The elderly population is growing here in the United States, something that can be very much attributed to the aging population of baby boomers seen throughout the country. The data that has been recently gathered and predicted represents this, showing that, by the time that we reach the year of 2040, now just a mere 21 years or so away, we can expect there to be more than 14 million people living in this country alone who have reached or surpassed that age of 85. Already, the country boasts more than 50,000 people who have reached the age of 100 or even exceeded it. Thanks to medical advancement, people are living longer than ever before.

And more and more people are looking to feel like productive and meaningful parts of a community even as they age, many of them prizing their independence to an incredibly extent. After all, about one fifth of all senior citizens – those at or over the age of 65 – are currently still working throughout the country, though many of them will retire in the years that are to come. And up to 90% of the senior population is also committed to living independently and even staying in their current home for as long as they are possibly able to do.

But with aging comes a number of new precautions that should be taken, as our bodies and even our minds can become more and more frail as time passes on. For many people, staying in their original home will not be possible – but independent living to some extent, even a large one, still very much is. After all, senior housing in the form of senior living communities is very much on the rise, with more senior housing options available than ever before.

Senior housing comes in many different varieties, though, so it’s important to understand the distinctions in different types of senior housing seen in the United States. While assisted living facilities are one type of senior housing, many senior citizens will not yet be in need of what assisted living facilities provide. Instead, a more ideal form of senior housing for such active and mentally alert people will likely be found in independent housing communities where the lowest age of a resident will not dip below the age of 55.

These communities not only provide senior housing, but a larger community around it – and many senior citizens find that such a community of like minded and similarly aged people is something that has very much been missing from their lives. After all, senior citizens in senior housing communities (and, of course, outside of them) are very much still social creatures in the way that we all are, and having a greater opportunity to make friends is something that is likely to benefit their overall mental health quite significantly, to say the least. In addition to this, some senior citizens living in senior housing communities might even find the chance for love blooming all around them.

As a matter of fact, recently gathered data even shows that more than 11% of all senior citizens are currently using various dating sites and looking for love. For many of these people, love will be much easier to find in a senior housing community than out in the world as a whole, as such senior housing communities will of course simply have a higher density of eligible senior citizens, many of which who are also looking to make some type of romantic connection, be it a casual one or one that could be considered to be much more serious.

Opportunities for volunteer work are also likely to be high in such communities, as up to half of all senior citizens at or over the age of 65 have said that they participate in volunteer work to some extent. For many people, volunteer work is a great way to fill up their time in a meaningful matter after they have retired, something that many people are looking to do in the years after leaving their careers all throughout the entirety of the country.