- Livability Score: 90
- 2023 Average Monthly Rent: $1,321
- Monthly Grocery Cost Per Couple: $386.16
- Monthly Healthcare Cost Per Couple: $654.72
- Monthly Utilities Cost Per Couple: $348.41
- Monthly Transportation Cost Per Couple: $299.46
- Monthly Necessities Cost Per Couple: $3,010.02
A high livability score, the lowest cost for monthly transportation, and grocery and utilities bills that are below the national average are good reasons for retirees to live in Lynchburg. Monthly rent of $1,321 falls in the lower half of cities in the study, too.
Andrew Lisa contributed to the reporting for this article.
Methodology: GOBankingRates determined the best cities in the East Coast states (FL, GA, SC, NC, VA, MD, DE, NJ, NY, CT, RI, MA,NH, and ME) for a couple to live on only a Social Security check based on the average monthly benefit for retired workers, $1,790.56 ($3,581.12 for a couple), sourced from the Social Security Administration. GOBankingRates first isolated all cities in the East Coast with a 2023 average monthly rent under $1,900 and a size rank below 1,000. GOBankingRates then used Sperling’s Best to find the cost-of-living index for each listed city, looking at grocery and healthcare index scores. Next, GOBankingRates used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics 2022 Consumer Expenditure Survey to find the annual expenditure amount for grocery (“food at home”), utilities, healthcare, and transportation costs for people aged 65 and older in order to find how much a couple in that demographic would spend on necessities in each city on a monthly basis. GOBankingRates then added monthly housing, grocery, utilities, transportation and healthcare costs together to find where a couple 65 and older could survive on their Social Security or less. For a city to be qualified for the study, the city had to have a livability score above 70 as sourced from AreaVibes. GOBankingRates scored and combined both livability and monthly necessities expenditure, with the lowest score being best, to determine final rankings. All data was collected and is up to date as of Sept. 11, 2023.
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