As one of the world's largest retirement communities, The Villages in central Florida is known for its endless golf courses, having the oldest median age in the United States and its traffic-stopping golf-cart parades usually supporting a Republican candidate during campaign season.
What it's not known for is kids.
Yet the area that is home to The Villages has become the fastest-growing metro for young children in the U.S. this decade.
The number of children age 14 and younger has grown this decade by 18.4% in the Wildwood-The Villages metro area. The big reason is the working-age population has risen by 19.1%, making it also the fastest-growing metro area in the U.S. for that age group this decade, according to population estimates released this summer by the U.S. Census Bureau.
“Someone has to provide services to that growing population of retirees and many of these workers will be young adults with children who live in the county,” said Stefan Rayer, population program director at the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
Those workers include lawn care providers, plumbers, electricians, financial advisers, nurses, construction workers, real estate agents, roofers and physical therapists for a retirement community that has grown from a remote and rural enclave to one of the fastest-growing places in the U.S. since the 1990s.
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