Retirement Cost of Living Ranked by State

[Walt34]

If you live in New Orleans, do you really *need* to travel?

I mean, the world comes to you.

Same here in WV. If I want to see strange/different people and lifestyles, Walmart is only a few miles away....

 

[ckelly78z]

I can believe that Kentucky is #48 with lower sales tax, State taxes only above $31,000, and real estate taxes less than half of Ohio.

I can't believe that Ohio is listed that high #47 !

 

[W2R]

Same here in WV. If I want to see strange/different people and lifestyles, Walmart is only a few miles away....

So true! There are some pretty strange/different people at our Walmart, too. If that isn't extreme enough, I know a few places in New Orleans that are extremely weird.

I just don't travel because I don't wanna. But seriously, I'd think that most retirees (other than forum members) really don't travel very much. I don't have any data to back that up, though.

 

[Nick12]

If you live in New Orleans, do you really *need* to travel?

I mean, the world comes to you.

You could have just easily described Florida. When the whole world visits Florida my family and I need a change of seasons and landscapes such as the Pacific Northwest or the mountains of GA,NC,TN and it is a refreshing feeling to vacation outside of Florida.

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

I wouldn't even begin to use something like this to decide where to live. Property taxes and real estate vary pretty widely within most states, for one thing. Just because you can come up with numbers for something like this doesn't make it meaningful.

I agree.

I relocated to the state with the oldest average age and the highest percentage of retirees.

This article says:
• Estimated annual retirement costs: $44,525
• Avg. annual earnings for 65+ households: $22,892 (12th lowest)
• Avg. annual homeownership costs for seniors: $14,220 (20th lowest)
• Pct. residents 65+: 20.0 percent (2nd highest)

I must argue with each of these statements. I make about $18,000 off my pension every year. From all the other retirees that I know here in our town, I am easily the most wealthy from among the group. Every other retiree that I know is supporting themselves on less money than I have, maybe more like 1/4 of what the article says.

 

[geezee1957]

So our 3 kids and two grand kids are in Alaska. We are too now. Yes it is costlier than Montana where we lived all our lives before. It really depends what's important to you as to where you live.