Virginia's Top Towns for Some Retirees? Not Where You Think

Retirement in 2015 isn’t quite the same as it’s always been.

More often than ever before in recent history have as many people over the age of 65 remained in the workforce. Some simply retire later in life than others; some work during retirement for a sense of purpose, others out of financial necessity.

Ultimately, the Huffington Post found that 16 percent of Americans over 65 are still in the workforce, up from 12 percent in 1990.

In this new age of retirement culture, certain cities across America have served retirees better than others. Factors like low tax rates, low unemployment rates among seniors and a great number doctors per 1,000 residents are more relevant than ever before as seniors try to decide where to spend their “golden years.”

With all of this in mind, popular website SmartAsset conducted a study to determine the best cities for modern, working seniors in 2015. One Virginia city cracked the top 10, and another just missed at No. 11.

Roanoke was Virginia’s highest-ranking city at No. 9 overall. Here’s what SmartAsset had to say about one of the Commonwealth’s longest-standing cities:

As the only city east of the Appalachians to rank in the top 10 in SmartAsset’s study, Roanoke is — officially — the best East Coast city for worktirement. The unemployment rate for seniors in Roanoke is just 3.9 percent, well below the national average. Meanwhile, housing costs in Roanoke average just $9,372 annually. Compare that to other cities in the east such as Washington, D.C. ($17,508), Charleston, S.C. ($13,632) or Atlanta ($12,972).

Lynchburg, Virginia, placed 11th, which didn’t warrant any elaboration from SmartAsset. However, the study did show that Lynchburg’s population is 14 percent seniors, and the senior unemployment rate in town is a mere 1.9 percent. The average housing cost is just $9,264, even lower than Roanoke’s.

The full study ranks the top 25 cities for working seniors, and in that top 25 there is only one other city (besides Roanoke and Lynchburg) that lies east of the Mississippi River: Pittsburgh, which ranks No. 25.

Take a full list of the top 10 cities for working seniors or retirees:

1. Rapid City, South Dakota
2. Tyler, Texas
3. Johnson City, Tennessee
4. Victoria, Texas
5. Sioux Falls, South Dakota
6. Billings, Montana
7. Knoxville, Tennessee
8. Abilene, Texas
9. Roanoke, Virginia
10. Scottsdale, Arizona

Patch file photo