These Are the Best Suburbs for Retirees in 2024
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Transitioning into retirement often involves calling a moving company. According to the annual United Van Lines National Movers Study, retirement was the top moving motivation for 14% of Americans in 2023 and 20% in 2022.
Retirees choose to relocate for reasons such as more affordable living, better amenities, and a tranquil lifestyle. If you don’t have a dream retirement destination in mind, you may be wondering where to retire.
The best place to retire varies depending on your personal preferences, but qualities such as affordability and number of amenities often determine an area’s suitability. To help you find the best place to retire, we analyzed more than 400 suburbs across the U.S. We ranked them based on affordability, quality of life, and popular retirement amenities.
Key Findings
Best Spots for Retirees To Enjoy Their Golden Years
Big cities don’t offer retirees the best bang for their buck. Many retirees move to the suburbs for greater affordability and a lower cost of living, as well as better community and amenities.
The top U.S. suburbs in which to retire are mostly located in the Southeast, the Midwest, and the Southwest. Tennessee, Arizona, and Ohio each had two places ranking among the 10 best suburbs for retirees, with Brentwood, Tennessee, taking the top spot.
Only one Florida suburb, Fruit Cove, made the list of top 10 suburbs for retirees. Numerous California suburbs are in the bottom 10. Both of these states have long been desirable retirement destinations for Americans thanks to their mild temperatures throughout the year.
California and Florida suburbs suffered in our ranking of best places to retire because of their vulnerability to climate disasters. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Southern California and South Florida face the greatest climate risks.
Suburbs in California and Florida also took a hit due to their lack of affordability. It’s extremely expensive to live in most of California, and Florida has recently seen a spike in its cost of living. Many retirees who rely on retirement checks and savings can’t comfortably afford these states.
The Top 10 Suburbs for Retirees
The top-ranking suburbs scored highly across 13 metrics, ranking well in categories related to financial well-being and climate.
Brentwood, Tennessee, is the best suburb for retirees, according to our data. This suburb is followed by Winchester, Nevada, and Sun City, Arizona—Sun City is known as “the original retirement community.” The table below lists the 10 best suburbs for retirees. We also break down the key factors that were used to rank each suburb.
Financial Friendliness
The top 10 suburbs to retire offer financial havens for Americans looking to stretch their nest eggs. Retirees in these places can enjoy more of their incomes—these states have an average income tax rate of 2.3%. Our lowest-ranking suburbs instead had average state income tax rates of 12.8%.
All seven states featured in our top 10 list are among those that don’t tax Social Security benefits. Residents of Tennessee, Nevada, and Florida also enjoy no income tax on their 401(k), IRA, or pension checks.
Living in a tax-friendly state makes a big difference, especially since 28% of nonretired Americans have no money saved up for retirement and because Social Security payments only replace 37% of working wages. The top 10 suburbs to retire have relatively low percentages of residents over the age of 65 living below the poverty line.
Low Risk of Climate Disaster
States such as Ohio and Pennsylvania lack year-round sunshine and warm temperatures, but they rank well for climate safety. The average climate risk score among the top 10 suburbs was 79 out of 100 compared to almost 100 out of 100 for the bottom 10. Zionsville, Indiana, had the lowest climate risk of all 412 suburbs we analyzed.
Climate change tends to have a greater impact on older adults since they’re more prone to health conditions that can make them sensitive to climate conditions. Many older adults have limited mobility, which can make it challenging to evacuate in the event of a natural disaster.
Safe Haven
Nearly 30% of U.S. adults over the age of 60 live alone, which can cause safety concerns. Our top 10 suburbs had far lower crime rates than the bottom 10, with an average rate of 11.7 crimes per 1,000 residents. The bottom 10 had an average crime rate of nearly 27 crimes per 1,000 residents.
Why Brentwood, Tennessee, Topped the List
Of all 412 suburbs we considered, Brentwood, Tennessee, performed the best overall. This Nashville suburb ranked well in the following metrics:
- Financial well-being: With less than 6% of retirement income lost to taxes, Brentwood ranks as the third-most financially friendly suburb, behind Germantown and Collierville, Tennessee.
- High life expectancy: The average person lives to be 81.5 years old compared to the national average of 76.4 years old.
- Low climate risk: Williamson County, Tennessee, has a low climate risk ranking compared to the rest of the U.S.
- Low crime rate: Brentwood has a crime rate of nine per 1,000 residents.
- Low senior poverty rate: Only 3.7% of Brentwood’s residents older than the age of 65 live below the poverty line.
The Bottom 10 Suburbs for Retirees
According to our data, eight of the 10 worst places to retire are in California, where the cost of living and the risk of severe climate events are high. The only other state to make the bottom 10 was New Jersey, which has experienced the highest outflow of residents for the past six years. According to the United Van Lines National Movers Study, most people leaving New Jersey are doing so to retire elsewhere.
Review the bottom 10 list below and a breakdown of how they performed across key metrics.
Financial Unfriendliness
The bottom 10 suburbs are harder on retirees’ wallets. Residents in these suburbs lose an average of 10.4% of their incomes to home insurance and property taxes yearly, compared to 6.6% for those living in the top 10 suburbs. The average percentage of residents over the age of 65 living below the poverty line is nearly twice as high in the bottom 10 compared to the top 10.
Eighty percent of households with older adults are financially struggling or at risk of falling into economic insecurity. In 2021, a record 11.2 million older Americans were cost-burdened (spending more than 30% of their income on housing).
The average cost of living in California is almost 50% higher than the national average, according to Best Places. A 2023 poll found that nearly half of California residents said they were thinking of leaving the state due to its high cost of living. The cost of living in New Jersey is also high, at almost 20% above the national average.
Climate Risks
It’s hard to justify buying a retirement home in an area with a high risk of severe weather. California has seen the biggest wildfires in state history within the last decade, and much of the state has a very high or relatively high climate risk. New Jersey has a moderate climate risk due to its chances of winter weather, ice storms, and flooding.
Less Access to Health Care
People require medical attention more frequently as they age. The bottom 10 suburbs have less access to health care, with an average of 1,827 residents per primary care physician. The top 10 suburbs have 1,115 residents per physician.
Why Hollister, California, Fared Poorly
Based on our data, Hollister, California, ranks as the worst U.S. suburb for retirees. The Central California town performed poorly in the following categories:
- High climate risk: Hollister scored nearly 94 out of 100 for FEMA’s climate risk.
- Low access to health care: Hollister is located in San Benito County, which has one physician per 3,371 residents.
- Not financially friendly: The cost of living in Hollister is 56% higher than the national average and California’s state income tax reaches up to 13.3%.
Low-Cost Moving Tips for Retirees
Many retirees move in hopes of lowering their expenses, but the move itself can be expensive. The average cost of hiring a moving company is $8,100, according to our team’s 2022 study. Below are a few ways to make relocating more affordable:
- Consider moving to a retirement community: These communities offer amenities and services that may save you money over time. Many retirement communities include utilities, maintenance, and even meals in their monthly fees. This can help you avoid unexpected costs and budget more effectively.
- Downsize: Retirement is a great time to clean out all of your excess belongings and move into a smaller, more manageable space. Downsizing before your move is one of the best ways to save money since moving expenses are often calculated by the weight of your belongings.
- Do your own packing: Packing can be a tedious and time-consuming process, but hiring professional packers adds to your moving costs. Pack items yourself to save money and gain control over how your items are organized.
- Look for senior discounts or other promotions: Some moving companies offer discounts to older adults and veterans. Ask about savings opportunities as you request moving quotes.
- Shop around: Don’t pick the first moving company that pops up on Google. Research the best cheap moving companies and request multiple quotes to find the lowest possible price.
Full Data
Review our full dataset in the table below.
Methodology
We ranked 412 suburbs of the 50 most populous metro areas in the U.S. based on factors that are important to retirees. We narrowed our list of suburbs by considering the top 10 largest of each metro area with a maximum of 50,000 households. Suburbs with incomplete or unreliable data were excluded.
We ranked these suburbs across 13 metrics to determine the best places for retirees. When place-specific data couldn’t be found, we used county- or state-level data. The metrics our team used fall into the three categories listed below:
- Quality of life: This category includes the percentage of the population that’s over the age of 65, life expectancy, county climate risk, retirement homes per 1,000 residents, crime rate per 1,000 residents, and the ratio of residents to physicians.
- Financial well-being: This category includes the amount of income spent on homeowners insurance and property taxes, the percentage of those 65+ living below the poverty line, metro area price parities, the top marginal state income tax rate, state capital gains tax rate, and whether the state taxes retirement or Social Security income.
- Amenities: We awarded a score based on the number of amenities per 1,000 residents, including golf courses, casinos, museums, art classes, festivals, and pickleball options.
Sources: U.S. Census American Community Survey, Health Resources and Services Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency, University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, Tax Foundation, NeighborhoodScout, NAS Investment Solutions, Quadrant, and Yelp.
Questions about our study? Please contact the author here.
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We encourage journalists and reporters to share our findings on the best suburbs for retirees. If you choose to do so, please link back to our original story to give us proper credit for our research.
