It’s a perpetual question for the older set: Where to retire? A lot of people simply stay put where they’ve been for decades. Others move far away—-even abroad--for adventure or to save money. Another retirement option is a change to an inner-city neighborhood.
But there’s a middle ground that might be appealing to those who have spent comfortable decades in the suburbs, those largely residential towns full of larger homes with back yards within reasonable commuting distance of the big city they generally ring and draw energy from. Consider relocating to another suburb, maybe in another part of the country.
To this end, we offer our list of 25 top suburbs for retirement. They are located in 22 states, although a few are suburbs of a big city across the state line. The list is unranked, with towns listed alphabetically. Access the list by clicking on the image.
Gallery: The Top 25 Suburbs For Retirement
There can be savings and value generated, especially if one takes advantage of what can be the country’s widely differing tax environments. Texas and Florida, for instance, has no state income tax (although other higher taxes make up some of the difference). Some states like Pennsylvania and Florida afford retirees with special tax incentives.
There are suburbs from all four states on this list.
Here’s how our roster came together. First, we set a 25-mile limit for the distance from the suburb to the center of the big city. A longer trip than that struck us as interfering too much with getting to the cultural, sporting and other amenities found in larger cities.
House prices everywhere are way down. We sought towns where the average home price was under $400,000. In nearly half, the price was $200,000 or less. The one exception was Davis, Calif., where home prices are in the mid 400,000’s but plenty of other factors offset this.
Drawing data from such sources as city-data.com, we scrutinized a variety of other factors. They included cost of living and the tax climate for retirees (generally a function of state law). We evaluated availability of hospitals and higher education (it’s never too late to keep learning). We took into account data for crime rates (almost all the towns listed register less than half the national crime rate) and air quality.
Finally, we looked at mass transit options—-especially the proximity of rail--back to the big city.
No single town excelled on every factor. But hey, life is full of trade-offs. We found plenty of interesting places worth your consideration.
Not every suburb we highlight is a tiny burb. From a 1960 population under 4,000, the Dallas suburb of Plano now tops 260,000, one reason for its five hospitals. But average home prices barely nudge $200,000, there’s no state income tax and rail can take you to the big (or bigger) city 18 miles south.
The smallest suburb on the list is Lauderdale, Minn., whose population of 2,200 sits just four miles from Minneapolis. The winters are cold, but homes go for less than $200,000.
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