Ample ways to spend leisure time and good weather top the list of factors that prospective senior living residents are looking for when choosing their retirement destination.
WalletHub compared the retiree-friendliness of more than 180 cities across 45 key metrics, ranging from the cost of living to health infrastructure, giving senior living operators insights into what factors contribute to quality of life for potential residents. The results are noted in a 2023 Best & Worst Places to Retire list.
Florida is home to four of the top-rated cities considered the best retirement locations on the WalletHub list. Tampa claimed the No. 1 position, followed by No. 3 Fort Lauderdale, No. 4 Orlando and No. 5 Miami. Scottsdale, AZ, at No. 2, prevented Florida’s clean sweep of the top five best retirement cities.
California cities took three of the bottom five places on the list. Stockton, CA, rated No. 182, last on the list, followed by Bakersfield at No. 180 and San Bernardino at No. 179. Newark, NJ, was the second-lowest scoring city, at No. 181, and Detroit, at No. 178 rounded out the worst retirement cities.
When it comes to overall quality of life, Columbia, MD, (No. 27 overall) bucked the trend on a list of warm-weather cities, including Pearl City (No. 128 overall) and Honolulu (No. 29 overall), HI, as well as Fremont (No. 88 overall) and Glendale (No. 33 overall), CA.
Cost of living for budget-conscious older adults was another measure of top retirement destinations. Brownsville and Laredo, both in Texas, scored as the best cities for adjusted cost of living and annual cost of in-home services.
Other cities that delivered low cost of living were Huntington, WV; Fort Smith, AR; and Augusta, GA. Five cities tied for the highest cost of living: New York; San Jose, CA; San Francisco; Honolulu; and Pear City, HI.
El Paso and Corpus Christi, TX, joined Brownsville and Laredo in the state for low annual in-home services costs, along with Shreveport, LA, and Jackson, MS. Cities that had among the highest costs for in-home services were Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN; San Jose, CA; Portland, OR; Vancouver, WA; and Bismarck, ND.
When it came to overall affordability — included adjusted cost of living and tax-friendliness for retirees — Alabama and Wyoming cities took four of the top five cities: Montgomery (No. 136 overall) and Mobile (No. 63 overall), AL, joined Casper (No. 6 overall) and Cheyenne (No. 21 overall), WY, as the most affordable cities, along with Knoxville, TN (No. 43 overall).
Healthcare remains a key factor for older adults looking to settle into retirement. Vermont and South Dakota cities ranked highest in this area: South Burlington (No. 137 overall ) and Burlington (No. 123 overall), VT, joined Sioux Falls (No. 5 overall and Rapid City (No. 62 overall), SD for best healthcare offerings among cities. Missoula, MT, (No. 22 overall) joined them on this list.
Active retirement
Many people don’t have a retirement plan, and those who do view retirement as a destination, said Colin M. Slabach, PhD, clinical assistant professor in the School of Professional Studies at New York University.
“Retirement is not a magical place where every day is an adventure,” Slabach said. “The reality is that after the celebration ends, you have a lot of unstructured time on your hands. It is up to you to fill it, and the research shows that, for the most part, people are filling it by watching TV.”
He argued that plans for what someone is going to do in retirement are just as important as financial plans.
Cities scoring high on the activities metric offered access to anything from recreation and senior centers, to public golf courses, to museums and theaters, to fishing and bingo halls. Top-scoring cities for activity offerings included Washington, DC (No. 38 overall), San Francisco (No. 11 overall), Miami (No. 5 overall), Cincinnati (No. 8 overall) and Tampa, FL (No. 1 overall).
If living among peers is important, then warm-weather cities tend to be home to the largest percentage of adults aged 65 or more years, including Pearl City, HI (No. 1), Scottsdale, AZ (No. 2) and Cape Coral, FL (No. 3). Honolulu and Warwick, RI, tied for the No. 4 spot. Cities with the lowest population of older adults were Irving, TX (No. 182), Fontana, CA (No. 181) and West Valley City, UT.
