Sep 10, 2024
Baby boomers not only rapidly grew the population and expanded the economy in the decades after they were born — but now their retirement years are having the same effect.
In fact, baby boomers are the reason that Georgetown, Texas, has been the fastest-growing city in the U.S. for three consecutive years. Located just 40 miles north of Austin, seniors are driving population growth as they move into a bustling 55+ community known as Sun City Texas.
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More than a quarter (27%) of those residents are 65 or older, according to the Wall Street Journal’s analysis of data from the United States Census Bureau.
The data, which analyzed cities with more than 50,000 residents, showed that Georgetown’s population increased by 11% in 2023, 14% in 2022 and 11% in 2021. Currently, about 17,000 of Georgetown’s 96,000 residents live in Sun City.
As a result, there’s been a significant surge in Georgetown’s economy, thanks to revenue from an abundance of senior-focused leisure activities, from golfing to local concerts.
“It’s like they’re at college, except they don’t have to go to class and they have $3 million in the bank,” Georgetown Mayor Josh Schroeder told the WSJ. “It’s almost like a cruise ship on land.”
How seniors are spending their money
The 65+ crowd made up 22% of national spending in 2022, according to the Labor Department’s survey of consumer expenditures.
“These are the consumers that will matter over the coming year,” Susan Sterne, chief economist at Economic Analysis Associates, told the WSJ in 2023. “Our large share of older consumers provides a consumption base in times like today when job growth slows, interest rates rise and student debt loan repayments begin again.”
While there are certainly some seniors who are concerned about how they’ll support themselves in their golden years, others are living it up now that their kids are out of the house and they’ve retired with plenty of money in the bank.
Set on 5,421 acres, the single-family homes of Sun City are surrounded by pools, pickleball courts and fitness centers. The annual Mardi Gras parade and ball is the “hottest party” in Georgetown. The median age of attendees is 73, the WSJ reported.
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“We’re not dead yet,” resident Suzanne Herndon, 70, told the media outlet.
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Where did all this money come from?
Boomers are widely considered the wealthiest generation in the country, with those over 55 owning a whopping 72% of wealth in the U.S (up from 50% in 1989), according to Federal Reserve data from Q3 2023.
The president of the builder group behind the popular age-restricted Sun City planned community, PulteGroup, told the WSJ that more than half (55%) of the homes were purchased in full with cash in 2023.
The WSJ reported that most of the Sun City residents had paid off their mortgages years ago and gained “hefty” profits from selling their homes in recent years.
The median household income in Sun City is $84,000, which is in line with the national average of nearly $75,000 — however, older Americans flocking to Georgetown also have sizable retirement savings, pension checks and stock portfolios allowing them to spend big. In addition, residents save on taxes because the Lone Star State doesn’t charge a state income tax.
One Sun City resident, Jim Ancmon, moved there from the Chicago suburbs in 2016 with his wife. The 67-year-old told the WSJ that he’s since saved tens of thousands of dollars a year in taxes alone.
“I don’t think we were getting much more for our money in Illinois,” the retired web analytics consultant said.
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Sabina Wex is a writer and podcast producer in Toronto. Her work has appeared in Business Insider, Fast Company, CBC and more.
