The neighbors are all older too. Is that what you want?

The motives for moving obviously vary. Mrs. Cave, 67, moved to Riderwood because “I was the daughter who had to take care of the parents from afar, and I swore I would never do that to my children,” she said.

At first, Ms. Cave recalled, “I looked around and saw the walkers and the scooters and thought, ‘My God, what have I done?’” But now she appreciates the community college courses offered on campus. offered, the square dancing and pickleball, the shared meals. “The people are so interesting,” she added.

Such graduate communities offer residents the opportunity to transition to assisted living, nursing care or memory care units as their health declines. It’s a benefit that Carol Holmes Alpern, 81, learned to appreciate after she and her husband, Bowen Alpern, moved to Foulkeways, a nonprofit Quaker-affiliated continuing care community in Gwynedd, Pennsylvania.

When he arrived in 2021, he was a healthy 68-year-old, but the following year Mr. Alpern was diagnosed with a brain tumor. When his wife could no longer care for him alone, he entered hospice care at Foulkeways Nursing Center, a short walk from the couple’s apartment. The option of 24-hour assistants and unlimited visiting hours “probably saved my life,” Ms. Alpern said.

Her husband died last month, and now, “I can’t imagine leaving,” she said. Other residents “not only supported us, they cherished us.”