Sun City is a former census-designated place (CDP) in Riverside County, California, United States, and now a neighborhood of the city of Menifee, California. Along with the neighboring communities of Quail Valley and Menifee, it was incorporated as part of the City of Menifee on October 1, 2008. The population when Sun City was a CDP was 17,773 at the 2000 census. Sun City is located along Interstate 215 just south of the city of Perris.
As of the 2022 Census, there are 26,987 residents in Sun City, with a median age of 47. Of this, 49.17% are males and 50.83% are females. US-born citizens make up 85.81% of the resident pool in Sun City, while non-US-born citizens account for 9.77%. Additionally, 4.42% of the population is represented by non-citizens. A total of 23,540 people in Sun City currently live in the same house as they did last year.
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, paddle ball courts, lawn bowling grassed courts and 2 swimming pools, 1 for enjoyment & the other primarily for laps & other water exercising (These 2 Pools are adjacent), and a commercial center consisting of supermarkets and small retail shops, full service restaurants, pizza & sandwich shops. The laying out of the Planned Community began in 1960, making it the second Retirement Community originated by Del Webb. The breaking of ground began in December of 1961. This original Sun City SoCal (Southern California) was one of the four "Sun Cities" designed hands-on by Del Webb.
History
Sun City had its origin in what is known as the Perris Valley, so known since 1885, when the community of Perris was established along the newly built Southern California Railroad certified to connect the cities of Barstow & San Diego. Until 1957, there was little change in this rural grassland valley with very few people. In 1957, Richard Rand, a land developer who hoped to promote a planned community called Ransdale, purchased the Newport Ranch. A small motel and office were as far as his plans progressed.
In 1959, Del Webb arrived. The concept of an active retirement community was relatively new and Webb was in the process of developing the Sun City community in Arizona, which was experiencing success greater than expected. He started looking for reasonably priced land in Southern California to develop another Sun City where the Sun shined 200+ days, preferably equidistant to San Diego & Los Angeles. Webb started buying large parcels from Rand and other farmers in Menifee Valley. He ended up buying 14,000 acres from Scott Road north to Ethanac Road for $500-$900 an acre.