The Towns In Florida Where Retirees Are Moving To
Florida counted 4,806,182 Medicare beneficiaries who qualified by age in 2025, up from 4,155,371 in 2020. The fastest growth among people 65 and older now follows the Atlantic side north toward Georgia. St. Johns and Nassau counties each grew their older population by about a third between 2020 and 2025, nearly twice the statewide pace of 17.6%. On the Gulf side, Pinellas County grew by 12.9%. Federal tax data put Florida first in the nation for net arrivals of households headed by someone 65 or older. The state levies no personal income tax, and a primary residence can qualify for a homestead exemption of up to $50,000.
Fernandina Beach, Florida
Fernandina Beach counts nearly two in five people at 65 or older, against about one in five statewide. The city's older population reached 5,069 in the 2020 to 2024 survey estimates, up from 3,879 in the 2016 to 2020 estimates. Within a single year, 6.7% of that older group had moved in from another county or state. The statewide rate is 3.7%.
Nassau County grew its population 65 and older by 34.0% between 2020 and 2025, second only to St. Johns County and nearly twice the statewide 17.6%. Duval County supplied 2,085 of the 8,260 people who moved into Nassau County in the 2022 to 2023 tax data.
Baptist Medical Center Nassau operates 24-hour emergency care on South 18th Street. Fort Clinch State Park, inside the city limits on Amelia Island, protects one of the best-preserved 19th-century forts in the country. Each spring, the Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival takes over the historic downtown around Centre Street.
Yulee, Florida
On the mainland side of Nassau County, Yulee's older population grew faster than its island neighbor's. Survey estimates show 2,956 people 65 and older there now, compared with 2,012 in the earlier five-year window, a gain of nearly half. Out-of-state arrivals made up 4.8% of the older population in a single year, over twice Florida's 2.3%.
Georgia shows up in the county tax records. Camden County in Georgia sent 269 people to Nassau County in 2022 to 2023, second only to Duval County.
Baptist Health opened an emergency center open 24 hours a day on State Road 200 in November 2024, at its Baptist Nassau Crossing campus near Interstate 95. Nearby, Rayonier's Wildlight development has the University of Florida's UF Health Wildlight, a medical office building with urgent care and rehabilitation. Del Webb Wildlight, gated and limited to buyers 55 and older, gives members a clubhouse of over 16,000 square feet with pickleball and bocce courts.
Macclenny, Florida
Macclenny draws its older newcomers almost entirely from elsewhere in Florida. One year before the latest survey, 8.6% of its population 65 and older were living in a different Florida county. That share is over double Florida's 3.7%. The survey recorded none from another state.
The city's older population climbed to 1,260 in the most recent estimates, from 785 five years earlier. Duval County sent 544 of the 1,444 people who relocated to Baker County in 2022 to 2023. Clay County sent 164.
Macclenny has served as the Baker County seat since 1886. Its 1908 courthouse, a Colonial Revival design by Edward C. Hosford, now houses the Emily Taber Public Library. Ed Fraser Memorial Hospital handles emergency, inpatient, and surgical care on North Third Street. The W. Frank Wells Nursing Home shares its campus.
Jacksonville Beach, Florida
The older newcomers in Jacksonville Beach skew heavily toward other states. About 5.9% of the city's older population lived in another state a year before the survey, against 2.3% statewide. Its population 65 and older rose to 5,160 across the two five-year surveys, up from 4,330. People 65 and older now make up 22.0% of the city, near the statewide 21.5%.
Duval County drew 52,484 newcomers in the 2022 to 2023 tax data. Some 54% came from other states, above the 48% figure for Florida counties overall. Inside Florida, Clay County sent 5,034 and St. Johns County sent 4,193.
Baptist Medical Center Beaches operates a hospital with round-the-clock emergency service on 13th Avenue South. The Beaches Museum on Beach Boulevard opens Tuesday through Sunday. Its History Park preserves the 1903 post office from the days when the town was Pablo Beach, along with a 1911 steam locomotive. The fall 2026 schedule includes Boardwalk Talks and concerts inside the museum's 1887 chapel.
Nocatee, Florida
In 2006, the first households moved into Nocatee, a planned community that the PARC Group built on about 25 square miles of former Davis family land. Nocatee's population 65 and older climbed to 5,756, up from 3,291. About 8.0% had arrived within the past year, against 3.7% statewide. Most came from out of state.
St. Johns County posted Florida's fastest growth among people 65 and older, up 34.8% between 2020 and 2025, against 17.6% statewide. By 2025 the county was home to 77,847 people 65 and older. Five years earlier, it counted 76,904 people aged 60 and older. Duval County accounted for 6,446 of the 26,704 newcomers to St. Johns County in 2022 to 2023.
Del Webb Ponte Vedra, a gated community for people 55 and older, lies inside Nocatee. Its 39,911-square-foot Anastasia Club has an indoor heated pool and a grand ballroom. St. Johns County manages the Nocatee Preserve, 2,400 acres along the Tolomato River with over 3 miles of unpaved trails.
Palm Coast, Florida
Canals and the Intracoastal Waterway total 70 miles within Palm Coast, a city incorporated only in 1999. Palm Coast counted 28,977 people 65 and older in the latest estimates, up from 25,578. In a single year, 7.6% of that older group arrived from elsewhere in the United States, about twice Florida's 3.7%.
Flagler County grew its older population by 26.0% between 2020 and 2025, well above the statewide 17.6%. Of the 11,393 people who moved to Flagler County in 2022 to 2023, the largest group came from Volusia County, at 1,699. Suffolk County in New York sent 154.
AdventHealth Palm Coast Parkway opened on August 2, 2023, as the second hospital in Flagler County. Waterfront Park adds fishing, a floating boat dock, and trail access. For walkers and cyclists, the city's Lehigh Trail follows a 6.7-mile railroad bed that once served the Lehigh Portland Cement Company.
Daytona Beach, Florida
Daytona Beach gained 4,024 people 65 and older between the two most recent survey windows, reaching 17,806. About 5.7% of its older population had changed counties or states in the prior year, compared with 3.7% across Florida. Volusia County drew 33,913 newcomers in 2022 to 2023, led by 5,024 from Seminole County and 3,469 from Orange County.
Inside the city limits, Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach on LPGA Boulevard sold out its 3,763 homes for buyers 55 and older in 2025. The developer reported that sales finished over five years ahead of projections.
Along the Halifax River, the Riverfront Esplanade celebrated its grand opening in October 2023 as a 22.5-acre linear park stretching between Main Street and Orange Avenue. The local philanthropists Cici and Hyatt Brown put over $25 million toward it. Halifax Health Medical Center of Daytona Beach delivers hospital care on North Clyde Morris Boulevard.
DeLand, Florida
In the same county, the county seat of DeLand attracted older newcomers at a rate only slightly above the statewide figure of 3.7%. Its population 65 and older numbered 8,981 in the latest estimates, up from 7,054. Some 4.0% of them lived elsewhere in the United States one year earlier.
DeLand has been the seat of Volusia County since 1888. Cresswind at Victoria Gardens, a gated neighborhood for people 55 and older, belongs to the master-planned Victoria Park community. AdventHealth DeLand staffs an emergency department on West Plymouth Avenue.
Downtown carries a long civic record. MainStreet DeLand became one of the first five Florida Main Street programs in 1985. The Athens Theatre on North Florida Avenue dates to 1922. Its 2026 to 2027 season includes Sister Act and The Addams Family.
St. Cloud, Florida
In 1909, a company formed by the Grand Army of the Republic purchased 35,000 acres to found a retirement colony for Union veterans. Veterans paid $50 for 5-acre plots. They lived in tents until their homes went up. The settlement became St. Cloud, known as "the Soldier City."
Over a century later, the city still draws older arrivals. Its population 65 and older grew to 8,014 over the two survey windows, up from 6,709. About 4.2% of that group had moved in from elsewhere in the United States within the year, a notch over Florida's 3.7%. Osceola County grew its older population by 28.5% between 2020 and 2025, against 17.6% statewide. Orange County supplied 13,131 of the 40,235 newcomers to Osceola County in 2022 to 2023.
Mount Peace Cemetery contains the graves of 427 Union veterans buried between 1910 and 1942. The St. Cloud Senior Citizen Center on 17th Street hosts clubs that include the Osceola Community Orchestra and a line dance group.
Lakewood Ranch, Florida
Nearly one in 10 older residents in Lakewood Ranch arrived from another county or state within a single year, nearly three times Florida's statewide rate of 3.7%. The community added 5,339 residents age 65 and older between the two survey periods, bringing its older population to 13,528.
In Manatee County, 18,219 households moved in between 2022 and 2023, producing a net gain of 9,619 people. Much of that growth came from outside Florida, particularly New York, New Jersey, and Illinois. Hillsborough County recorded a domestic out-migration trend during the same period.
The Uihlein family, one of the original owners of the Schlitz Brewery, has owned the ranch land since the early 1900s. Lakewood Ranch Medical Center opened a new patient tower in April 2026. On the first Friday of each month, Music on Main brings free concerts to Main Street at Lakewood Ranch.
Estero, Florida
The Village of Estero came into being on December 31, 2014, after 86% of voters backed incorporation. Over half of its people are 65 or older. Statewide, the figure is about one in five. That older group grew to 19,657 across the two surveys, up from 17,402. Some 5.8% had relocated within a year from another Florida county or another state, well above the state rate.
Out-of-state arrivals dominate Lee County's tax data. Some 62% of its 46,714 newcomers in 2022 to 2023 came from other states, against 48% for Florida counties overall. Collier County led the in-state origins with 4,627. Lee Health Coconut Point has served the village since December 3, 2018.
In 1894, Cyrus Teed brought followers to Estero who believed the universe existed inside a giant hollow sphere. Their settlement survives in Koreshan State Park, where 11 historic structures date between 1882 and 1920. Paddlers launch there onto the Estero River, a 3-mile paddle to Estero Bay.
Ave Maria, Florida
Ave Maria Catholic Church was dedicated in 2008, the year after the community and university officially opened in 2007. Its facade now displays Márton Váró's 30-foot marble Annunciation, unveiled in 2011. Ave Maria is an unincorporated Collier County community developed beginning in 2005 by Barron Collier Companies and Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan.
Its population 65 and older more than doubled between the two surveys, reaching 1,973 from 909. About 16.2% had moved in during the prior year, over four times the statewide 3.7%. Lee County supplied 3,137 of the 23,227 newcomers to Collier County in 2022 to 2023. Cook County in Illinois sent 639.
Del Webb Naples, an age-restricted community for buyers 55 and older, lies inside Ave Maria despite its name and includes the 18-hole Panther Run golf course. Naples Comprehensive Health (NCH) opened NCH Immediate Care in Midtown Plaza in May 2025, and NCH plans a 150-bed hospital for the town.
North Along The Atlantic
Florida's older population is growing fastest on the First Coast, where St. Johns and Nassau counties outpaced every other county between 2020 and 2025. Newer planned towns such as Nocatee, Lakewood Ranch, and Ave Maria draw older movers at more than twice the state rate. New medical sites, including a Yulee emergency center and a second Flagler County hospital, have opened along the same map. Age-restricted housing tracks it too, with Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach sold out.
