HOA Fees for Phoenix 55+ Communities, Compared
Phoenix 55+ HOA fees are more complex than most buyers expect, and the difference between communities is bigger than most online guides suggest. Base HOA fees alone range from around $50 a month at Sun City to over $340 a month at Trilogy at Vistancia. Then there are master association fees, one-time CARE fees at closing that can run into the thousands, and the distinction between traditional HOAs and the recreation card assessments used at Sun City and Sun City West. This comparison tool shows the numbers we confirmed as of May 2026 side by side for 15 of the most popular active adult communities in the Phoenix West Valley, including Sun City, Sun City West, Sun City Grand, PebbleCreek, Trilogy at Vistancia, Sterling Grove, Heritage at Asante, Corte Bella, Victory at Verrado, CantaMia, Westbrook Village, Arizona Traditions, Sun Village, Ventana Lakes, and Sun City Festival. Sort by any column, compare up to three communities side by side, and request the current figure for any community below.
HOA Fee Comparison Tool
Base HOA fees, master association fees, one-time CARE fees at closing, pickleball court counts, golf, and amenities across 15 active adult communities in the Phoenix West Valley. The complete picture of what 55+ community living actually costs, using figures confirmed as of May 2026.
About this data
- Base HOA fee reflects the standard community assessment for a single-family home as confirmed with each community as of May 2026. Townhomes, condos, patio homes, and villas often have higher fees. The monthly equivalent shown beside each fee allows side-by-side comparison even when communities bill at different intervals (quarterly, semi-annual, or annual).
- Master association fees apply when a 55+ community sits inside a larger master-planned community. Heritage at Asante, CantaMia (Estrella), and Victory at Verrado all have a master HOA fee added on top of the base community fee. Always factor both into your monthly budget.
- CARE fees (Capital And Reserve Enhancement, sometimes called "capital improvement" or "facilities fees") are one-time fees paid at closing that fund long-term community capital projects. They are not refundable and they are not credited to your monthly assessment. They range widely, from a few hundred dollars at communities with a flat fee up to $6,000 at Trilogy at Vistancia. A few communities, including Victory at Verrado, base the largest one-time fee on a percentage of the sale price rather than charging a flat amount. Most buyers are surprised by these at closing, so plan for them in advance.
- Sun City and Sun City West do not use a traditional monthly HOA structure. Both communities use an annual recreation card assessment (RCSC for Sun City, RCSCW for Sun City West) in lieu of monthly HOA dues. The monthly equivalent figure is provided for comparison purposes.
- "Age 45+" or "Age 40+" indicates communities operating under the HOPA federal exception that allows up to 20% of homes to have a resident younger than 55. Westbrook Village is age 40+ which gives it the most flexibility of any community shown here.
- "Homes" reflects total community size at full build-out where applicable. Newer communities like Sterling Grove and Heritage at Asante are still building out and home counts will continue to grow.
- Pickleball court counts are the figures each community reported as of May 2026. Counts change frequently as communities expand. PebbleCreek expanded to 36 courts after recent additions, and Sun City West maintains 28 courts across its rec centers. Verify current counts directly with the community before purchase if pickleball access is a deciding factor.
- Full amenity details for each community are shown in the Side by Side comparison view. Click "+ Compare" on any community card to add it to your comparison, then click the comparison tab or the View Comparison button.
- Data sources include community official documentation, HOA disclosure packets, builder disclosures, Maricopa County records, and direct verification by the Loving Phoenix Team. This tool is provided for general comparison purposes only and is not a substitute for HOA disclosure documents provided at the time of purchase.
- Citing this data: This dataset is published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Journalists, researchers, and other publishers are welcome to reference this data with attribution and a link to the source page (lovingphoenixrealty.com/hoa-fees-phoenix-55-plus-communities/).
How to Read This Comparison
Buying into a Phoenix 55+ community involves more fee categories than a typical home purchase, and lumping them all together makes communities look more similar than they really are. Here is what each column actually means, with examples from the comparison above.
Base HOA fee
This is the standard monthly assessment for a single-family home. Some communities bill quarterly, semi-annually, or annually rather than monthly, so a monthly equivalent is shown for fair comparison. Townhomes, condos, patio homes, and villas almost always have higher fees than detached single-family homes within the same community, sometimes much higher. Sun Village is a good example, where single-family is around $263 a month but condos can run up to $500. Always confirm the fee tier on the specific home you are considering rather than relying on a community average.
Master association fee
This is the fee that catches buyers off guard most often. When a 55+ community sits inside a larger master-planned community, residents pay both the 55+ HOA fee and the master HOA fee. Heritage at Asante adds $49 a month for the broader Asante master association on top of the $205 community fee. CantaMia adds $83 a month for the Estrella master association on top of $265. Victory at Verrado adds $146 a month for the Verrado master HOA on top of $112, which actually flips the math: most of your monthly cost at Victory is the master fee, not the community fee. When you compare communities, add base HOA and master HOA together to see what you will actually pay each month.
CARE fee (one-time, at closing)
CARE stands for Capital And Reserve Enhancement. It is a one-time fee paid at closing that funds long-term community capital projects like rec center renovations, golf course improvements, and infrastructure work. CARE fees are not refundable and they are not credited to your monthly assessment. They range dramatically across communities. Sun City Festival is around $1,080. PebbleCreek runs $3,522. Sun City is about $5,500 and Trilogy at Vistancia tops the list at $6,000. Victory at Verrado works differently: its small Victory reserve fee is only a few hundred dollars, but the larger one-time cost is the Verrado community enhancement fee, calculated as a percentage of the sale price (.65 of 1 percent plus $500), which on a typical home runs into the thousands. Most buyers do not learn about these until closing paperwork is in front of them, which is too late to negotiate or budget around. Plan for the one-time fees from day one.
Other closing costs
Beyond the CARE fee, expect transfer fees, disclosure fees, document fees, prepaid association assessments, and sometimes community enhancement fees calculated as a percentage of sale price. Sterling Grove also has an optional but substantial country club social membership initiation fee of $5,445 if you want country club privileges. These typically add another $300 to $800 to closing costs at most communities, with Sterling Grove being the outlier on the high end. The closing cost notes for each community in the tool above list what to expect.
What's included
This column shows the amenities accessible through standard HOA dues or recreation card fees. The fee a community charges tells you very little until you compare it to what you get for that fee. Sun City charges around $57 a month equivalent but gives access to 8 recreation centers, 8 golf courses, and over 100 clubs. Sun City Grand charges around $165 a month but includes 4 championship golf courses, 2 fitness centers, and 22 pickleball courts. PebbleCreek charges $294 a month but provides 54 holes of golf, 36 pickleball courts, and resort-style amenities at two clubhouses. The right question is not which community has the lowest fee, but which community matches the lifestyle you want at a fee structure that fits your budget.
What Buyers Usually Get Wrong About Phoenix 55+ HOA Fees
After 20 plus years helping clients move into active adult communities in the Phoenix area, I see the same misconceptions come up over and over. Here are the four biggest ones.
1. Assuming Sun City and Sun City West work like traditional HOAs
They do not. Sun City uses an annual recreation card assessment through RCSC (Recreation Centers of Sun City), currently $680 per household per year. Sun City West uses a similar annual assessment through RCSCW, currently $598 per person per year. There is no monthly HOA in the traditional sense. This often confuses buyers who see how low the monthly equivalent looks and assume the amenities must be limited. Both communities are actually two of the most amenity-rich 55+ communities in Arizona. The fee structure is just different from newer communities.
2. Forgetting about the master association fee
If a community is inside a larger master-planned community, you will pay two HOA fees, not one. Heritage at Asante, CantaMia at Estrella, and Victory at Verrado all have master HOA fees on top of the base community fee. This can change the math considerably. The base fee at Victory at Verrado looks like a bargain at $112, but adding the $146 master fee makes the real monthly cost $258. Always ask whether a community is inside a master-planned community and what that adds to your monthly cost.
3. Ignoring the CARE fee at closing
CARE fees range from a few hundred dollars to $6,000. Buyers who do not factor this in are often surprised at closing when the number changes their out-of-pocket cost meaningfully. Trilogy at Vistancia's $6,000 CARE fee is more than the entire annual HOA at Sun City. This is the single most important closing cost difference between Phoenix 55+ communities, and it almost never shows up in online comparison guides.
4. Comparing fees without comparing amenities
The lowest HOA fee in this comparison is not the best deal, and the highest is not the worst. Westbrook Village's $68 a month buys you access to 2 recreation centers, 36 holes of golf, and 16 pickleball courts. Trilogy at Vistancia's $340 a month buys you access to two private clubs (Kiva and Mita), a 5-star rated golf course, and concierge-level amenities. Both can be the right answer depending on what you actually want from your community. The HOA fee is a measure of cost, not value. Look at what is included alongside the fee before drawing conclusions about which community is "expensive."
How These 15 Communities Group Together
One way to make sense of 15 different communities is to look at how they cluster by fee structure and lifestyle.
Lowest cost of entry (Sun City, Sun City West, Westbrook Village, Ventana Lakes)
These communities have the lowest monthly equivalent fees, ranging from around $50 to $116 a month. They tend to be the older, more established communities (Sun City started in 1960, Westbrook Village in 1981). The trade-off is that homes tend to need more updating than newer communities, but the fee structure is unmatched. Sun City and Sun City West specifically offer some of the best amenity-per-dollar values in the entire Phoenix metro.
Mid-range, classic active adult (Arizona Traditions, Sun Village, Sun City Grand, Sun City Festival)
These communities run roughly $165 to $215 a month and offer the classic Del Webb or Continental Homes active adult experience: golf, fitness, social clubs, and ballrooms. Sun City Grand and Sun City Festival are the largest in this group and have the broadest amenity packages. Arizona Traditions and Sun Village are smaller and more intimate.
Upscale resort-style (PebbleCreek, Corte Bella, Heritage at Asante)
These communities run roughly $205 to $295 a month and emphasize resort-style amenities, higher-end finishes, and gated access. PebbleCreek is the largest and most established in this tier. Corte Bella centers on its country club. Heritage at Asante is the newest, with construction starting in 2020.
Luxury and country club (Sterling Grove, Trilogy at Vistancia, Victory at Verrado, CantaMia)
These communities have the highest combined monthly costs when you add base HOA and master fees, with Trilogy at Vistancia leading at $340 a month. They emphasize Nicklaus or Tom Lehman designed golf courses, multiple clubhouses, and elevated dining and spa amenities. Sterling Grove has an optional country club initiation. Victory at Verrado has the most dramatic location (hilltop above Buckeye) and the most expansive views.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the average HOA fee for a Phoenix 55+ community?
Across the 15 most popular Phoenix-area 55+ communities, base HOA fees average around $180 per month when normalized to a monthly equivalent. The range is wide, from around $57 a month at Sun City (annual rec card assessment) to $340 a month at Trilogy at Vistancia.
When you add master association fees and account for one-time CARE fees at closing, total cost of ownership varies even more dramatically between communities.
Which Phoenix 55+ community has the lowest HOA fees?
Sun City and Sun City West have the lowest monthly equivalent fees of any major Phoenix 55+ community, at roughly $50 a month each. Both use annual recreation card assessments rather than traditional monthly HOAs.
Westbrook Village in Peoria is the lowest among communities with a traditional HOA structure at approximately $68 a month equivalent ($819 per year). Ventana Lakes is also in this low-fee tier at around $116 a month equivalent.
Which Phoenix 55+ community has the highest HOA fees?
Trilogy at Vistancia in Peoria has the highest base HOA fee at approximately $340 per month equivalent ($1,019 quarterly), plus a $6,000 one-time CARE fee at closing. PebbleCreek in Goodyear is second at around $294 per month equivalent.
Victory at Verrado has a deceptively low base HOA of $112 but adds a $146 master association fee, bringing the real monthly cost to $258.
What is a CARE fee in Arizona 55+ communities?
CARE stands for Capital And Reserve Enhancement. It is a one-time fee paid at closing that funds long-term community capital projects such as recreation center renovations, golf course improvements, and infrastructure maintenance. CARE fees are not refundable and they are not credited toward your monthly HOA.
Among Phoenix 55+ communities, these one-time fees range from a few hundred dollars at communities with a flat fee up to $6,000 at Trilogy at Vistancia. Some communities, including Victory at Verrado, base the largest one-time fee on a percentage of the sale price rather than a flat amount. Plan for this fee as part of your closing costs, not as a refundable deposit.
Do Sun City Arizona residents pay HOA fees?
Sun City Arizona does not use a traditional monthly HOA structure. Instead, residents pay an annual recreation card assessment through RCSC (Recreation Centers of Sun City), currently $680 per household per year, which works out to roughly $57 per month equivalent.
This assessment provides access to all 8 recreation centers, 8 golf courses, and the community's facilities. There is also a $5,500 one-time CARE fee at closing for new buyers.
What is the difference between Sun City and Sun City West HOA fees?
Sun City charges $680 per household per year through RCSC. Sun City West charges $598 per person per year through RCSCW, which means a two-person household pays $1,196 per year, more than Sun City's per-household fee.
Both communities use annual recreation card assessments rather than traditional monthly HOAs. Sun City West's CARE fee at closing is $5,400 versus Sun City's $5,500. Both communities offer excellent amenity packages relative to their fee structures.
Which Phoenix 55+ communities have the most pickleball courts?
PebbleCreek leads with 36 pickleball courts after recent expansion. Sun City West follows with 28 courts across its 4 recreation centers. Sun City Festival has 24 courts at the Wagner Sports Complex. Sun City Grand has 22 courts at the Cimarron complex. Sun City has 20 courts across its rec centers.
These five communities have the most extensive pickleball facilities in the Phoenix 55+ market. Heritage at Asante is a strong newer option with 12 lighted courts.
What is a master association fee in a 55+ community?
A master association fee applies when a 55+ community sits within a larger master-planned development. Residents pay both the 55+ community HOA fee and the master association fee.
In Phoenix, this affects three communities specifically: Heritage at Asante adds $49 per month for the Asante master association, CantaMia adds $83 per month for the Estrella master association, and Victory at Verrado adds $146 per month for the Verrado master HOA. Always add base HOA and master HOA together when budgeting for monthly costs.
Are Phoenix 55+ HOA fees tax deductible?
HOA fees on a primary residence are generally not tax deductible at the federal level. However, if you use part of the home for a qualified home office, a proportional share of HOA fees may be deductible. If the property is a rental, HOA fees are generally deductible as a rental expense.
Tax rules change and individual situations vary, so always confirm with a qualified tax professional before relying on any deduction. This information is provided for general guidance only and is not tax advice.
How often do Phoenix 55+ HOA fees increase?
Most Phoenix 55+ community HOA fees are reviewed annually during the budget process. Increases typically take effect at the start of the following calendar year. Recent annual increases across Phoenix 55+ communities have averaged 3 to 7 percent, driven by labor costs, insurance, and capital reserve requirements.
Communities with strong reserve funding tend to have more predictable fee increases. Always ask to see the most recent budget and reserve study before purchasing in any 55+ community.
Detailed HOA Fee Guides by Community
The comparison tool above gives you the side-by-side view. For a deeper breakdown of a single community, including the full fee structure, what is included, common buyer mistakes, and a community-specific FAQ, see the individual guides below.
- Sun City HOA Fees. The RCSC annual assessment model, the PIF and Capital Improvement fees at closing, and why fees here are the lowest in the area.
- Sun City West HOA Fees. The RCSCW dues charged per person on the deed, the Asset Preservation Fee, and how it compares to the original Sun City.
- Sun City Grand HOA Fees. The single annual assessment, the CARE fee at closing, and why there is no master association fee.
- Sun City Festival HOA Fees. The quarterly dues, the modest CARE fee, and the Festival Ranch CFD tax on the property tax bill.
- PebbleCreek HOA Fees. The semi-annual dues, the refundable Community Enhancement Fee, and the separate villas sub-association.
- Trilogy at Vistancia HOA Fees. The highest base fee in the area, the Reserve Fund Fee at closing, and the Vistancia master-plan layering.
- Victory at Verrado HOA Fees. The layered community and master fees, the price-based Community Enhancement Fee, and the CFD tax to check.
- Heritage at Asante HOA Fees. The community fee plus the Asante master fee, the fees at closing, and the new-construction versus resale difference.
- CantaMia HOA Fees. The community fee plus the Estrella master fee, the higher one-time costs at closing, and the lakefront amenities.
- Corte Bella HOA Fees. The quarterly dues, the capital fee at closing, the private golf club, and why it is separate from Sun City West.
- Arizona Traditions HOA Fees. The monthly dues, the one-time fees at closing, and the additional dues in The Retreat enclave.
- Sterling Grove HOA Fees. The quarterly dues, the one-time country club social membership initiation, and the mix of 55+ and all-ages neighborhoods.
- Sun Village HOA Fees. The dues that vary by housing type and sub-village, the percentage-based fee at closing, and what each fee covers.
- Ventana Lakes HOA Fees. The low base fee, the Gardens sub-section premium, and how dues vary across the community.
- Westbrook Village HOA Fees. The lowest base fee in the area, the sub-association fees on some homes, and the member-owned golf.
Have Questions? Let's Talk.
HOA fees, master associations, CARE costs at closing, and amenity tradeoffs add up to a more complicated decision than most buyers expect. The Loving Phoenix Team specializes in 55+ and active adult communities throughout the Phoenix area. We can help you narrow down which two or three communities fit your lifestyle and budget. No pressure, just a straightforward conversation.