio Vista Senior Center serves lunch Monday through Friday. The Rio Vista Museum opens on weekend afternoons. Just south of town, Sandy Beach County Park has a riverside boat launch that stays open around the clock. The trade-off is distance. The fire department lists the closest medical facilities in Antioch, Lodi, and Fairfield, 19 to 24 miles away.
Vacaville, California
Also in Solano County, Vacaville added 1,500 older residents over the same stretch. Almost every senior newcomer came from elsewhere in California, 379 of 398 in the five-year estimate. The result is a 2.5% annual arrival rate, above the 1.8% statewide. Napa County ranks third among Solano's sources.
Vacaville borders the Vaca Mountain range, and its own history page recalls an era as the fresh fruit capital of California. The Nut Tree grew from a roadside fruit stand into a restaurant complex that served travelers for almost 75 years. Medical care stays local, with NorthBay Health VacaValley Hospital on Nut Tree Road and Kaiser Permanente Vacaville Medical Center, Solano County's designated trauma center. Older residents gather at the McBride Senior Center, beside the Ulatis CreekWalk, where Lunch Buddies Bistro serves at 11:30 am Monday through Thursday. On Saturday mornings, a year-round farmers market sets up in Andrews Park. Admission to the Vacaville Museum is free.
Folsom, California
Six of every 100 Folsom seniors arrived in Sacramento County within the past year, more than triple the 1.8% California rate. The Sacramento County city grew its 65-plus population by 2,291 between surveys. Placer County sends Sacramento County the most people. Yolo and San Joaquin counties follow.
Regency at Folsom Ranch is a gated 55-plus community planned for 919 homes. Van day trips leave from the Folsom Senior Center, next to City Hall, and Dignity Health Mercy Hospital of Folsom keeps a 24-hour emergency room in town. The senior center keeps weekday hours and closes at noon on Fridays. Each Saturday morning brings the Historic Folsom Farmers Market to the plaza, and the Johnny Cash Trail heads 2.5 miles out of the historic district toward Folsom Lake. For a slower afternoon, Folsom Powerhouse State Historic Park opens Wednesday through Sunday. Its 1895 plant on the American River was one of the nation's first power systems to deliver high-voltage alternating current.
El Dorado Hills, California
No city government runs El Dorado Hills. Its community services district adopted a resolution in May 2025 to open the process of becoming a city. Folsom and El Dorado Hills share a border, and the El Dorado County community counted 2,024 more seniors by the later survey. Seniors make up 21.0% of residents, against California's 15.8%. About 3.5% of them arrived from outside the county within 12 months, roughly double California's 1.8%. Sacramento County is the leading source of El Dorado County's newcomers, with Placer and Santa Clara behind it.
Lennar's Heritage Carson Creek is limited to buyers age 55 or older, and the builder's earlier Heritage El Dorado Hills also targets active adults. At the Ramona "Moni" Gilmore Senior Center, the week runs to watercolor lessons, tai chi, and chair yoga. The Sac-Med van takes seniors to doctor's appointments in the Sacramento area on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Summer evenings bring the free Live on the Boulevard concerts to the El Dorado Hills Town Center. Closer to home, the New York Creek Nature Trail follows 1.5 shaded miles under the oaks, on land the district received in 1972.
Hollister, California
San Benito County grew its Medicare enrollment of people 65 and older by 22.2% from 2020 to 2025, the fastest rate of any county in California. The statewide figure was 14.4%. Hollister picked up 974 seniors over that span. Its arrival rate for older residents, 2.5%, also clears California's 1.8%. Santa Clara County supplied roughly half of the San Benito County newcomers who moved within the state, counting every age, and Monterey County ran a distant second.
Twin Oaks opened in 2020 with 168 one-story homes. It finished ahead of the planned senior development at San Juan Oaks. Martha's Kitchen at the Pauline Valdivia Memorial Community Center hands out a free weekday lunch to anyone 60 and older, followed by bingo or lotería. Golfers have two championship courses at Ridgemark Golf & Country Club, and Highway 25 runs south through Hollister to the east entrance of Pinnacles National Park. Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital is the county's only full-service hospital. The ground here never quite settles. Federal geologists trace the creeping Calaveras Fault through town, where offset curbs and sidewalks mark its path.
Atascadero, California
Between the Salinas River and the Santa Lucia Mountains, Atascadero gained 613 residents past 65 in that period. Roughly one senior in 25 is a recent transplant from beyond San Luis Obispo County. Statewide, the figure is fewer than one in 50. Santa Barbara County sends the most people to the county, with Los Angeles County second and Kern third.
Edward G. Lewis chose this ranch for a model colony in 1913, and work on his Atascadero City Hall ran from 1914 to 1918. The building reopened in 2013. The state lists it as California Historical Landmark No. 958. The Atascadero Senior Center fills its calendar with Tai Chi Chih, Spanish conversation on Wednesdays, and a Book Bunch on the last Friday of each month. Atascadero Lake Park holds the Central Coast Zoo, which opens daily in summer. For hospital care, residents turn to Adventist Health Twin Cities Medical Center in Templeton.
Camarillo, California
Leisure Village packs more than 2,100 single-story homes onto 400 acres of Camarillo, and the age-restricted village dates to the 1970s. The Ventura County city counted 2,597 more seniors than in the earlier survey. People 65 and older now account for 23.1% of the population, compared with 15.8% statewide. Within a year, 2.6% of them were new to Ventura County, against 1.8% statewide. Los Angeles County supplied close to three in five of Ventura County's arrivals from other California counties.
Pleasant Valley cradles Camarillo, bordered by the Camarillo Hills, Las Posas Hills, and Santa Monica Mountains. Dignity Health St. John's Hospital Camarillo runs an accredited geriatric emergency department. The park district runs free drop-in activities every weekday at its Burnley Street senior center. Camarillo Grove Park, a former stagecoach stop near the base of the Conejo Grade, opens daily from dawn to dusk. On weekends, docents lead $5 tours of the 1892 Camarillo Ranch House. Adolfo Camarillo bred the first of the Camarillo White Horses on that ranch.
Yucaipa, California
Forty-two mobile home parks dot Yucaipa. The city's list includes family parks and senior parks. The San Bernardino County city gained 801 seniors in the later count. Its senior newcomer rate, 2.5%, beats California's 1.8%. Los Angeles County leads the origins for San Bernardino County. Riverside and Orange trail well behind.
Rolling hills carry the city into the foothills of the San Bernardino Mountains. The Scherer Community Center serves hot meals at midday and runs tai chi, hula, and a ukulele club. Golden Wheels, the city's ride service, carries residents 62 and older on weekdays. The local grocery story runs deep, too. Twin brothers Cleo and Leo Stater bought a Yucaipa market with $600 down and grew it into a chain of more than 150 supermarkets. Yucaipa Regional Park keeps three lakes for fishing and gives campers 62 and older a discount from Sunday through Thursday. Oak Glen's apple orchards lie just east of the city, outside its limits.
Beaumont, California
South of Yucaipa and across the Riverside County line, Beaumont tops the San Gorgonio Pass. The city's senior population jumped by 1,973 between surveys, while the other two Pass cities, Banning and Calimesa, both lost seniors. The share of seniors who arrived in the last year, 2.3%, edges past the 1.8% state figure. Riverside County draws newcomers almost evenly from Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties.
Del Webb's Solera Oak Valley Greens holds 1,290 homes limited to residents 55 and older, and Four Seasons at Beaumont follows the same age rule. Line dancing classes and pickleball courts keep Noble Creek Regional Park busy. The Beaumont Cherry Festival has run for more than a century. Its 2026 edition ran from May 28 to 31. Acute care comes from San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital in Banning. The Beaumont Library District keeps the local history. Its account of 1911 tells how Pass winds forced a Wright Model B in a transcontinental derby to land. A grain grower chained the plane to a rail fence.
Hemet, California
Since 1923, volunteers from Hemet and San Jacinto have staged the Ramona Pageant in the hills of Hemet. The Legislature named it the California State Outdoor Play in 1993. Hemet added 1,458 seniors between surveys. They now make up 22.0% of all residents, well above 15.8% statewide. New arrivals made up 2.4% of Hemet's older population in a year, above the state's 1.8%. Orange and San Diego counties round out the top four sources for Riverside County, after the two leaders.
In town, Hemet Global Medical Center dates to 1943 and handles emergencies at any hour. Diamond Valley Lake stretches just west of town. Building it turned up fossils. More than half of all known Pacific mastodon specimens came from the excavation. The Western Science Center displays Max, the largest mastodon ever found in California, and admits seniors 62 and up for $8.50. The lake's seasonal Wildflower Trail, a 1.3-mile loop, reopened in February 2026.
Palm Desert, California
The same San Jacinto Mountains that frame Hemet rise behind the Coachella Valley, where Palm Desert occupies the geographic center. Out-of-state arrivals outnumber in-state ones among the city's new seniors, 853 to 455. Altogether, 6.7% of Palm Desert's seniors were newcomers from beyond Riverside County in one year, nearly four times California's 1.8%. Residents 65 and older make up 37.9% of Palm Desert, more than twice the state's 15.8%. Maricopa County in Arizona and Clark County in Nevada lead Riverside County's out-of-state sources.
The Joslyn Center runs lawn bowling, card tournaments, and shows in its Arthur Newman Theatre. El Paseo carries more than 200 shops, restaurants, and galleries along a mile of the city. During World War II, General George Patton kept a motor pool near what is now El Paseo Drive. The Living Desert Zoo and Gardens keeps its longest hours from October through May. Eisenhower Medical Center, a general acute care hospital, stands in Rancho Mirage.
San Clemente, California
Handmade red tile roofs and whitewashed stucco defined founder Ole Hanson's design guidelines for San Clemente. The southernmost city in Orange County added 1,331 people of retirement age between surveys. Most of its senior newcomers came from other states, 200 of 320, for a one-year rate of 2.4%, versus 1.8% for California. Los Angeles County sends Orange County about half of its California newcomers. Beyond California, the same two counties that top Riverside County's list lead again, joined by King County in Washington.
Age Well Senior Services runs the Dorothy Visser Senior Center, where lunch is served at 11:45 am on weekdays and Fridays bring a noon hula and luau session. The volunteer San Clemente Village helps members age 55 and up with rides, handyman jobs, and technology. The 2.3-mile Beach Trail links North Beach to Calafia Beach along the Pacific Ocean, passing the San Clemente Pier on the way. The Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens tends 2.5 acres of coastal plants that need little water.
One County Over
Older households that leave their county more often land in another California county than in another state, 43,859 to 37,690. The gains are landing in foothill, valley, and desert towns, with Solano County at one end and the Coachella Valley at the other. Folsom and El Dorado Hills are adding communities for buyers 55 and older, while Rio Vista sits 19 miles or more from the nearest medical facilities. Siskiyou, Nevada, and Tuolumne counties are adding older residents at less than half the state pace.
