11 Affordable Small Cities To Retire in the South

Planning where to spend your retirement requires considering a number of factors — big cities versus small ones, settling down in America versus a foreign locale, choosing one place versus traveling throughout your golden years. 

Further, once you select a location, such issues as crime rates, real estate prices, cost of living, quality of life and livability have to be taken into consideration to ensure your retirement funds and Social Security checks aren’t drained.

GOBankingRates recently analyzed all of the above in order to compile a list of the best small towns to retire in across America — quiet, peaceful areas throughout the country that come without big-city noise, traffic, high crime rates and increasingly expensive costs of living. 

For future retirees looking for a balmy retirement in Florida, or perhaps the rugged desert plains of Texas, or maybe the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, here are 11 small Southern cities that might just be perfect for you.

• Monthly expenditures: $1,811
• Average rent: $1,225
• Livability: 80

• Monthly expenditures: $1,771
• Average rent: $1,373
• Livability: 80

• Monthly expenditures: $1,852
• Average rent: $1,495
• Livability: 86

• Monthly expenditures: $1,871
• Average rent: $1,628
• Livability: 82

• Monthly expenditures: $1,822
• Average rent: $1,720
• Livability: 82

• Monthly expenditures: $1,980
• Average rent: $1,692
• Livability: 80

• Monthly expenditures: $1,990
• Average rent: $2,464
• Livability: 81

• Monthly expenditures: $2,002
• Average rent: $2,617
• Livability: 81

• Monthly expenditures: $1,902
• Average rent: $2,921
• Livability: 82

• Monthly expenditures: $2,065
• Average rent: $2,856
• Livability: 81

• Monthly expenditures: $2,096
• Average rent: $2,870
• Livability: 87

For this study, GOBankingRates analyzed small towns across the country to find the best small towns to retire. GOBankingRates started by finding all the towns with a population between 1,000 and 10,000 residents as sourced from the U.S. Census American Community Survey, along with the total households and median household income. The average rental cost was sourced from Zillow Observed Rental Index. The cost-of-living indexes were sourced from Sperling’s BestPlaces. Using the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey for Retired Residents, the average expenditure cost was calculated for each city. The expenditure cost was added to the rental cost to find the monthly total cost of living. Using the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer, the number of reported crimes for each city was found and the crime rate per 1,000 residents was calculated. The livability index was found from AreaVibes, and all cities with a livability below 80 were removed as they have lower quality of life. All cities with data missing from any source were removed and the remaining 200 cities were scored. The household median income was scored and weighted at 1.00, the expenditure cost was scored and weighted at 1.25, the rent cost was scored and weighted at 1.25, the livability index was scored and weighted at 1.00, and the crime rate was scored and weighted at 1.00. All scores were summed and sorted to show the best small towns in America to retire. All data was collected on and is up to date as of April 8, 2024.