The Towns In Pennsylvania Where Retirees Are Actually Moving To
Medicare enrollment among residents 65 and older rose faster in Pike County, on Pennsylvania's border with New York and New Jersey, than in any of the state's other 66 counties between 2020 and 2025. In Allegheny and Philadelphia, the two largest counties by enrollment, the gain was less than half of Pike's. Pennsylvania as a whole still loses more households headed by someone 65 or older to other states than it takes in, yet among older residents who change counties in a given year, most stay inside the state. Pennsylvania does not tax commonly recognized retirement benefits once a resident has retired under an employer's plan.
Delaware Township, Pennsylvania
Across Pike County, Medicare enrollment among residents 65 and older climbed 21.6% between 2020 and 2025, the fastest pace in Pennsylvania. Delaware Township counted 1,577 older residents in the 2020 to 2024 Census Bureau survey, up from 1,195 in the 2016 to 2020 survey. Some 2.0% of them had lived in another county or state a year earlier, just above the statewide 1.9%.
Pike County faces two states across the Delaware River. About three in four of its 3,797 arrivals in the 2022 to 2023 federal tax figures came from out of state. Orange County in New York sent the most, 426. Sussex County in New Jersey sent 209.
Pike County has no hospital of its own. Northwell Health set January 2026 for the first patients at its Northwell Health Physician Partners Primary and Immediate Care Center in Dingmans Ferry. Nearby, the George W. Childs Park trail reopened in October 2024 with an accessible path to the first waterfall viewing platforms.
Newtown Township, Pennsylvania
Some 4,540 residents 65 and older now call Newtown Township home, up from 3,406 in the 2016 to 2020 survey. Within one year, 4.3% of them had moved in from another county or state, more than twice the statewide rate. Nearly a quarter of all township residents are 65 or older, against 19.7% statewide.
Bucks County Community College keeps its main campus on Swamp Road in the township. Credit courses there are tuition-free for county residents 65 and older, space permitting. The 3.7-mile Newtown Trail links Tyler State Park, roughly 519 acres of which fall inside the township, with the township's Silver Lake Park.
IRS migration data put Bucks County's arrivals for 2022 to 2023 at 22,831. Philadelphia County supplied 6,267 of them. Mercer County in New Jersey, the largest out-of-state source, added 1,119.
Abington Township, Pennsylvania
Abington Township added 1,665 people 65 and older across the two five-year surveys, reaching 12,224. The township dates to 1704 and counts more than 58,000 residents today. One-year newcomers equal 2.4% of its older population, a notch above Pennsylvania's 1.9%.
Philadelphia County sent 10,283 of the 35,647 people who moved into Montgomery County in the latest tax-return figures. Bucks County sent 4,466.
Rydal Park, a continuing-care community that opened in 1974, spreads across more than 55 acres in the township. Abington Hospital, part of Jefferson Health, sits on Old York Road. Adults 55 and older from the township and nearby communities meet through ARCATs, the Alverthorpe Retired Citizens of Abington Township. The township also keeps the 12.5-acre Briar Bush Nature Center on Edge Hill Road.
Ambler, Pennsylvania
The share of Ambler's older residents who had arrived from another county or state within the past year reached 6.4%, more than three times the statewide rate. Their number rose from 830 to 1,153, a gain of nearly two-fifths against 8.6% statewide.
Ambler shares Montgomery County, and its tax origins, with Abington Township. Of the older arrivals the survey counted in the borough, roughly two in three came from another Pennsylvania county.
The Ambler Theater on Butler Avenue has shown films since 1928 and now runs under Renew Theaters, a nonprofit. On Forest Avenue, the Senior Adult Activities Center opens Monday through Friday for adults 50 and older. It opened in 1965 so seniors could share a warm, nutritious meal. The Wissahickon Valley Public Library runs its Ambler branch on Race Street.
West Chester, Pennsylvania
Within a single year, 6.5% of West Chester's residents 65 and older had relocated from another county or state, against 1.9% statewide. The borough's older population grew from 1,806 to 2,377 in the latest five-year estimates. Just 11.5% of all residents are 65 or older, well below the statewide 19.7%.
West Chester University lets retired Pennsylvania residents 60 and older take courses tuition-free when space allows. Thomas Ustick Walter designed the original Chester County Courthouse and later designed the cast-iron dome of the US Capitol. Every Saturday morning from May to December, the West Chester Growers Market sets up at Church and Chestnut streets.
Montgomery County sent 3,529 of Chester County's 20,743 arrivals in 2022 to 2023, and Delaware County sent 3,183. New Castle County in Delaware sent 1,179.
Lititz, Pennsylvania
Lititz counts more than one resident in four at 65 or older, against 19.7% statewide. Its older population rose from 2,009 to 2,539, and 3.3% of those residents were recent arrivals from beyond Lancaster County, compared with 1.9% statewide.
York, Chester, and Berks counties each sent Lancaster County more than 1,200 people in the 2022 to 2023 IRS figures. Together they account for about a quarter of the county's 15,143 arrivals.
The Lititz Moravian Congregation developed what is now Moravian Manor Communities on a 22.5-acre site in Lititz, and it opened on January 3, 1975. Each Fourth of July, more than 4,500 candles light Lititz Springs Park, a custom dating to 1843, while the Lititz Woman's Club stages its Queen of the Candles pageant. On East Main Street, the Julius Sturgis Pretzel Bakery dates its founding to 1861 and calls itself the first commercial pretzel bakery in America.
York, Pennsylvania
Not every older mover picks a small town. York, the seat of York County, added 1,344 residents 65 and older between the surveys, a gain of 29.6%. Recent arrivals from outside York County make up 3.2% of that group, compared with 1.9% for the state. Across the same two surveys, the statewide gain was 8.6%.
York County draws newcomers from inside and outside the state. Lancaster County sent 1,940 of York County's 16,992 arrivals in the 2022 to 2023 tax figures. Baltimore County in Maryland sent 1,288, and slightly more than half of all arrivals came from other states.
Central Market York has sold local food downtown since 1888 and opens Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, plus evenings on First Fridays. The Heritage Rail Trail extends into the city, and a 2022 user survey found that more than a quarter of its users were 66 or older. On North George Street, the Appell Center for the Performing Arts includes the Strand, which opened in August 1925.
Carroll Valley, Pennsylvania
Every older arrival from beyond Adams County in the latest survey came from outside Pennsylvania. Those newcomers made up 3.5% of the borough's residents 65 and older, nearly double the state rate. That age group climbed from 537 to 832 across the two surveys.
Adams County takes in movers from both sides of the state line. York County sent 1,449 of the 4,746 people who moved into Adams County in 2022 to 2023. Two Maryland counties, Carroll and Frederick, sent 290 and 278.
Carroll Valley became a borough on September 30, 1974, after more than 80% of its prospective landowners petitioned for it. The petition followed the failure of a residential development called Charnita. Liberty Mountain Resort, inside the borough, runs skiing and golf. The Adams County Library System keeps a Carroll Valley branch on Fairfield Road, open six days a week.
Carlisle, Pennsylvania
The Cumberland County seat, Carlisle, expanded its population 65 and older by 23.4% across the two surveys, well above the statewide 8.6%. The count now stands at 4,086. Recent arrivals made up 2.2% of that group, above the statewide 1.9%.
Chapel Pointe at Carlisle runs independent living, personal care, and skilled nursing on South Hanover Street. Students 55 and older at Dickinson College qualify for its senior citizen audit fee. The Revolutionary War heroine Molly Pitcher rests in the borough's Old Graveyard. On Wednesday afternoons, Farmers on the Square sets up at Hanover and High streets.
Dauphin County led, sending 3,109 of Cumberland County's 14,251 newcomers in the tax data. York County sent 1,440.
Lower Paxton Township, Pennsylvania
In Dauphin County, Lower Paxton Township draws older newcomers at about twice the statewide rate. Some 3.9% of its residents 65 and older came from a different county or state within a year. The township's older population rose from 8,978 to 10,364 between the surveys. Its older share, 19.1%, tracks the state's 19.7%.
Traffic with Cumberland County runs both ways. Cumberland sent 1,910 people into Dauphin County in 2022 to 2023, while 3,109 moved in the opposite direction. Lancaster and Lebanon counties followed Cumberland as sources, with 1,000 and 812.
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) runs UPMC Community Osteopathic on Londonderry Road, a hospital that moved into Lower Paxton Township in 1970. The township's Friendship Senior Center on Commons Drive has run weekly bridge and knitting sessions.
Treasure Lake, Pennsylvania
Roughly three times as many residents 65 and older live at Treasure Lake as in the 2016 to 2020 survey. The count reached 1,697, and 32.2% of all residents are now past 65, well above the state share. About 4.1% of the older group arrived from another Pennsylvania county within the latest year, more than twice the statewide rate.
Treasure Lake is a gated, privately owned community in Clearfield County. It became part of the new City of DuBois when Sandy Township merged with DuBois on January 5, 2026. Jefferson and Centre counties sent Clearfield County 337 and 309 people in the 2022 to 2023 IRS data, the top two sources.
Two 18-hole golf courses serve more than 2,200 homes on over 9,000 wooded acres. The smallest lake, 4.5-acre Little Flipper Lake, stays open only to anglers 12 and under or 65 and older. Penn Highlands DuBois handles hospital care in the same city.
Somerset, Pennsylvania
Since the 2016 to 2020 survey, Somerset's population 65 and older has grown by a quarter, to 1,557, nearly three times the statewide pace. Just over a quarter of residents are now in that age group, compared with about one in five across the state. The one-year arrival rate among older residents stands at 3.0%, well ahead of Pennsylvania as a whole.
Cambria County sent 460 of the 1,763 people who moved into Somerset County in 2022 to 2023, far ahead of any other county.
UPMC Somerset, known as Somerset Hospital until 2019, runs on South Center Avenue. Caldwell and Drake built the Somerset County Courthouse from 1904 to 1906, and the borough credits it with the highest altitude of any courthouse in Pennsylvania. The Philip Dressler Center for the Arts on South Harrison Avenue opens Monday through Thursday and on Saturdays. Most of the uptown historic district went up after an 1876 fire.
Where The Short Moves Lead
Pennsylvania still loses older households to other states, yet its border and growing counties keep drawing them from a county or a state line away. In June 2026, typical home values stood at $305,306 in Pike County and $333,558 in Adams County, against $294,099 statewide. Luzerne and Schuylkill counties, where older enrollment trailed the statewide 12.0% gain, came in lower at $226,101 and $166,891. State projections put growth in residents 80 and older at 22.4% from 2025 to 2030, while Pike County's first immediate care center set January 2026 for its first patients.
