2 Phoenix suburbs among fastest-growing retirement hubs in U.S.

For decades, retirees have been flocking to the Phoenix metro area to pass their autumnal years under the dry desert sun — particularly in retirement communities on the Valley’s west side. Even so, two of its suburbs are among America’s fast-growing havens for golden-agers.

While four cities in Arizona made the top 50 list, Goodyear and Peoria were named among the five fastest-growing retirement hubs in the country, according to a recent analysis conducted by personal finance website GOBankingRates.

The study used U.S. Census data from 2018 to 2023 to identify the cities where population growth was largest among the 65-and-older crowd. To qualify, each city needed to have at least 7,500 residents who at least 65, and that demographic had to make up a higher percentage of the overall city population than the national average of 16.8%.

Goodyear was second on the list with an eye-popping 54% increase in retirement-age folks during that five-year span. In general, the city has been one of the fastest-growing in the Valley. While its population hovered around 111,000 in 2023, only about 20,000 people lived in the rural outpost at the turn of the century.

Placing fourth on the list was Peoria — a more established West Valley suburb than Goodyear, with almost double the population at 200,000. The study noted that Peoria’s elderly population grew by 42% from 2018 to 2023. The population of people older than 65 grew by more than 5% from 2022 to 2023, the last year of available data in the study.

Also in the top five were three Florida cities: Leesburg (first), Edgewater (third) and Tavares (fifth). Leesburg’s elderly growth rate was slightly greater than the rate in Goodyear. Notably, the percentage of people older than 65 in all three of those Florida municipalities is way higher than in Goodyear and Peoria, which sit at 18.1% and 19.6%, respectively.

Sierra Vista (27th) and Kingman (44th) also made the list. Sierra Vista’s older population jumped up by more than 25% in the five-year span examined by the study, while Kingman’s climbed by about 21%.
Here’s a breakdown of every Arizona city on the list.

2. Goodyear
65-and-older population: 18.1%
1-year increase: 5.5%
5-year increase: 54.1%

4. Peoria
65-and-older population: 19.6%
1-year increase: 5%
5-year increase: 42.3%

27. Sierra Vista
65-and-older population: 21.6%
1-year increase: 10.8%
5-year increase: 25.5%

44. Kingman
65-and-older population: 25.1%
1-year increase: 6.7%
5-year increase: 20.9%