The 15 Most Popular Adult Communities for 2023
Category: Active adult communities
April 20, 2023 — It is always fascinating to explore what 55+ and active communities at Topretirements garner the most attention from our Members and Visitors. Fortunately, by looking at the data from Google Analytics, we can get a pretty good picture. And if we had to offer one big conclusion about what we learned, it is that there is no predicting which community listings will attract the most attention. Interestingly, while analyzing trends, we noticed increased interest in topics related to digital currencies, such as Tron, as some retirees are beginning to explore alternative investment options, including cryptocurrency. Household names like The Villages and On Top of the World always show up high on a list like this, but most of the rest of the winners are surprises. Since everyone knows about the really big communities, we will not include them on this list in the interest of variety.
Here are the 15 most popular (non-brand name) communities visited at Topretirements in the last 6 months. They offer a range of choices: some are 55+ while others are open to all ages; in waterfront, mountain, and desert environments; manufactured homes; and one life care community. They represent a range of 9 different states. Please let us know about any you think we should have named!
15 Best Active Adult Communities
Babcock National – Babcock Ranch, FL . This golf community is located in Babcock Ranch, a new town built to minimize its environmental footprint with solar energy and storm mitigation. Along with an 18-hole golf course designed by Gordon Lewis, there are many other amenities.
Cresswind Charleston – Charleston, NC. This gated 55 plus community of 600 homes is integrated within the larger community of The Ponds while maintaining its own privacy. There is a full list of resort-style amenities. Residents can walk to the huge clubhouse, enjoy pickleball and tennis, or participate in activities at the event lawn and amphitheater. Additionally, homeowners can enjoy cooking and yoga classes.
Sugar Springs – Gladwin, MI. This community represents a very different type of place to retire. It has more than 1400 vacation/retirement homes and offers an abundance of four-season recreational and social activities. There are two lakes with boat docks and launches, with beach clubs located along the community’s shore lines. Sugar Springs also boasts a public golf course, indoor swimming pool, restaurant and pub, along with its own grass airstrip and campground.
The Preserve at Smithtown – Islandia, NY. Situated on 23 park-like acres, The Preserve’s amenities include a clubhouse that offers a continental breakfast, an outdoor lounge with fire pits, a BBQ area, putting green, outdoor swimming pool, and walking trails. There are also pickle ball and bocce ball courts.
Inspirata Pointe – Sun City, AZ. Part of the Royal Oaks Life Plan Community, Inspirata Pointe offers 156 apartment homes and villas with a focus on technology. Amenities include a life enrichment center, fitness area, art studio, woodworking shop, common areas and a variety of dining venues. Named the Best 55+ Service Enriched Community by the NAHB.
The Village at Nags Head – Nags Head, NC is an upscale golf and beach community located on the Outer Banks. It stretches between the Atlantic Ocean and the Roanoke Sound. The custom-built homes and parks look out on the sailing, swimming and fishing. Home owners are offered memberships to Nags Head Golf Links and to the Village Beach Club with an oceanfront pool and clubhouse.
Fairfield Glade – TN. Perched high atop the Cumberland Plateau, it offers serene mountain beauty from the highest point between the Rocky and Smoky Mountains. The community features eleven spring-fed lakes for boating or fishing, award winning racquet sports facilities, multiple swimming pools, recreation & fitness complexes, miles of paved walking paths and hiking trails, and five championship golf courses.
Quail Run – Santa Fe, NM. Residents live either year-round or seasonally, and it is open to all ages. They enjoy a nine-hole PGA rated golf course, lighted tennis courts, fitness center and swimming pool. The community offers a variety of membership packages including golf and social memberships with access to dining and special events. The condos have a distinctive pueblo style architecture.
The Crest at Linton Hall – Gainesville, VA. A brand new 55+ active adult community by Brookfield Residential, coming in the Summer of 2023. Pet friendly, it has many amenities including pickleball. Home choices include villa and single-family floor plans.
Jasper Highlands – Chattanooga, TN. Another mountain community, it sits atop the Cumberland Plateau outside of Chattanooga. The development has waterfalls and winding creeks, and offers a 50-mile mountain view on bluff frontage. Planned amenities in this gated community include a community garden, swimming pool, tennis courts and miles of trails.
Woodside, Aiken, SC. This community is a good example of the hundreds of active communities that offer an exceptional experience, but that many people don’t know about. Open to all ages, it has a list of world-class amenities and plenty of active and social opportunities at the community’s social hub, The Reserve Club. Award-winning golf includes a Nicklaus Design course, the USTA certified racquet pavilion features a dedicated pickleball court, and there is an elegant clubhouse with fine and casual dining facilities.
Tellico Village, Loudon, TN. In the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, Tellico Village was established in 1986 on Tellico Lake. This very large community (7,000 residents) offers a combination of golf and watersports with three private championship golf courses and Tellico Lake provides for boating, fishing and swimming. Its residents come from all over the U.S.
Cascades at Embrey Mill – Fredericksburg, VA. Located within the master-planned community of Embrey Mill, this 55+ community offers a stress-free lifestyle and a private Cascade Club for socializing. Its amenities include ball courts, a sundeck, fire pits, and more, with over 285 acres of open space, parks and trails.
Sage Point – Tempe, AZ. Part of Sage Point’s attraction has to be its location in Tempe. This community of manufactured homes is completing an upgrade that includes a new modern lobby, brand new fitness area, upgraded clubhouses with a demonstration kitchen, along with an enhanced swimming pool with outdoor entertainment space. There is a dog park.
Rainbow Village of Largo – Clearwater, FL. This affordable RV/Manufactured Home community is just south of Clearwater in Largo. Residents and guests enjoy relaxing around the pool and easy access to the beaches on the Gulf of Mexico.
A note about how this list was compiled. To develop it we reviewed our site logs from Oct 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023. The communities whose listings were visited the most were the winners, although we did not include a few of the largest communities like The Villages that most people have heard of. In a few cases the communities advertise on Topretirements.com, which means they had a better chance of being noticed. Various other factors could have influenced the popularity (e.g.; when they were added or updated), but we believe the choices represent a fair example of the many different kinds of 55+ and active adult communities available.
Bottom line:
It is really great that there is such diversity in the active adult and retirement home market. That gives people choices, and it is obviously working, because these off the beaten path communities have sparked a lot of interest. Please let us know your Comments and suggestions for other communities in the section below.
For further reading:
Comments on "The 15 Most Popular Adult Communities for 2023"
BRENDA says:
Anyone happy in the Des Moines, Iowa area and want to share the information?
thank you!
Admin says:
Great question Brenda. On our Communities Directory for Iowa we show 9 communities in Des Moines. They all appear to be senior living or life care type communities, with the exception of West Park, which is a 55+ manufactured home community. So you have some interesting choices, but only if you are looking for senior living. If others have suggestions we would love to hear about them. Thanks!
Margaret says:
Anyone happy in the VA area (Williamsburg thru Smithfield) or Outside Richmond/Charlottesville. Looking for anyone to share their experiences. We are mids 50's moved to the Bluffton SC area two years ago and we hate the overloaded infrastructure and lack of medical care /poor quality.
Bart Henkle says:
To leave The Villages off this list is ridiculous. The community grows by over 5000 residents per year and has the most amenities and activities of any community on this Earth.
Admin says:
To answer Margaret, the good news is that Virginia is loaded with great active communities of all types. Williamsburg is a hot spot for retirement, and so is the Richmond area. In our Virginia Directory, https://www.topretirements.com/active_adult_communities/Virginia/Virginia Directory, you will find a lot of interesting places to retire, especially the 4-5 that are featured. In addition, one of my friends who is an active golfer retired to Magnolia Green which he is very happy with. Good luck. In answer to Bart, you are correct, The Village is growing fast and obviously appeals to many people. Since as we mentioned it is such an obvious winner, we thought it would be more interesting to focus on other places rather than the same old choices.
HEF says:
We lived in Chattanooga for too many years and I have a caution about "mountain living". A number of people I knew lived, or had lived, on Signal Mountain. They all had similar regrets or complaints that EVERY time you wanted to do something or had a Dr's appointment, you had to go down the mountain (think "S" curves and spotty GPS) then back up again. It got tedious and dangerous and time consuming. Anyone of retirement age had moved off, if they could. The view is spectacular but...those trips get longer and harder to make as you age.
LS says:
Admin: When clicking on the comments, the new site takes you to the beginning of the article instead.
Admin Comment: Thanks for noticing that LS. We will work on fixing it so when you click on Comments you go to Comments, not the article top.
Also regarding comments, some people do not like that the comments link takes you directly to the latest comment. Although that means you might have to read the comments in reverse (latest first), it does have the advantage that when there are a lot comments you don't have to wade through all of those to see the latest. No perfect solution, but we think going to the bottom comment is the best alternative.
RAF says:
Link to Mountain's Edge community in Las Vegas is not working.
Admin says:
Thanks RAF, good catch. That apostrophe in the name became a monkey wrench. Here is the link to our review (which I think worked) https://www.topretirements.com/reviews/Nevada/Las%20Vegas/Mountains%20Edge/
and here is the link to the community, which did not
https://mymtnsedge.nabrnetwork.com/
Turns out Mountain's Edge is a really large community with 12,000 homes. It does not have a developers website, the link above goes to the homeowners association. For resales you can search on Mountain's Edge and come up with many listings.
BRENDA says:
Hi, I asked about Des Moines, Ia. We are interested in 55+ communities but alot of them are apartments...we are not interested in apt. living...we did tour the West Park this past October...narrowed it down to 2 trailers but neither one was THE one that met out preferences enough. Also, the monthly rent fee is extremely expensive and they can raise the price every year a certain percentage. It's still the best on our list thoughj. We do prefer the West Des Moines area. Would even consider Waukee but didn't see anything there that excited us. All comments are welcome and appreciated.
Admin says:
Brenda's question and comments are right on the money. It is great when Members ask about communities and even better when they have personal experience with one. There is no substitute for a site visit and your impressions of a place. Kind of like a picture is better than a 1000 words. Members, we cordially invite your site visit summaries or comments (Kudos to Anonymous for their recent report on the Cascades at Embrey Mill.
Admin says:
We have had at least one other person volunteer to give us a snapshot of their upcoming community visits. Great! Also, another has provided their impressions of living in St. George, UT. Today's interview with Elizabeth recaps what her expat retirement is like in Portugal. Who else has some experiences to share? The more the merrier!