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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
CBC
02-06-2025
- Business
- CBC
A seniors housing non-profit saved Elliot Lake, but now a local charity says its holding the city back
When the uranium mines closed for good in Elliot Lake, the small northern Ontario city was able to reinvent itself as a retirement community. To do that, the city created a non-profit organization called Retirement Living that was tasked with managing houses and apartment buildings that were originally built for people who worked at the mines. "In 1990, when the mines were unloading those houses, they were either gonna have to give them to the city or, you know, pay the taxes on them or demolish them, all of which would have cost them too much money," said Peter Harris, the CEO of the Silver Birch Centre, a charity that promotes the arts and economic development in Elliot Lake. Low rental costs, especially compared to southern Ontario, coupled with the quiet lifestyle Elliot Lake promised, proved to be a winning combination. "They rented them out and it was very successful," Harris said. "It helped keep the town afloat." But Harris now argues the time has come for Retirement Living to help Elliot Lake by selling off some of its housing stock. "Every year Retirement Living says like 20 or 30 of these detached or semi-detached houses become available as retirees, you know, become ill or… leave town because of family reasons," he said. Harris estimates that selling those 20 to 30 homes each year would generate around $9 million, which the city could use to address crumbling infrastructure. "The last big construction boom was in the 1970s, but prior to that, the old neighbourhoods were built in the 1950s," Harris said. "So these streets, sewers and water main supplies are like 70 years old. They are decaying." A history of crumbling infrastructure Elliot Lake is currently working to repair its only arena, which was closed out of fears its wooden structure could collapse back in September 2023. The municipal swimming pool was closed for two years for renovations, before re-opening at the end of 2024. And Elliot Lake's Algo Centre Mall collapsed in 2012, which killed two people and injured more than 20 others. Retirement Living owned the mall through its for-profit subsidiary NorDev, and was heavily criticized in the 2014 Report of the Elliot Lake Commission of Inquiry. Commissioner Paul Bélanger concluded, "Secrecy and confidentiality often trumped candour, transparency, and openness. It pervaded contractual and professional relationships, and even the municipal administration sought to cloak some of its activities from public view." Harris said that in his opinion, Retirement Living is more interested in preserving its relevancy by continuing to manage its properties, than to sell those properties and transfer the proceeds to the city. "What's wrong with this picture? The city's broke and Retirement Living's rich. Those houses were given to Elliot Lake to help Elliot Lake. Not to create a bureaucracy that takes care of itself," he said.
Newsweek
28-05-2025
- Business
- Newsweek
Map Shows States Where Seniors Are Most Vulnerable to Social Security Cuts
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Seniors in states like Oregon, New Hampshire, and Vermont are among the most vulnerable to Social Security cuts in the country, according to research from Retirement Living. The report, which identifies the top states where retirees rely most heavily on the benefit for basic living expenses, comes amid sweeping changes to the Social Security Administration (SSA) under the Trump administration. Newsweek reached out to the SSA and House Speaker Mike Johnson for comment. Why It Matters Earlier this year, the SSA announced it plans to cut 7,000 staff members. The changes came as part of efforts by President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to streamline government spending; however, critics argue that the cuts could delay or interrupt benefits for vulnerable retirees. The closure of field offices and internal departments also complicates access for the elderly and individuals with disabilities. What To Know For over 40 percent of Americans aged 65 and older, Social Security now serves as their sole source of retirement income, making benefit stability a matter of life and death for millions. Seniors in certain states are at heightened risk, not only because of high dependency but also owing to challenging cost-of-living conditions and limited local services. Vermont ranked as having the most vulnerable Social Security beneficiaries due to its high cost of living index, the eighth highest in the U.S., contending with a senior poverty rate of 9.6 percent, and a high rate of Social Security fraud. Retirees in Massachusetts, which ranks third, also struggle to make an average monthly check of $1,979.84 last in a state with the second-highest cost of living index and the 20th-highest senior poverty rate. Top 10 States Where Seniors Rely Most on Social Security The Retirement Living rankings reflect several factors, including the state's percentage of seniors dependent on Social Security, the cost of living, the senior poverty rate and the state's social security fraud reporting. Vermont: 90.9 percent of seniors receive Social Security; the average check is $1,949.07; the cost-of-living index is 114.4. New Hampshire: 91.6 percent of seniors; $2,087.54 average check; cost-of-living 112.6. Massachusetts: 82.8 percent of seniors; $1,979.84 average check; cost-of-living 145.9. Washington: 90 percent of seniors; $2,003.81 average check; cost-of-living 114.2. New York: 83.1 percent of seniors; $1,922.40 average check; cost-of-living 123.3. Delaware: 90.1 percent of seniors; $2,085.16 average check; cost-of-living 112.6. New Jersey: 85 percent of seniors; $2,087.95 average check; cost-of-living 114.6. Rhode Island: 88.4 percent of seniors; $1,963.73 average check; cost-of-living 112.2. Oregon: 92.7 percent of seniors; $1,909.85 average check; cost-of-living 112. Hawaii: 83.9 percent of seniors; $1,895.23 average check; cost-of-living 186.9. A Social Security Administration (SSA) office in Washington, D.C., as seen on March 26, 2025. A Social Security Administration (SSA) office in Washington, D.C., as seen on March 26, 2025. SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, warned last month that DOGE cuts to the SSA were harmful and "have already hindered our members and supporters (mostly seniors, people with disabilities, and their families) from collecting the benefits they have paid for." A recent survey also found that even future recipients are concerned that the Trump administration's changes could impact their Social Security benefits, with 59 percent of working-age Americans concerned that it will be gone by the time they retire. What People Are Saying A spokesperson for RetirementLiving told Newsweek: "Our research shows that many retirees rely on Social Security as their financial lifeline, not just a supplement. That's why older adults in some states are more at risk than others. In places with higher economic vulnerability, a large portion of the senior population simply can't afford to lose any part of their benefit." Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek: "The reoccurring theme of states with residents who rely more on Social Security is a higher cost of living. States primarily in the Northeastern United States provide a significant strain on benefits, due to higher costs and more common fraud. Cuts to the program could provide substantial challenges for seniors as they struggle to maintain the same standard of living with less." Michael Ryan, a finance expert and the founder of told Newsweek: "You know the saying 'actions speak louder than words?' Well, Trump's crew is putting on the biggest magic show in Washington. They're waving one hand, saying 'we'll never touch your Social Security,' while the other hand is quietly dismantling the whole thing, piece by piece. "West Virginia, Mississippi, Arkansas are more than just red dots on a map (barely...). Places where nearly one in 10 dollars in the local economy comes from Social Security checks. That sounds like the difference between keeping the lights on and going dark." Kevin Thompson, the CEO of 9i Capital Group and the host of the 9innings podcast, told Newsweek: "It is worth noting that many retirees in those states may also have additional income sources, whether it be pensions, investments, or rental income. So while the strain would be real, some individuals may be in a better position to absorb the blow compared to retirees in lower-cost states who rely more heavily on their monthly benefit." What Happens Next The prospect of further cuts at the SSA remains unclear, and several advocacy groups have launched legal actions seeking to reverse DOGE-ordered changes. "When Social Security spending disappears from these communities, it's not just individual families that suffer," Ryan said. "Think of the 'trickle down.' Grocery stores, pharmacies, the small businesses that survive on that steady monthly flow of federal dollars."
BBC News
23-04-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Fate of Somerset's 'ugly' shopping centre to be decided at appeal
Plans to turn an "eyesore" shopping centre into a retirement community are to be decided by a planning inspector.A six-day appeal hearing will begin in Shepton Mallet on Wednesday, after Somerset councillors rejected the plans for Street's Crispin Shopping Centre in July Retirement Living wants to demolish the shopping centre, original built in 1979, and build a retirement complex in its place, with 45 extra care apartments and 11 retirement cottages. Somerset Council's Planning Committee East voted against the proposals citing a lack of parking, an unattractive design and possible damage to local heritage assets. According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the Hampshire-based developer lodged an appeal against this "extremely disappointing" decision shortly after the committee Retirement Living said the development was "in a sustainable location" and would deliver "tangible benefits" to the local community. Local resident Emma Harding spoke out against the plans at the council's planning meeting last year. She said: "I am one of the seven residential neighbours which will be overlooked by the new flats."We don't have an issue with the site being developed - we have an issue with what's being put there and how it may be put there. When you have demolition work close to our properties, we're concerned about the damage that will be done to them by vibration."Councillor Peter Goater, vice-chairman of Street Parish Council, told last year's meeting: "The existing building is an ugly monstrosity which has been taken over by pigeons, rats and antisocial behaviour."Street Liberal Democrat Somerset Councillor Simon Carswell is in favour of the plans."I think it'll be good for Street. It'll provide homes for retired people, and it will get rid of an eyesore which is right in the centre of the High Street," he said. "So I think that can only be good for the community." The site is one of nine identified for delivering new housing within the council's revised Mendip Local Plan Part II, which went out to public consultation in Churchill's proposals, the existing buildings would be replaced with a three-storey, L-shaped block of apartments, with two blocks of cottages on the northern and eastern sides. The council previously voted unanimously to refuse the plans on eight grounds including "over-development", "insufficient information" on how existing trees within the site can be adequately protected and not including adequate space for waste vehicles.A Churchill Retirement Living spokesman said: "The site is in a highly accessible location, making it suitable for older people."The appeal proposal will assist in releasing and freeing up under-occupied houses elsewhere in the county back into the housing currently operates the Riverain Lodge care facility in Taunton town centre, and secured planning permission in early-April 2024 to deliver a similar development on the former police station site in Wells.
