South Carolina ranked sixth in gaining new residents 65 and older, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released this week. The Palmetto State gained 15,760 seniors from other states between 1995 and 2000, the report said.
The move offers a change of pace for many new residents.
"You don't need as many winter jackets," joked Hilton Head AARP President William Nicol, who moved to the island in 1997.
"I can remember shoveling show in Virginia twice the winter before I moved down here," Nicol said, citing the region's weather as one reason some Northerners move to the South for retirement.
"It's a nice place to move into because people see others just like them," he said.
Word-of-mouth may have attracted some older residents as well, Nicol said. Seniors have a variety of opportunities for recreation and community involvement in the area.
"The folks who live in here are all retired, and we have a large social group, and we do things together," Nicol said of the Sea Pines area where he lives.
The 1990s also brought Sun City Hilton Head, an active adult community developed by Del Webb Corp., to southern Beaufort County. As of June, the development had 2,700 homes, less than half its planned build-out total of 7,010.
Del Webb started selling homes in the new community to buyers 55 and older in 1994. The community lowered the age restriction to 50 several years ago in an attempt to boost sales.
Combined with the number of residents who have turned 65 in the state since the 1990 census, there were more than 465,000 residents 65 and older in 2000, or 12.4 percent of the state's 4 million residents. There were just 380,000 seniors in the state in 1990, according to the census.
Beaufort County has nearly doubled its number of residents 65 and older since the 1990 census. There were close to 20,000 seniors in the county in 2000, including new residents and those who have turned 65 while living in the area.
The boom is expected to continue. The South Carolina senior population may increase by 50 percent by 2010 and double by 2025, said Bryan Kost, spokesman for the state Department of Health and Human Services.
The 75- to 84-year-old and 85-year-old and older segments are growing the fastest, according to the human services department.
"We benefit so greatly from their community and business activity," Kost said.
But to help seniors as they age, the state has had to increase funding for medical and other services. The cost of care for the senior population will continue to rise well into the future, Kost said, a situation other states on the U.S. Census Bureau's list also are facing.
The top five states were Florida -- a consistent retirement hot spot that gained close to 150,000 elderly residents -- Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina and Texas. South Carolina followed and was trailed by Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia and Alabama.
But Nicol said that even Hilton Head has its drawbacks. Property insurance can be expensive because of the potential for exposure to hurricanes, but property taxes are lower than some other areas of the country.
"You have to worry about hurricanes a little bit. But I don't care where you live, there's always something in the back of your mind," he said.
OVERALL TREND
The Carolinas also rated among the top choices for new residents overall.
According to the census report, 132,205 more people -- or 37 out-of-staters for every 1,000 residents -- moved into South Carolina than moved out of the state. Most of them came from North Carolina, Georgia and New York. That put the Palmetto State at No. 7 on the list of state-to-state migration.
During the same period, North Carolina gained 48 people from other states per 1,000 residents, the fourth-highest migration rate in the country. The Tar Heel state saw 337,883 more people move here from other states than moved from North Carolina to other states between 1995 and 2000. About a third of the newcomers came from New York, Florida and Virginia.
"It's a Southern gold rush," said real estate agent Carolyn Westbrook of Charlotte, who says her recent clients mostly have come from New York, Michigan and Ohio. "They can take that $50,000 or $60,000 salary, come here and buy a house and still live real comfortable."
Westbrook says the newcomers want specific information about the same subjects: quality of life, schools and the affordability of housing.
North Carolina's population swelled to more than 8 million during the 1990s, a 21 percent increase.
In South Carolina, the population rose 15 percent to more than 4 million.
Foreign-born residents also make up a bulk of the Carolinas' population boom. More than 196,000 moved to North Carolina from abroad, while the number was more than 59,000 in South Carolina.
The growth has forced the states to spend millions of dollars on new roads, schools and other necessities.
Nationally, the Sun Belt continued to boom. The top three states on the census migration list were Nevada, Arizona and Georgia. Florida followed North Carolina. Next came Colorado, with Idaho, Tennessee and Delaware after South Carolina.