Cape Coral Named Top Retirement Location

Cape Coral is the only Florida city to make the list of Top 10 of the best cities to retire in the United States, according to a Bankrate.com survey released in June. Americans planning on their retirement destination may want to look into heading to Cape Coral if they want to live in Florida. Cape Coral is considered one of the more affordable places to retire in Florida. Among the Top 10 best cities to retire, Phoenix, Denver and Colorado Springs scored the highest marks in the survey. These western cities were joined by Cape Coral at #8. The only other non-western U.S. cities were Arlington/Alexandria, Virginia, Des Moines, Iowa, and Franklin, Tennessee. Interestingly, Arizona made the Top 10 Retirement Cities three times in this survey (Phoenix metro area, Prescott, and Tucson) as a result of its warm weather, outdoor lifestyle and low property taxes. Bankrate.com ranked the cities based on a host of factors, such as cost of living, weather, tax rates, overall well being, health care quality, walkability and crime. As people are approaching retirement age, they need to prioritize cost of living since retirees rely on a fixed income. A finance professor at San Diego State University said other factors besides cost of living help decide where to live in retirement, especially proximity to family. He also recommends retirees should factor in whether they want to live in a community with people their own age or live in a neighborhood with a range of age groups. It is surprising that other Florida cities, deemed desirable to seniors, did not make the Top 10 list? Some of the reasons: It depended on how much it rains in the city, level of humidity and cost-of-living expense. Northeast cities also didn’t make the list due to high cost of living and cold weather. Arlington and Alexandria, Virginia in the metro DC area, although expensive, did make the list, citing superior health care available for seniors; an ability to walk everywhere; and a low crime rate Here is a resource to explore Cape Coral real estate options.