While Social Security is a nice safety net if you have other income or savings, for many folks it’s barely enough to cover their expenses. The average monthly Social Security benefit is $1,790.56 for an individual, according to the Social Security Administration (SSA). Doubling up for a couple, that’s $3,581.12.
If Social Security is all you’re living on, this may limit your choice of retirement city as you stretch your dollars to their absolute limit –particularly on the notoriously expensive West Coast.
To determine the best places for couples to live on the West Coast on only their combined Social Security checks, GOBankingRates used cost-of-living data from Sperling’s Best Places. The ranking also includes ApartmentList data on the 2023 average rent for a one-bedroom apartment, average monthly cost of basic necessities such as groceries, healthcare, utilities and transportation, as well as each city’s livability score, sourced from AreaVibes.
Each city was then given a combined score — which represents a summation of all those factors — with lower scores being better. The list is ranked in order of the worst score to the best. Interestingly, Washington state took the most spots, with 9 cities on the list, and Oregon cities took the remaining 5 spots. Read on to learn about the West Coast spots that are most welcoming to retirees living on Social Security.
