Finding somewhere to retire can be difficult when you’re looking for a city that has nice weather, adequate amenities and won’t bust your budget.
Finance site WalletHub recently updated its list of the best places to retire in the United States.
Which Retiree-Friendly Cities Are the Best for Your Wallet?
WalletHub’s annual list considers four factors to come up with its scores of “best” cities for retirees:
- Affordability
- Activities
- Quality of life
- Health care
Starting with nearly 200 American cities, those four factors were evaluated across 48 metrics, which were graded on a 100-point scale.
For our purposes, we’ll look only at the top places for affordability and the total scores for those destinations, according to WalletHub. Please see the link under the table for the cities’ rankings for health care, activities and quality of life.
These Are WalletHub’s Most Affordable Places to Retire
| City/State | Affordability | Total Score |
|---|---|---|
| Montgomery, AL | 1 | 44.06 |
| Casper, WY | 2 | 57.22 |
| Knoxville, TN | 3 | 50.77 |
| Cheyenne, WY | 4 | 53.64 |
| Mobile, AL | 5 | 49.37 |
| Huntington, WV | 6 | 48.63 |
| Memphis, TN | 7 | 45.66 |
| Fort Smith, AR | 8 | 43.96 |
| Columbia, SC | 9 | 53.91 |
| Birmingham, AL | 10 | 51.12 |
| Huntsville, AL | 11 | 46.20 |
| Dover, DE | 12 | 52.91 |
| Augusta, GA | 13 | 45.61 |
| Fayetteville, NC | 14 | 43.82 |
| Chattanooga, TN | 15 | 46.12 |
Read WalletHub’s Best and Worst Places to Retire.
If you’re thinking of relocating when you retire, money expert Clark Howard has some advice for you.
Here’s Clark’s Rule on Moving
Clark says he’s in favor of a measured approach when it comes to moving to a new city after you retire.
“One of my key rules is you should always rent first for six months, a year or even two years if you’re thinking about relocating for retirement. If it turns out that you don’t like it, at least you’re not all-in owning a home that you’ve now got to get rid of,” he says.
