The Villages: Fascination and Machination

April 22, 2022 — Journalists looking for a good story hit the jackpot any time they check out The Villages, the giant retirement community in north Central Florida. The community has all the elements needed to fascinate readers: high stakes politics, real estate machinations, Viagra fueled Lotharios, and the latest – voter fraud. Let’s take a look at what’s been happening in this community that stretches over 3 counties with some 60,000 (and growing) households.

Books, Magazines, and Movies

Starting with Andrew Blechman’s Leisureville in 2009, The Villages gained a certain notoriety. Blechman’s youthful vantage point might have made him a little too cynical, but he did produce a good read. His account of Mr. Midnight, a boomer aged Lothario cruising for action among the community’s many single women, was highly provocative and one of the most entertaining parts of the book. He poked a lot of fun elsewhere too, although it actually might have encouraged other baby boomers to move there for the non-stop activities and socialization. Then there is The NY Times version of TV life, published in this March feature: The Disney for Boomers Puts Hedonism on Full Display.

June 20, 2018 — The Nation’s Capital is buzzing about a new article from Politico Magazine on The Villages and its politics. The article provides an extensive and interesting discussion of politics in this giant active adult community in Central Florida. Its title, “Generation Pickleball: Welcome to Florida’s Political Tomorrowland,” foreshadows what its authors believe is coming for Florida’s electorate.

For four of five recent years The Villages has been the fastest growing metro in the country. And, in Politico’s political focussed article, it …”is Trump country, a reliably Republican, vocally patriotic, almost entirely white enclave that gave the president nearly 70 percent of the vote.” The area represents the future of the Republican party, and is considered to be the key to Gov. Rick Scott’s bid to unseat Democratic Senator, Bill Nelson, in the 2018 election.

The article makes many points. Depending on your politics, you might agree with some (more…)

Updated December 20, 2017 — Originally published March 20, 2012 — This is a frequent question we get at Topretirements: “Where in North or South Carolina is there a retirement community that has similar amenities as The Villages in Florida? I am not looking for size, I’m looking for the same quality of life that I have enjoyed for the last 5 years here in the Villages”. Here is our take on that question, concentrating on the Eastern U.S. (for the Western U.S. see “Does The Villages Have Any Alternatives“).

Parking at The Villages

A Refresher, What is The Villages
For those not familiar with it, The Villages, located south of Ocala in Central Florida, is one of the largest active communities in the world with over 110,000 residents. The Villages has 3 town squares (Spanish Springs, Lake Sumter Landing, and Brownwood) that provide shopping, restaurants, and (more…)

Note: This is the latest in our series of adventurous retiree profiles Our goal is to portray a variety of active baby boomer retirement lifestyles for our members. If you know a boomer retirement we should know about tell us via the Contact Us link.

Len and Ann are the kind of people that don’t like to stand still. And that’s a trait which perfectly qualifies them to be residents of The Villages, that giant, non-stop fun active community of 100,000 people near Ocala, Florida. Here is their story – we hope you find it useful to learn more about how they came about deciding to living here, and what it is really like to live in The Villages.

What They Did Before Retirement
Len had a long career as an IT guy at SNET, the former (more…)

Updated December 21, 2017, originally published February 11, 2011

This is Part 1 of a 2 Part series. Part 1 covers competitors in the West, while Part 2 discusses alternatives to The Villages in the East.

We frequently get a question just like this one – “We have visited The Villages (TV) and we love it – it is our first choice for retirement. But before we commit, are there any other age-restricted communities that are remotely the same size or offer a similar range of amenities”?

The good news is that, although no other community comes close to the mega-size of The Villages, there are least 16 other active communities with over 10,000 residents. That represents a size sufficiently large to provide a comparable range of amenities and clubs to those enjoyed by the over 100,000 residents of The Villages. In addition, there is another large group of communities with more than 5,000 homes which also have (more…)