Sun City is a master-planned community for senior citizens over age 55. The four-square-mile residential community has one public golf course, two recreation centers with tennis courts and swimming pools, and a commercial center of supermarkets and small retail shops for local resident consumers. Originally built in 1960, it was one of four "Sun Cities" designed by Del Webb who later created retirement communities in Arizona, Nevada and Florida in the 1970s and 1980s. The Del Webb company opened Sun City Palm Desert east of Palm Springs in 1991. Another development boom arrived in the late 1980s and 1990s with Menifee as another master-planned community on the southeast edge of Sun City, and as of 2005, the one-square-mile area of homes, condos, schools, retail shops, golf courses and tennis courts continued to grow. Menifee Global Medical Center, formerly known as, Menifee Valley Medical Center, located east of Interstate 215 on McCall Boulevard, is a General Acute Care Hospital east of Sun City with Basic Emergency Services.. The medical facility also offers alcohol and drug detox services.
The climate in this area is described by the Köppen Climate Classification System as "dry-summer subtropical" often referred to as "Mediterranean" and abbreviated as Csa.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 17,773 people, 8,750 households, and 5,197 families residing in the community when it was still a CDP. The population density was 2,280.0 people per square mile. There were 9,440 housing units at an average density of 1,211.0 per square mile. The racial makeup of the CDP was 89.63% White, 2.13% African American, 0.51% Native American, 1.19% Asian, 0.15% Pacific Islander, 4.11% from other races, and 2.29% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 12.31% of the population. There were 8,750 households out of which 12.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.6% were married couples living together, 5.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.6% were non-families. 37.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 31.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.99 and the average family size was 2.57. In the CDP the population was spread out with 14.2% under the age of 18, 2.6% from 18 to 24, 13.2% from 25 to 44, 18.0% from 45 to 64, and 51.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 66 years. For every 100 females there were 78.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 74.9 males. Sun City is renowned for a large senior citizen population, most of them are white non-Hispanic Americans. Sun City has multiple ethnic ancestral groups and the area has a sizable American Jewish community. The median income for a household in the CDP was $29,814, and the median income for a family was $38,131. Males had a median income of $41,174 versus $29,036 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $19,859. About 6.0% of families and 8.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.4% of those under age 18 and 6.5% of those age 65 or over.
