Retiring seniors may want to consider moving to Winchester, Va., Portland, Maine, or Gainesville, Ga., because of their affordability, thanks to low median housing prices and lower taxes, says AARP.
With home values averaging just over $165,000, these cities are the top three on AARP’s 10 Most Affordable Retirement Cities list. While there’s state tax in Portland and Gainesville on pensions, and partial state tax on pensions in Winchester, none of these states tax Social Security income.
Further down the list, #4 Wenatchee, Wash. and #6 Cheyenne, Wyo., offer state tax exemption for both Social Security and pensions. Other cities, like #5 Tulsa, Okla., and #7 Columbus, Ind., have median housing prices below $126,000.
There’s no state tax on Social Security, and only partial on pensions, in eighth- and ninth-ranked cities Ithaca, N.Y., and Harrisburg, Pa., with median housing prices of $146,100 and $144,200, respectively.
Rounding out the 10 most affordable retirement cities is Midland, Tex., with a median home price of just $96,600, and no state taxes on Social Security or pensions.
Sales tax in these cities range from 5%, like in Winchester and Portland, to Wenatchee and Ithaca’s 8%.
View AARP’s complete list here.
Written by Alyssa Gerace
