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San Francisco Chronicle
4 days ago
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
Is California one of the worst places to retire? What's missing in a new ranking
Is California a good place to retire? That depends on whom you ask. A lot of people have chosen to retire here and are happy with their decision. California, particularly the Bay Area, is undergoing a tectonic reordering of the demographic landscape as the population ages. By 2040, more than 1 in 5 Californians will be 65 or older. Already, there are about as many senior citizens in San Francisco as there are children. Clearly, many people think California is a good place to live out your golden years, especially if you've made the right financial moves. But not everyone agrees. Retirement planning services platform Retirement Living recently published its annual ranking of the best and worst states to retire in the U.S. Wyoming, West Virginia and Florida took the top three spots. California's place on the list: No. 46. The fifth-worst state to retire, in other words. There are many, many factors you could take into consideration in putting together a list like this. No one study could capture everything that's good and bad about living and retiring in California. But here's a look at why California landed so low on this list — and what it misses about the state's advantages. How the study ranked states Jailyn Montero, a media relations specialist for Retirement Living, explained the methodology: Researchers categorized data points in three areas, affordability, economic strength and quality of life. To measure affordability, the study looked at the amount of savings needed to retire and the state's income and property tax rates. Economic strength looked at the senior poverty rate and the percent of seniors still working past age 65. Quality of life was heavily weighted in how states were ranked, accounting for 60% of a state's overall score, and took into account things like wellbeing index, weather, property and violent crime, and health care facilities per capita. California ranked 47th in affordability, 40th in economic strength, and 21st in quality of life. The factors that brought down California's ranking the most had to do with the cost of living, Montero said, including state taxes, the percent of seniors living in poverty (12%) and the percent of seniors working past what's traditionally considered retirement age. California actually moved up in Retirement Living's rankings from the 2024 results. This year, researchers removed opinion-driven survey data from their results. People's perceptions about what it's like to live in other states — especially a place that looms as large in the popular and political imagination as California — do not always reflect reality. And it's highly unlikely most seniors surveyed would have lived in enough states to make an informed assessment. When that opinion data was factored in for the 2024 list, California ranked dead last. What the study misses about California Taxes are a critical part of what makes a retirement destination affordable, and the Retirement Living study oversimplifies and likely overestimates how much people — particularly older adults — get taxed here. The study simply compares the top marginal tax rate for each state. Some states, including Wyoming, Texas and Florida, don't tax income at all. Fourteen states, including Arizona, Idaho, North Carolina and Georgia, use a flat tax rate, ranging from 2.5% to 5.8%. But in California, we have a graduated income tax, so the more money you make, the higher tax rate you pay, with the top rate at 12.3%. Taxpayers earning more than $1 million get another 1% tacked on. The study uses that top rate of 13.3%, but realistically, most seniors probably land in the 6% to 9% state income tax rate, Montero said. California is also one of the states that doesn't tax Social Security, and whether or not those benefits are taxed wasn't factored into the state rankings, Montero said. If you rely exclusively on Social Security benefits in retirement, which millions of seniors do, you'd pay no state income taxes in California. Plus, as every California homeowner knows, your property taxes are strongly impacted by Proposition 13, the 1978 law that limits how much they can increase each year. If you've owned your home long enough to have paid off the mortgage, you are probably paying a fraction of the property taxes that your new next-door neighbor is paying. Montero said Prop 13's property tax limitations were also not factored into their assessment. So, if you're moving to California for the first time and planning to buy property, and you're still earning more than a million dollars a year in income, then you could get hit with a mighty tax bill. But if you're already living here and have owned your home for some time, you may be getting a better deal than you would be if you pulled up stakes to move to somewhere like Wyoming, West Virginia or Florida. Again, no study can take every possible facet of retirement into account. But another key one that's missing: Montero said her team included a category for golf courses per 1,000 senior residents. But pickleball court availability? Nowhere to be found. Here's the overall ranking of all 50 states: Wyoming West Virginia Florida Montana Delaware Maine Pennsylvania Mississippi Idaho Kentucky Missouri North Dakota Michigan South Dakota Indiana Iowa Arkansas Alabama Ohio Wisconsin Georgia Alaska South Carolina Minnesota Tennessee Oregon Louisiana Kansas Nebraska New Hampshire North Carolina Nevada Utah New Mexico Washington Colorado Oklahoma Illinois Arizona Rhode Island Virginia Vermont Texas Connecticut Maryland California New Jersey Massachusetts New York Hawaii
San Francisco Chronicle
06-07-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
These are the best places to retire in California, according to a new ranking
Trying to figure out where you'll retire in California? Retirement Living, a platform for retirement planning services, recently published its second annual ranking of the Golden State's most senior-friendly cities. There are plenty of great reasons to retire here. We have year-round temperate climates in most places, especially along the coast. You're only ever a couple of hours' driving distance from world-class vacation destinations like Lake Tahoe, Napa Valley, Palm Springs and Santa Barbara, as well as plentiful national and state parks. Major cities have some of the best hospital systems on the planet and a wide variety of cultural activities like museums and performing arts spaces. And Prop. 13 means if you've owned your home for a long time, you're likely getting a nice discount on property taxes compared to more recent neighbors — one you can take with you if you relocate within the state under Prop. 19. When it comes to California, 'it's not just the warm weather, it's the variety, it's the culture, having access to anything,' said Jailyn Montero, a media relations specialist for Retirement Living. 'California is one of those states where you're not really lacking in any department.' There are many different ways to evaluate how good a city is for seniors. The AARP's Livability Index scores communities based on expansive criteria across seven categories, including housing, transportation and health. It named San Francisco the top very large community for seniors. Retirement Living's rankings have a more narrow focus: 'We looked at what we believe is most important to seniors,' Montero said. Her team put together the ranking based on the cost of living, the percentage of the population that are seniors, median rent and home sales prices, poverty level, and the local sales tax rate. The state's base sales tax rate is 7.25%. Data for the analysis came from Redfin (home sales data retrieved in April 2025), the U.S. Census Bureau's 2023 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates, and tax software Avalara. Researchers looked only at cities with populations of 100,000 or higher, so if you're looking for a more rural retirement, this list probably won't apply. Five cities in the Bay Area made the top 20: Vacaville (No. 4), Richmond (5), Santa Rosa (7), Vallejo (10) and Concord (15). Those cities all offer more affordable housing options compared to a lot of the Bay Area, though sales tax rates also tend to be on the higher side. Here are the top cities that made the list. 1. Roseville Roseville has risen above its humble origins as a railroad junction to a city with nearly 160,000 residents. It was a standout in more than one recent ranking — Consumer Affairs named the Placer County city the best place to move to in California in 2025. According to Retirement Living, Roseville's population is 18.9% people over 65. In places with larger shares of seniors, retirees 'are going to be surrounded by like-minded individuals,' Montero said, and those communities 'know how to take care of seniors.' The analysis reported a median home sales price of $635,000 and median rent of $2,158 in Roseville — not low compared to national averages, but downright affordable for California. Those lower housing costs contribute to Roseville's comparatively low poverty rate of 5.6% — roughly half of what it is for the rest of the state (11.3%). The sales tax in Roseville is 7.75%. 2. Oceanside If hitting the beach is a key part of your retirement vision, you might consider Oceanside, a city of just over 170,000 people located along the coast in San Diego County. One-fifth of the population is seniors. The poverty rate is 8.3%. Homes and rent are going to be a bit more expensive — a median of $850,000 and $2,293, respectively, according to Retirement Living's data — and the sales tax is 8.25%. But it's tough to beat the views. 3. Torrance Retirement Living called Torrance 'the most retiree-friendly city in California' due to its share of 65 and over population: 21.6%, the highest of any city on the list. That friendliness comes with a cost: The median home in this coastal city in Los Angeles County will set you back $1.3 million, the second-highest of all 20 California cities on Retirement Living's list. Median rent is $2,049, the poverty rate is 7.3%, and the sales tax is 10.25%. Here are the other 17 cities on the list, with the Bay Area locations in bold. Vacaville Richmond Modesto Santa Rosa Thousand Oaks Simi Valley Vallejo Ventura Huntington Beach Inglewood Garden Grove Concord Visalia Elk Grove Clovis Glendale Sacramento
