5 Best Small Towns To Retire on $2,000 a Month
For many people, retirement is a time to start leading a slower, quieter life, without the hustle of commuting to a job or navigating city life. Small towns often attract retirees for their ease of access, community amenities and promise of a peaceful set of golden years. However, due to the popularity of such small towns, they’re not always affordable on retirement income or Social Security.
To find five small towns that are great for retiring on $2,000 per month, GOBankingRates used Zillow’s February 2023 data to find every small town in the U.S. that has an average 2023 monthly rent of $1,250 or less. GOBankingRates also drew from Sperling’s Best to find the cost of living index for every city on the list, as well as other key data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2021 Consumer Expenditure Survey, AreaVibes and the Census Bureau.
Read on to find out which five small towns are the best to retire on $2,000 a month.
Steubenville, Ohio
- 2022 average 1-bedroom rent: $692
- Total monthly expenditures: $1,963.83
This Ohio town has a decent livability score of 70, and 19.4% of the population are ages 65 and older. Its monthly grocery costs of $362.76 are the priciest on this list, though still a few percentage points below the national average. Retirees will also pay slightly above the national average in monthly healthcare costs, at $579.39 per month, but overall, it’s still feasible to retire here on $2,000 per month.
Austin, Minnesota
- 2022 average 1-bedroom rent: $701
- Total monthly expenditures: $1,887.25
In this Minnesota town, although the rent is higher than Steubenville, it still ranks as more affordable because expenses here are lower. A livability score of 71 and 17.4% of the population being ages 65 and older make it a good place for retiring on $2,000 per month.
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Tiffin, Ohio
- 2022 average 1-bedroom rent: $797
- Total monthly expenditures: $1,932.06
In Tiffin, though the rent is the highest of all five of these towns, other factors push it up to No. 3 in the ranks, particularly its 84 livability score. Healthcare is also the cheapest on this list, at $269.07 per month. Additionally, 18% of the population is ages 65 or older, a community with a growing number of people of retirement age.
Newton, Iowa
- 2022 average 1-bedroom rent: $650
- Total monthly expenditures: $1,965.33
Newton has the largest percentage on this list of people ages 65 and up, at 20.5%. While monthly expenses such as healthcare and utilities are above the national average, its monthly rent of $650 is the lowest on this list. Add a livability score of 82 and you can see why it takes the No. 2 spot on this list.
Ashland, Ohio
- 2022 average 1-bedroom rent: $690
- Total monthly expenditures: $1,895.80
Another Ohio town takes the No. 1 spot, Ashland, with a fantastic livability score of 87. People of retirement age, 65 or older, make up 19.3% of the population, and you can see why. With decent rent and expenditures that are all under the national average, it’s a very affordable and high-quality town to retire in.
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Methodology: For this study, GOBankingRates found the best small town (population less than 30,000) cities to retire on a budget of $2,000 dollars or less. GOBankingRates used Zillow’s February 2023 data to find every small town in the U.S. that has an (1) average 2023 monthly rent of $1,250 dollars or less. GOBankingRates then used Sperling’s Best to find the cost of living index for every city on the list, looking at (2) grocery, (3) utilities and (4) healthcare index scores. Next, GOBankingRates used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2021 Consumer Expenditure Survey to find the annual expenditure amount for both grocery (“food at home”), healthcare, and utilities costs for people aged 65 and older in order to find how much a person 65 and over would spend on necessities in each city on a monthly basis. GOBankingRates then added monthly housing, grocery, healthcare, and utilities costs together to find where a person 65 and older could survive on $2,000 or less. In order for a city to be qualified for the study, it had to have a livabilty score of 65 or higher as sourced from AreaVibes and its population had to be 16.8% (the national average) or more over the age of 65 according to the Census Bureau’s 2021 American Community Survey. For final rankings all qualified cities were ranked by (5) total monthly expenditures, (6) % of population over 65 and (7) livability with the lowest score being best. Factor (7) was weighted 1.5x. All data was collected on and up to date as of April 5, 2023.
