FLORIDA — Among the top 40 best places to retire, 12 are cities in Florida. The annual list, compiled by U.S. News & World Report, evaluated the nation’s most populous metropolitan areas based on retirees’ expectations for health care, affordability, and overall happiness.
FLORIDA’S TOP SPOTS
This year, four Florida cities made the Top 10. The Florida cities in the top 40 best places to retire in the country are:
No. 3 Pensacola
No. 4 Tampa
No. 6 Naples
No. 7 Daytona Beach
No. 11 Sarasota
No. 12 Melbourne
No. 13 Lakeland
No. 16 Ocala
No. 22 Port St. Lucie
No. 31 Orlando
No. 35 Jacksonville
No. 38 Fort Myers
A SHIFT IN THE TOP 10
According to Emily Brandon, U.S. News senior editor, the shift in the housing market has caused seniors to reassess where they plan to retire.
“The drastic shift in the housing market, high inflation, and concerns of a pending recession have retirees weighing housing affordability more heavily when considering where to retire,” said Brandon in a news release.
The list measures how well metropolitan areas meet the needs of retirees. The methodology includes a public survey from people across the country and data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Labor. Affordability and access to health care were the top concerns.
PENNSYLVANIA DOMINATES
“Pennsylvania dominated the Best Places to Retire ranking’s top positions, taking five of the top 10 spots on the list,” Brandon said.
Here’s the top 10 list:
Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Pensacola, Florida
Tampa Florida
York, Pennsylvania
Naples, Florida
Daytona Beach, Florida
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Allentown, Pennsylvania
Reading, Pennsylvania
“With fixed-rate mortgage rates more than doubling over the past year, it stands to reason that falling affordability would lead to changes in the rankings,” Patrick S. Duffy, real estate economist, said in the news release. “As long as both rates and home prices are high, indexes related to things like happiness or health care quality, while important, will take a back seat to affordability.”
From an investment standpoint, retirees who can purchase homes with cash should pay close attention to local housing values. Rising mortgage costs may contribute to lower home prices in some areas.
