Eight golf courses belong to the recreation centers, and three belong to private country clubs. Sun City residents have formed several organizations and clubs. It's the place to get matched with a nonprofit agency for volunteer positions such as library aide, tutor, museum host, hospital aide and errand runner for less active neighbors. They spend untold hours picking up litter, raking the landscaped medians, trimming bushes, painting the trunks of the community's 1,800 orange trees, caring for the automatic watering systems and reporting needed street repairs. The Sun City Sheriff's Posse, volunteers coordinated by the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, help Sun City maintain one of the lowest crime rates for a U.S. city of its size.
Posse members help with neighborhood watches, search and rescue and home-security surveys.
The first homes were completed in 1978, and final construction through 1998 is expected to bring the total to 17,000 homes. The population is about 31,000 so far. Like its neighbor, Sun City West is self-contained, with dozens of shops, banks, restaurants, several golf courses, four recreation centers and a hospital. In the same vein, it mandates that at least one member of a household be 55 or older. Because it's a newer community, though, its median age tends to be about five years younger than in Sun City.