With more and more people paying attention to their physical fitness, and with vast improvements in health care and technology, retirement is increasingly becoming a time of your life to look forward to, a time when you have fewer obligations and more opportunity to do the things you’ve always dreamed of doing. How you end up spending your retirement depends in large part on where you choose to retire. Your retirement location determines how much you’ll be spending, what services are available to you, and what activities you can engage in.
Of course, there is no one perfect retirement spot for everyone. Finding the perfect retirement spot for you depends on what you want. But here are a few suggestions.
Here’s to your health
The availability of good health care is a significant consideration for the retired population. Here are twelve cities in the country where you’ll find a lot of hospitals.
1. Union City, NJ – 736 hospitals within a 30-mile radius
2. Jersey City, NJ – 732
3. North Bergen, NJ – 728
4. New York, NY – 727
5. Passaic, NJ – 720
6. Clifton, NJ – 709
7. Mount Vernon, NY – 706
8. New Rochelle, NY – 704
9. Yonkers, NY – 704
10. Paterson, NJ – 698
11. Bayonne, NJ – 696
12. Newark, NJ – 693
A home of your own
If you want a good bargain on a retirement home (and who doesn’t?), check these cities out. They offer the lowest median home sale prices in the country.
1. Reading, PA – $42,850 median home sale price
2. Buffalo, NY – $45,000
3. Niagara Falls, NY – $47,000
4. Camden, NJ – $55,000
5. Youngstown, OH – $55,000
6. Utica, NY – $55,000
7. Flint, MI – $59,000
8. Rochester, NY – $60,000
9. Saginaw, MI – $62,000
10. Dayton, OH – $63,000
11. Pittsburgh, PA – $64,500
12. Syracuse, NY – $64,650
The people in your neighborhood
Cities with a large population of older adults offer retired persons the greatest opportunities for socialization and activity. These twelve cities have a high percentage of residents over 50 years of age.
1. Tamarac, FL – 50.84% of residents are over 50 years old
2. Lake Havasu City, AZ – 47.13%
3. Port Charlotte, FL – 46.97%
4. Prescott, AZ – 46.85%
5. Palm Desert, CA – 46.06%
6. Largo, FL – 45.96%
7. St. Simons Island, GA – 45.88%
8. Spring Hill, FL – 44.67%
9. Surprise, AZ – 44.53%
10. Walnut Creek, CA – 44.22%
11. Port Orange, FL – 42.91%
12. Deerfield Beach, FL – 42.91%
Perfect to a tee
If you love golf and couldn’t get enough of it during all those years you were working, you might want to retire in one of these twelve golf-playing cities.
1. Coconut Creek, FL – residents play golf 1.41 times the national average
2. Palm Harbor, CA – 1.39 times
3. Palm Desert, CA – 1.34 times
4. Lake Havasu City, AZ – 1.33 times
5. Woodbury, MN – 1.33 times
6. Yorba Linda, CA – 1.32 times
7. Boca Raton, FL – 1.31 times
8. Rancho Santa Margarita, CA – 1.30 times
9. Greenville, NC – 1.30 times
10. Diamond Bar, CA – 1.29 times
11. Cape Coral, FL – 1.29 times
12. Burke, VA – 1.29 times
Game, set, love
If it’s tennis you prefer, here are twelve cities where residents play a lot of the game you love.
1. Bethesda, MD – residents play tennis 1.63 times the national average
2. Greenwich, CT – 1.61 times
3. Davis, CA – 1.61 times
4. Rancho Santa Margarita, CA – 1.61 times
5. Newport Beach, CA – 1.60 times
6. Williamsburg, VA – 1.59 times
7. Laguna Niguel, CA – 1.58 times
8. West Bloomfield Township, MI – 1.57 times
9. McKinney, TX – 1.57 times
10. Asheville, NC – 1.56 times
11. Mission Viejo, CA – 1.55 times
12. Sandy Springs, GA – 1.55 times
Welcome to the club
If you like the idea of belonging to a country club, you might want to retire in one of these twelve cities, where country-club members make up a relatively high percentage of the population.
1. Palm Desert, CA – 2.0% of households belong to a country club
2. Bethesda, MD – 2.0%
3. Greenwich, CT – 1.8%
4. West Bloomfield Township, MI – 1.8%
5. Lower Merion, PA – 1.7%
6. Lake Havasu City, AZ – 1.7%
7. Newport Beach, CA – 1.7%
8. Palo Alto, CA – 1.7%
9. Spring Hill, FL – 1.6%
10. Carmel, IN – 1.6%
11. Burke, VA – 1.6%
12. Prescott, AZ – 1.6%
The groves of academe
Does the idea of well-educated neighbors appeal to you? These cities have a high percentage of residents with graduate degrees.
1. Arlington, VA – 35.7% of residents have graduate degrees
2. Davis, CA – 34.6%
3. Brookline, MA – 32.5%
4. Evanston, IL – 31.2%
5. Bloomington, IN – 31.2%
6. Towson, MD – 31.2%
7. Oak Park, IL – 29.1%
8. Bethesda, MD – 29.1%
9. Alexandria, VA – 29.0%
10. West Hartford, CT – 28.9%
11. College Station, TX – 27.7%
12. Ames, IA – 27.5%
13. Columbia, MO – 27.5%
The key to finding the perfect retirement spot for you is knowing what you want, then learning where you can find it. So check out your options and prepare to have the time of your life.