Imagine the ideal place to retire: Palm trees, swimming pools, and colorful cocktails come to mind.
Or just think of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, with its green-domed capitol building and an average annual temperature of about 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
Sound weird? It's not. Harrisburg is the best place in America to retire, according to U.S. News and World Report's latest ranking.
The publication graded the 150 most populous metropolitan areas in the country on factors including resident happiness, weather, the quality of healthcare, the dining-out scene, and how much retirees pay in taxes. U.S. News' extensive methodology, however, puts the biggest weight on affordability, which includes the cost of buying or renting a home as well as necessities like groceries and utilities.
Smaller cities in Pennsylvania took seven of the top 10 spots, in part because they are more affordable relative to bigger metropolitan areas in the region. Only one of Florida's metropolitan areas made the top 10; it's possible that the relatively lower taxes were outweighed by the risk of hurricane flooding. Ranking sixth is New York City — which is notoriously expensive but has good hospitals and a ton of places to eat and drink.
"Over the last year, Americans have observed record-high interest rates in the housing market, steadily increasing cost of goods, and extreme weather patterns impacting the living conditions of our nation," Beverly Harzog, a personal-finance expert at U.S. News, said in a statement. "As retirees consider where to spend their golden years, they want areas that not only give them the best bang for their buck, but places where they can live a happy, healthy life."
Planning for retirement can be hard — especially as rampant inflation makes everything more expensive and even forces some retirees to go back to work. Those who retire should have saved up about 13 times their annual salary by age 65, according to investment firm T. Rowe Price. But 64% of workers said they don't have enough, the Employee Benefit Research Institute's 2023 Retirement Confidence Survey states.
That makes looking for the right place to spend your golden years even more important. Here are U.S. News' top 11 cities to retire, worth a look for their affordability and more. (And here's the full list.)