NYC is a nice place to visit, but you may not be able to retire here.
The Big Apple has been dubbed the nation’s worst retirement location due to its stratospheric housing costs and the highest state-local tax burden in the country (at 12.6%) in a new analysis from Bankrate.com.
The average $3,851 monthly Manhattan rent is more than four times the national average, and the average $1.36 million home price is more than 4 1/2 times the U.S. mean, swamping the lure of attractions such as museums and Broadway theaters, said analysts.
Housing isn’t the only thing that’s more expensive here: Movies cost $4.04 more than the national average, haircuts $8.05 more and a store-bought six-pack $3.69 more — making it that much more costly to drink away your worries on how that paltry Social Security check will cover your living expenses.
NYC wasn’t the only East Coast city to make the Bankrate report, which named New Haven, Connecticut, as the third-worst retirement locale, owing in part to high taxes and crime, after second-place Little Rock, Arkansas. Buffalo, New York; Newark, New Jersey; Albany, New York; and Hartford, Connecticut, also made the list.
Bankrate examined 200 cities for walkability, weather, community well-being, health-care quality and crime while factoring in the cost of living and tax rates to compile its results.
The best cities for retirees, were, in descending order, the Phoenix metro area (including Mesa and Scottsdale); Arlington/Alexandria, Virginia; and Prescott and Tucson, Arizona, according to Bankrate.
