35 Cities Where Your Retirement Will Cost Less Than $50,000 a Year

Are there any cities in the United States where you can comfortably retire without a million dollars? Fortunately, in many cases, the answer is yes in several major metropolitan areas.

Retirement planning in the United States has always been complicated but when you factor in rising living expenses in retirement along with health care costs, housing costs and transportation costs, the multitude of costs of living seem to stretch your retirement income pretty thin.

Whether you are looking to retire this year or are just starting to plan your long-term savings goals there are several factors to consider if you want to uphold your standard of living when your working day is permanently done. 

Quick Take: Retirement Costs To Consider

If you are years from retirement there may not be a way to accurately calculate your future housing expenses, long-term care costs, property taxes or even annual income taxes. GOBankingRates conducted some research to help you potentially plan on what it will cost you to retire in some well-known cities. Here are some key takeaways: 

• The total annual cost for retirees after Social Security was found to be less than $15,000 in cities such as Baltimore, El Paso, Milwaukee, Tulsa and Oklahoma City.
• The cities on this list with the largest population of people of retirement age, which for this study was considered to be age 65 and over, were found to be Chicago, Philadelphia and San Antonio
• Some cities with the highest estimated monthly cost of living were Omaha and Virginia Beach.
• The national average Social Security benefits for a single is estimated to be about $1,864.52.

Here are the 35 major cities where your retirement will cost less than $50,000 a year ranked from least to most expensive based on the average total annual cost of living after Social Security.

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 86,395
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,806.61
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $12,699.32

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 91,453
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,715.88
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $14,323.75

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 65,007
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,863.04
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $14,751.28

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 61,984
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,838.21
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $14,773.62

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 89,087
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,849.99
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $14,773.99

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 45,963
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,829.69
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $15,765.48

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 113,008
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,803.09
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $16,003.11

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 223,219
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,951.73
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $16,712.83

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 60,419
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,816.12
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $16,867.96

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 39,833
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,804.62
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $16,951.36

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 70,176
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,826.87
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $17,090.33

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 45,816
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,895.97
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $17,257.23

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 185,125
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,790.31
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $17,979.42

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 96,905
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,820.55
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $18,402.40

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 93,747
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,885.85
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $22,513.50

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 136,937
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,876.28
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $22,517.34

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 361,148
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,910.73
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $22,594.97

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 67,693
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $2,052.65
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $22,642.72

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 43,770
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,882.95
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $23,566.24

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 143,492
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,875.82
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $24,388.15

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 45,680
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,895.39
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $25,025.62

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 50,420
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,891.85
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $29,169.65

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 93,488
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,862.48
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $29,453.78

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 33,322
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,923.54
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $30,716.68

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 185,471
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,840.78
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $31,642.64

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 98,455
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,881.44
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $31,978.14

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 68,485
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $2,049.53
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $32,076.56

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 85,024
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,833.19
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $32,230.98

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 53,270
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,869.85
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $32,636.52

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 86,487
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,865.31
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $32,685.09

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 59,457
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,883.77
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $32,775.11

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 68,487
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,855.24
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $33,459.73

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 90,316
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,925.63
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $41,488.78

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 93,592
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,898.33
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $42,045.46

• Population of people of retirement age, 65 and up: 72,343
• Average monthly cost for expenditures: $1,914.12
• Total average annual cost of living after Social Security: $46,339.43

Methodology: For this study, GOBankingRates analyzed major US cities to find the places where you can afford to retire on less than $50,000 a year. First GOBankingRates found the most populated US Cities as sourced from the US Census American Community Survey. For each city, a number of factors were found including the total population, the population aged 65 and over both sourced from the US Census  American Community Survey, the average home value from April 2024 as sourced from Zillow Home Value Index, the average Social Security Benefits as sourced from the Social Security Administration, the cost of living indexes as sourced from Sperlings BestPlaces, and the livability index as sourced from AreaVibes. All cities with a livability of 75 or below were removed from this study as they represent cities with a low quality of life. The average national expenditure costs for residents aged 65 and over were sourced from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey for residents aged 65 and over and used to calculate the average expenditure cost for each city. The average home value was used, and by assuming a 10% downpayment and using the national 30-year fixed mortgage rate, as sourced from the Federal Reserve Economic Data, the average mortgage costs can be calculated. The mortgage and expenditures can be used to find the total cost of living for each city. Assuming a retired resident received Social Security Benefits, the total cost of living after Social Security benefits was calculated. The cities with an annual cost of living above $50,000 were removed for this study. The top 100 cities by population with all correlating data were kept with the rest removed and the remaining cities were sorted by their total cost of living. All data was collected on and is up-to-date as-of May 17th, 2024.