Finding Your Ideal City to Retire: Where Americans Are Actually Moving

When it comes to planning your retirement years, choosing the right location can be just as important as how much you’ve saved. A comprehensive study surveyed 2,000 retirees across America to understand what truly makes a city suitable for retirement, and the findings reveal both expected and surprising answers about where people want to settle down.

The research analyzed dozens of U.S. counties using a systematic approach, examining what retirees value most. The results challenge some assumptions about retirement destinations while confirming others. Unlike the image of everyone retiring to a beach, the data shows that affordability and quality of life often matter more than weather alone.

How Researchers Identified the Best Cities to Retire

The methodology behind finding top retirement cities involved more than just asking people where they wanted to move. Researchers from Motley Fool identified seven key factors that matter to retirees, then assigned specific importance weights to each:

• Quality of life received the highest weight at 31%, reflecting that daily living experience matters most
• Healthcare access and quality accounted for 15% of the ranking
• Housing affordability contributed 13%
• Crime and safety made up 12%
• Weather and climate represented 12%
• State and local taxes counted for 11%
• Non-housing affordability (everything else) rounded out the formula at 6%

These weights were then applied to data from eight different public and institutional sources to score every U.S. county. Counties with fewer than 40,000 residents or quality-of-life scores below certain thresholds were filtered out, ensuring the final rankings reflected realistic options for retirement communities.

The Top Five Places Where Retirees Are Settling

The research produced some predictable winners alongside genuinely unexpected choices:

Broward County, Florida topped the list with a final score of 64. This South Florida region benefits from no state income tax and warm weather, though residents face rising housing costs and hurricane-related insurance challenges. St. Johns County, also in Florida, ranked second with a score of 59, offering a slightly more affordable alternative with similar climate benefits. Gadsden County, Florida, rounded out the Sunshine State’s domination in the top five with a score of 59.

The unexpected entries shake up assumptions about where retirees should look. Cuyahoga County, Ohio scored 58, drawing retirees seeking significantly lower cost of living and housing prices. The tradeoff: winters are serious. Pulaski County, Arkansas scored 58 as well, including Little Rock, and offers perhaps the most affordable option—though it comes with hot summers, higher crime in certain areas, and lower median incomes affecting public services quality.

Why Some Cities Win, Others Don’t

Three Florida counties dominating the top five seemed predictable on the surface. The state’s no-income-tax policy and perpetual warm weather have long attracted older Americans wanting to escape snow. But Florida faces a significant hidden cost: housing and rental prices have climbed sharply, and obtaining homeowners insurance has become increasingly difficult due to hurricane risks.

The emergence of Ohio and Arkansas as top retirement cities reflects how the nation’s economy has shifted. Since the pandemic, rising inflation has made many traditional retirement destinations too expensive for average retirees. Both Cuyahoga County and Pulaski County deliver exceptional affordability in housing and overall living expenses—a factor that clearly outweighs weather and other lifestyle considerations for many retirees on fixed incomes.

Yet no region is without complications. Areas with the best weather, like San Diego, come with premium price tags driven by high demand. Conversely, places offering rock-bottom costs often have weather challenges or other tradeoffs. The cold winters of Ohio or the challenging summers of Arkansas represent real adjustments compared to Florida’s climate stability.

Choosing Your Own Best City to Retire

The key insight from this research is that there’s no universally perfect city to retire in. What matters most is identifying your personal priorities and finding the location that balances your must-haves with your budget constraints.

Some retirees prioritize living exactly as they did before retirement, complete with familiar weather and amenities. Others dream of downsizing to a simpler lifestyle or experiencing new regions entirely. Your ideal retirement city depends entirely on what combination of factors—climate, healthcare quality, affordability, taxes, safety, and quality of life—matters most to you personally.

Taking time to research specific counties using the seven weighted factors can help you move beyond assumptions about where you should retire and toward a decision based on your actual values and financial reality.