If you're like most people facing retirement, you don't have an unlimited budget. Even so, that doesn't mean that you have to settle for living out what are supposed to be your golden years in a less-than-desirable locale just to make ends meet.
Retirement should be about enjoying your life with minimal stress and spending some time in the sun. To do that on a budget, though, you'll need to choose a retirement destination that's not only affordable but also features a hospitable climate. To assist you in your relocation plans, GOBankingRates looked at hundreds of U.S. cities to find the cheapest places to retire that feature favorable weather.
More often than not, retirees will find the most affordable and sunniest retirement destinations in the southernmost state of the continental U.S. -- Florida. In fact, more than half of 22 U.S. cities on this list are located in Florida.
While the warm weather down south means almost all of the potential retirement spots are in the southern tier, two northern cities make the list because of just they have to offer. And if locations in Florida or up north don't appeal, there's a handful of other affordable cities to choose from.
To rank in the study, each city had to meet the following requirements: More than 25% of the population had to be age 65 or older, the median home listing price must have ranked below the national average and the average annual temperature needed to fall in the moderate range. Check out these beautiful places to retire that won't stretch your bank account.
Cynthia Measom contributed to the reporting for this article.
Methodology: GOBankingRates determined the cheapest cities to retire by analyzing all U.S. cities with populations of more than 10,000 people, narrowing down the list of cities to only those with greater than 25% share of the population being 65 and older, sourced from the Census Bureau's 2019 American Community Survey. GOBankingRates narrowed the list down even further by making sure the September 2021 median home value of each city was below the national average. From this list of cities, the two main factors used were (1) median home listing price, sourced from Zillow's September 2021 index; and (2) average annual temperature, sourced from Weather Base. All data compiled on Nov. 9, 2021.
