 |
| Blueprints: Developer Riley Richardson, president of Richardson Homes (left), goes over plans with a contractor in St. George, Utah. The
city is now the fastest-growing metro area in America. Joanne Ciccarello – staff  Southwest boom hits St. George, Utah |
In Utah, a boom town for retiring boomers
St. George is the fastest-growing metro area in America largely due to an influx of senior citizens.
from the July 5, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
"That's a key thing that some retirees will overlook. They say 'Let's go off to the mountains or some place like that,' " he says. The trend toward retiring in university towns is partly driven by the quality of their healthcare, he adds.
St. George's main college, hospital, schools, and airport have all been forced to expand, and the growth has strained the landscape. Managed growth plans are now under debate.
"I think the city, in looking back, wishes it had plans to protect some of the mesas, some of the vistas here," says Russ Behrmann, head of the St. George Chamber of Commerce.
But as the national slowdown in housing begins to show some signs here, the county is also working to diversify the economy from construction and has added light manufacturing.
"If there aren't jobs for these [young] people beyond service related jobs, your tax base is going to hurt when Johnny and Jane grow up, and they will have to leave," Mr. Behrmann says.
Concerns about an unbalanced economy are shared by Peter Francese, a demographer based in New Hampshire, where many towns are building 55-plus housing to attract child-free taxpayers.
"What we are really doing in many ways is ghettoizing the elderly in these places," says Mr. Francese.
Slowest growth of seniors: New York
But no matter what states and towns do, their populations will be graying dramatically in the coming decades. "The state with the slowest projected growth in 55- to 64-year-olds is New York, where their numbers will still increase by 33 percent from 2000 to 2010," notes the Brookings report.
That's because, historically, the majority of seniors do not relocate large distances for retirement. The report projects just over 1 million boomers over 55 moving each year.
This means that many will age in place in the suburbs. A survey by the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging found that only 46 percent of American communities have begun to address the needs of a rapidly aging population.
RSS feed
