Community Corner

4 NC Cities On U.S. News Best Places To Retire List

U.S. News & World Report has released its 2019 list of the best places in America to retire and four NC cities made the cut.

Kimberly Johnson, Patch StaffVerified Patch Staff Badge

Four North Carolina cities ranked among U.S. News & World Report’s list of best places to retire for 2019. The list released Wednesday evaluates the country’s 100 largest metropolitan areas based on how well they meet Americans’ retirement expectations, according to U.S. News.

While three Florida cities placed in the top 10, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was No. 1 on the 2019 list. According to U.S. News, Lancaster moved to the No. 1 spot after placing No. 2 last year thanks to increases in housing affordability and overall happiness of its residents.

Fort Myers, Florida, moved from No. 15 to No. 2 owing to “increases in desirability and happiness scores.” Last year’s top place to retire — Sarasota, Florida — fell to No. 3 because of a decline in overall happiness and desirability, U.S. News says.

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Raleigh and Durham ranked high on the list of 100 cities at No. 15 and received an overall score of 6.96. Charlotte ranked No. 34, with overall score of 6.74; Greensboro was ranked No. 43 with a score of 6.63 and Winston-Salem was ranked No. 45 with a score of 6.62.

U.S. News’ rankings do not include smaller cities or regions. Each city evaluated on the list was given an overall retirement score that was a weighted average of six indexes: housing, affordability, happiness, desirability, retiree taxes, job market and healthcare quality. Both the overall score and each index score was calculated on a 10-point scale. (You can read more about the methodology here.)

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Below are the top 10 places to retire, according to U.S. News:

  1. Lancaster, Pennsylvania
  2. Fort Myers, Florida
  3. Sarasota, Florida
  4. Austin, Texas
  5. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  6. Grand Rapids, Michigan
  7. Nashville, Tennessee
  8. San Antonio, Texas
  9. Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas
  10. Lakeland, Florida

You can see the full list here.

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Photo via Shutterstock

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