Is Sacramento a good place to retire? Here’s where it ranks in latest WalletHub study
Many American workers are only “somewhat confident,” that they’ll be able to retire comfortably, one survey found, and they’re planning on retiring later than they used to.
What city in the U.S. is the best for retirement?
WalletHub’s 2023’s Best and Worst Places to Retire study ranked the best cities for retirement, looking at affordability, quality of life, health care and availability of recreational activities.
Sacramento was 41st on the list. Based only on affordability, the city ranked 151st out of 182.The capital city also had the third lowest percentage of an employed population aged 65 or older.
Tampa, Florida, topped the list. Scottsdale, Arizona, took second. Three other Florida cities — Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Miami — rounded out the top five.
California had three cities at the bottom of the list.
Stockton, California
Newark, New Jersey
Bakersfield, California
San Bernardino, California
Detroit, Michigan
Source: WalletHub
The Employee Benefit Research Institute’s 2023 Retirement Confidence Survey found 64% of workers said they feel “somewhat confident” they’ll have enough money to retire comfortably. Only 27% reported feeling “very confident.” In 1995, workers planned to retire at age 60. As of 2022, that rose to age 66, according to Gallup polling.
Methodology
WalletHub compared 182 U.S. cities, including the 150 most populated and at least two of the most populated cities in each state, comparing them based on affordability, activities, quality of life and health care.
For affordability, the analysis looked at the following factors:
Adjusted cost of living
Taxpayer friendliness
Retired taxpayer friendliness
Tax friendliness on estate or inheritance tax
Annual cost of in-home services
Annual cost of adult day health care
For activities, it looked at the following factors per capita: recreation and senior centers, fishing facilities, public and municipal golf courses, museums, theaters, art galleries, book clubs, music venues, bingo halls, availability of adult volunteer activities, and recreation friendliness.
Included among the factors to determine quality of life: weather and environmental factors, walk score, violent and property crime rates, and strength of elder abuse protections.
For health care, the analysis compares the number of care providers such as family medicine physicians and nurses, quality of the public hospital system, and life expectancy, among other factors.
The analysis also assumes retirees will rely on a fixed income.
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