The Villages is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sumter and Marion counties, Florida, United States. It shares its name with a broader master-planned age-restricted community that spreads into portions of Lake County. The overall development lies in central Florida, approximately south of Ocala and approximately northwest of Orlando. As of the 2020 census, the population of the CDP was 79,077. The Villages covers an area of approximately 32 square miles, an area larger than Manhattan, and is expanding mainly to the south of the current community. It is made up of 17 special purpose community development districts (CDD), which are controlled by a board of supervisors (BoS), five individuals elected by the landowners of the district. H. Gary Morse, the original owner's son, transferred most direct ownership in the company to his three children in 2006; Morse died in 2014. The community is the center of The Villages metropolitan area, which consists of all of Sumter County and is included in the Orlando–Lakeland–Deltona combined statistical area; and Marion County is included in the Ocala, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Between 2010 and 2020, The Villages metropolitan area was the fastest-growing metro area in the United States, growing 39 percent, from about 93,000 in 2010 to 130,000 in 2020. History Harold Schwartz, a Michigan businessman, began selling land tracts via mail order in The Villages area in the 1960s. He and his business partner, Al Tarrson, were forced to close this aspect of the business following the implementation of a 1968 federal law banning sales of real estate by mail order. Stuck with considerable portions of Florida land, in the early 1970s, Schwartz and Tarrson began the development of a mobile home park, Orange Blossom Gardens, in the northwestern corner of Lake County. By the early 1980s, the community had sold only 400 units. To improve the business, Schwartz bought out Tarrson's interest and brought his son, H. Gary Morse, on board in 1983. Morse noted that the thriving retirement communities (such as Del Webb's Sun City developments) offered numerous well-maintained amenities to the residents. They also had diverse and nearby commercial development. Morse began to upgrade the development significantly. Their sales improved in the mid-1980s. Schwartz began to buy large tracts of land in nearby Sumter and Marion counties for future expansion. In 1992, Morse officially changed the overall development name to The Villages. The development is still controlled in all