It used to be a generally agreed upon concept that once a senior (75 and older) decides it's time to move, they want to stay within 10-15 miles of their current home. Let's face it, change gets harder as we get older. If we don't have to find a new hairdresser, new post office, new pharmacist, why would we? In Minnesota we have such a large array of senior housing, that we were generally able to accommodate a senior who wanted to stay close to home. Along with this stereotype there exists one that says all older boomers will be buying vacation homes or moving to Florida or Arizona. Well, the Census Bureau Survey is going to debunk our stereotypes about seniors.
A few months ago I was talking with the property manager at The Crossings, a senior community in Brooklyn Park. He shared with me that more and more of his referrals were coming from seniors who were relocating to come back home. Professionals in the senior communities in Minnesota already knew what the survey was going to tell us-- older seniors are moving back home- even if home is Minnesota (brrr). what the survey was going to tell us. Older Seniors are moving back home, yes even to Minnesota, to be with their families.
Here are some interesting statistics from the survey:
- For the first time since the depression, there are more Americans over 75 leaving Florida, than moving there.
- From 2001 to 2005, 121,000 Seniors over 75 left Florida, and 87,000 arrived
What a nice gain this was for retirement states like Florida. Have young healthy retirees with disposable income come visit your state for 15 years, then when they've lost a spouse, or it's become too difficult to "summer" with their families they move back home, where they will likely need to access more health care resources. I wonder what impact this will have on the nurse shortage in Minnesota and on the types of housing available. Builders, are you paying attention?
I'm sure there are lots of reasons for this new change. I suppose it doesn't matter. It's nice to be with your family.
I am wanting to relocate to the mainland, but the prices have gone sky high on housing for seniors, so It is cheaper to just stay put. I just wish I did not have such a big yard now.
Posted by: mary Lou | February 27, 2007 at 07:16 PM
Mary Lou - I suppose your options are to pay the piper and hire lawn service, or pay extra for housing!
Posted by: Lisa Dunn | February 28, 2007 at 05:29 AM
Hmm. Not so sure how significant this trend is. We're only talking about an net out migration of 34,000 over a 4 year period - that's 8,500 per year.
There are more than 17 million residents of Florida, so we're talking small numbers on a percentage basis, acknowledged in the New York Times story that your post is presumably based on (or one of the papers that picked up the story such as this one http://gainesville.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070226/WIRE/702260313/-1/news)
And this is not a new phenomenon. According to the story, the exit of 75+ was observed twenty years ago. They called them "half backs". What is claimed to be new is the growth and the dimension.
So how big is it? Here are the numbers. 8% of Florida's population is age 75+. That is 1.4 million. So we're talking about a loss of 8,500 out of almost 1.5 million. That's is hardly noticeable. Miami alone has 200,000 age 75+. You can probably double that for the entire region of Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-Boca-Palm Beach. So even if all 8,500 left South Florida every year, there are still plenty of that age group still there.
By comparison, Minnesota with a population of 5 million has 5.6% age 75+, or 280,000. So...even if all 8,500 moved from Florida and decided to settle in Minnesota, it would only represent an annual increase of 3% of MN's 75+ population. Not that that would ever happen (brrr...)
We just are not talking significant numbers here, in part I'll admit, because of the birth dearth during the depression and the low population counts of the current 75+ cohort.
As to the availability of services for seniors in Florida, you have a very valid point. While we have tremendous choices in the active adult community product category, and a fair amount of assisted living and nursing homes, we could definitely use more in the CCRC category. And social services in many parts of Florida pale by comparison to what is available "up north" (way up north, practically Canada in the case of Minnesota.) Ok, I'll quit picking on MN.
Posted by: Bob Schmidt | March 09, 2007 at 05:41 AM
Bob, wow! Thank you for the insightful comments. While I agree, I don't think the increase in this trend means buidling developers will be developing entire new villages of senior housing, and it may not be a new trend, I do think it's an eye opener for some who think seniors wouldn't return to Minnesota (brrrr. By the way, we're very excited. It's supposed to hit 40 degrees this weekend).
This cross country move for seniors who may be moving because of a frail spouse or other health needs becomes a special challenge as well. Both the travel and choosing a senior community that will meet immediate and future needs is difficult to do in person, nevermind across the country.
Thank you again!
Posted by: Lisa Dunn | March 09, 2007 at 08:20 AM