7 Affordable Small Cities To Retire on the West Coast

Recently, GOBankingRates studied data concerning livability levels in the small cities that dot the United States, and from that study GBR created a list of the 44 best small towns to comfortably retire in across America.

Now, GOBankingRates has broken that list down further into the seven best and most affordable small cities to retire in along the West Coast — places in which the crime rates, real estate prices and cost of living are all relatively low, and retirement savings and Social Security checks can last far longer than in big cities.

While some dream of spending their golden years on foreign beaches or traveling the country, many might find the idea of a quiet retirement in a small town in a warm Western state as the perfect way to live out a peaceful retirement. If you’re one such retiree — or think you will be eventually — here are affordable small cities to retire on the West Coast.

• Monthly expenditures: $1,859
• Average rent: $1,711
• Livability: 84

• Monthly expenditures: $1,721
• Average rent: $2,345
• Livability: 81

• Monthly expenditures: $2,033
• Average rent: $3,225
• Livability: 80

• Monthly expenditures: $2,169
• Average rent: $3,196
• Livability: 80

• Monthly expenditures: $1,928
• Average rent: $3,450
• Livability: 81

• Monthly expenditures: $2,146
• Average rent: $3,639
• Livability: 85

• Monthly expenditures: $2,230
• Average rent: $5,750
• Livability: 84

Editor’s note: Photos are for representational purposes only and might not reflect the exact locations.

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 for each city 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 due to 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 town to retire in America. All data was collected on and is up to date as of April 8, 2024.