50 Best (and Worst) Cities for an Early Retirement
Retirement can be easy — or hard — in these 50 cities.
1. San Francisco
- 2019 median listing price: $1,290,143
- Annual mortgage cost: $65,148
- Annual grocery cost: $4,327.85
- Annual healthcare cost: $6,231
- Annual utilities cost: $3,621.15
- Annual transportation cost: $6,884.59
- Total annual necessities cost: $86,212.59
- Taxes on Social Security benefits? No
- Taxes on retirement income? Yes
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Methodology: GOBankingRates determined the best (and worst) cities in the United States for an early retirement by looking at the top 50 most populated cities and top 50 cities with the highest 65-and-older population, according to the United States Census Bureau. GOBankingRates analyzed these 100 cities using the following criteria: (1) average 2019 median listing price for all homes sourced from Zillow’s 2019 data; (2) an annual mortgage cost, calculated with Zillow’s mortgage calculator, assuming a 20% down payment and a 3.49% 30-year fixed-rate mortgage as sourced from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; and (3) itemized cost of living index for groceries, utilities, transportation, healthcare and miscellaneous expenditures, based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Expenditure Survey third quarter 2017 through second quarter 2018, which were adjusted to each city's local cost of living, sourced from Sperling's Best Places. Factors (2) and (3) were combined to give the (4) total annual necessities cost of living, which was the determining factor for the final rankings, with the lower cost of living being best. GOBankingRates also found if each city’s state taxed Social Security benefits and retirement income, sourced from AARP and each state’s official website. All data was compiled and verified on Sept. 9, 2019.
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