It is highly unlikely that Madonna who recently turned 50 will be settling down in a Florida retirement community; however, she and others 50 and older are prime candidates for adult communities. Not more than 10-15 years ago the words adult community, or retirement community brought to mind grandparents in a rocking chair, or senior citizen aged New Yorker's (snowbirds) flying south for the winter.

Present day adult communities are intentional communities, formulated on the latest in geriatric sciences providing senior citizens with everything from zero landscaped environments to high tech recreational facilities. With the average life expectancy for an American citizen just below 80 years, people are living longer and healthier. Aging well means that adult communities must meet the needs, not of fragile elderly chair rockers, but of senior adults seeking active lifestyles.

The latest in U.S. census data predicts that by the year 2020 the last of the baby boomers-(persons born between 1946 and 1964) will be senior citizens and by the year, 2030 baby boomers will be between ages 66 and 84.

As it began so does it end, the increase in American birth rates spawned surges in the sale of manufactured goods meeting the needs of the nation's demographic shifts. Today's senior citizens account for the growth of the nearly 12, 000 beauty aid stores nationwide selling anti-aging creams. Present day adult communities range from mixed-use housing that consists of the full spectrum of age sets, to assistant living that provides for senior citizens who have aged past their own ability to maintain independent living.