10 Least Affordable Cities for Retirement

Vance Cariaga
Davel5957 / Getty Images/iStockphoto
Davel5957 / Getty Images/iStockphoto

When it comes to retirement savings, Americans have a math problem. Many financial experts recommend that you have anywhere from $700,000 to $1 million saved up to retire comfortably. But the reality is that only about 7% of Americans ages 65 and older have more than $750,000 in retirement savings, according to a recent GOBankingRates survey.

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A separate study by Edward Jones found that the average retirement savings for people 65-74 is $426,070. For those 75 and older, the average is $357,920. And because those are averages, you can be pretty sure that a large segment of the older population barely has enough money saved up to scrape by for a few years.

That doesn’t mean you should panic if your nest egg is smaller than average, however, because it’s not a one-size-fits-all number. The amount of retirement savings you should have depends on a variety of factors, including your lifestyle, debt load, health, expenses – and location.

Obviously, your retirement savings will last a lot longer in a low-cost city than in an expensive one. If you don’t have to pay a lot for housing, utilities, healthcare, taxes and other expenses, then you can afford to have a smaller-than-average nest egg. On the other hand, even $1 million in retirement savings might not be enough to retire comfortably in a place where everything is expensive.

A new study from financial services company Empower analyzed 113 U.S. cities across multiple categories to determine which were the most affordable for retirees, the least affordable, and the most desirable. Empower also surveyed 1,000 Americans about where they want to live and what criteria they look for when deciding where to call home.

The survey was conducted in July 2023 by Fractl on behalf of Empower. It rated cities on the following variables:

  • Tax friendliness (30% of the score)

  • Healthcare quality and access (25%)

  • Home affordability (20%)

  • Cost of living (15%)

  • Sunshine percentage (10%)

Retirees were also asked about their top priorities when deciding where to live. Cost of living came in first, followed by being close to family, crime rates, weather and home prices.

According to Empower’s cost metrics, the one state you want to avoid if you’re looking for an affordable retirement is California, which placed nine cities among the 10 worst for affordability. These are the 10 least affordable cities in the country for retirement, according to Empowerment:

  1. San Francisco, California

  2. San Jose, California

  3. Salinas, California

  4. Los Angeles, California

  5. Santa Rosa, California

  6. San Diego, California

  7. Minneapolis, Minnesota

  8. Sacramento, California

  9. Riverside, California

  10. Stockton, California

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If you’re looking for a comparatively cheap city to retire in, here are the 10 most affordable, according to Empower:

  1. Las Vegas, Nevada

  2. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  3. Sioux Falls, South Dakota

  4. Detroit, Michigan

  5. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

  6. Tallahassee, Florida

  7. Reno, Nevada

  8. Gainesville, Florida

  9. Grand Rapids, Michigan

  10. Columbus, Georgia

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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 10 Least Affordable Cities for Retirement

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