List Of Best Texas Retirement Cities Ranks Austin In Top Slot

AUSTIN, TX — In a recent study titled 2018’s Best & Worst Places to Retire, Austin is decidedly in the former category, ranking 8th among the best places to live out one's golden years.

The WalletHub study released on Tuesday is aimed at helping people plan for a comfortable retirement without breaking the bank. To that end, researchers analyzed more than 180 U.S. cities across 46 key metrics spanning affordability, health care, quality of life, recreational activities and other attributes.

Given that reckoning, Austin emerged in the top ten list. While those living in the capital city feel the effect of an ever-increasing cost of living, WalletHub analysts assert Austin is among the best places in which to retire.

Among key rankings within the various categories, here's how Austin fared:

• 77th – Adjusted Cost of Living
• 95th – Annual Cost of In-Home Services
• 10th – % of Employed Population Aged 65 & Older
• 53rd – Recreation & Senior Centers per Capita
• 73rd – Adult Volunteer Activities per Capita

The list is offered as a guide for those planning retirement amid rising anxiety among the older set, WalletHub researchers suggested. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s 2018 Retirement Confidence Survey, two in three workers reported feeling at least somewhat confident that they will have enough money to retire comfortably, but only 17 percent said they were “very confident," analysts noted.

"If so many American workers are worried about their financial future, what other options provide a pathway to a comfortable retirement?" researchers wrote in the report. "For some, the only solution is to keep working. According to Gallup polling, workers in 2018 plan to retire at age 66 on average, compared to age 60 in 1995. The alternative? Relocate to an area where you can stretch your dollar without sacrificing your lifestyle."

Austin bested all other Texas cities studied. The Dallas suburb of Grand Prairie came closest at a distant 33rd. San Antonio was next in the 35th position while Dallas, Laredo and Plano (another Dallas suburb) landed in the 46th, 62nd and Plano 65th rankings.

Fort Worth followed in the 71st slot with Amarillo following closely two notches down. El Paso ranked 80th on the list. In the rough math of reckoning which sites are the best for retirement, Houston fared not so well in the 92nd ranking. Lubbock was 98th, Brownsville was 101st and Irving — home of the Dallas Cowboys — was ranked 106th.

The oceanfront city of Corpus Christi fared low in the rankings, notwithstanding its bucolic views and ample fishing spots. The city was ranked 128th among the 180 cities assessed for optimal retirement. Still, it fared better than Arlington, which landed in the 136th spot.

So which cities fared best for retirement, according to WalletHub? The top seven list is Florida-heavy, with the best cities in which to retire, in descending order, being: Orlando, Fla.; Scottsdale, Ariz.; Tampa, Fla.; Denver; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Charleston, S.C.; and Miami.

The bottom five cellar dwellers on the list nationally: Providence, R.I.; Stockton, Calif.; Baltimore, Md.; Warwick, R.I.; Bridgeport, Conn.; and, in the 182nd position, Newark, N.J.

To read the full report, click here.

Graphic courtesy of WalletHub

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