Yahoo Finance 7 East Coast Cities To Retire on a Budget of $3000 a Month
Rent is expensive, averaging $2,030 per month across the United States. So, if you’re a retired couple seeking to live on the East Coast on a budget of $3,000 a month, where can you afford to plant roots and still pay for housing, groceries, healthcare and utilities?
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To find the most affordable cities for retirees with proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, GOBankingRates researched rental prices and the cost of other necessities to find seven East Coast cities from Maine to Florida that could interest retirees. Livability scores also were factored in, with 70 being the baseline to qualify for the study.
Keep reading to learn about the East Coast’s most affordable and livable cities for retirees.
7. Jacksonville, North Carolina
2023 Average Monthly Rent: $1,188
Livability: 70
Monthly Grocery Cost Per Couple: $381.76
Monthly Healthcare Cost Per Couple: $755.89
Monthly Utilities Cost Per Couple: $344.88
Monthly Transportation Cost Per Couple: $298.23
Monthly Necessities Cost Per Couple: $2,969.25
Jacksonville has two big strikes against it at first glance – the highest healthcare costs of any community in the study and the lowest livability score, 70. Still, if you want to live in North Carolina on a budget, Jacksonville is an option. The monthly costs of groceries, utilities and transportation all fall below the national average and at $1,188, rent lands right in the middle of the seven cities in the survey.
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6. Spartanburg, South Carolina
2023 Average Monthly Rent: $1,298
Livability: 73
Monthly Grocery Cost Per Couple: $378.96
Monthly Healthcare Cost Per Couple: $627.08
Monthly Utilities Cost Per Couple: $366.41
Monthly Transportation Cost Per Couple: $307.29
Monthly Necessities Cost Per Couple: $2,977.28
The average monthly expenditure in Spartanburg is the highest of the areas profiled here. Chalk that up to the highest cost of rent and utilities. The monthly healthcare cost helped Spartanburg to land on the list. Its $627 price is the second lowest in the study.
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5. Roanoke, Virginia
2023 Average Monthly Rent: $1,229
Livability: 75
Monthly Grocery Cost Per Couple: $380.56
Monthly Healthcare Cost Per Couple: $695.57
Monthly Utilities Cost Per Couple: $346.65
Monthly Transportation Cost Per Couple: $317.18
Monthly Necessities Cost Per Couple: $2,968.63
Roanoke is the first of three Virginia places on the list of East Coast cities to retire on less than $3,000 a month. Groceries, utilities and transportation come in below the national average for Roanoke residents. And while its average monthly rent of $1,229 makes Roanoke one of the highest places to live in the study, rent costs still are $800 below the national average.
4. Macon, Georgia
2023 Average Monthly Rent: $1,182
Livability: 73
Monthly Grocery Cost Per Couple: $375.37
Monthly Healthcare Cost Per Couple: $651.58
Monthly Utilities Cost Per Couple: $364.65
Monthly Transportation Cost Per Couple: $348.07
Monthly Necessities Cost Per Couple: $2,921.58
Macon registers third lowest in overall cost of monthly necessities, undoubtedly helped by having rental costs that are third lowest in the study. Macon ranks second lowest in two other categories — groceries and healthcare.
3. Danville, Virginia
2023 Average Monthly Rent: $1,150
Livability: 75
Monthly Grocery Cost Per Couple: $369.77
Monthly Healthcare Cost Per Couple: $655.98
Monthly Utilities Cost Per Couple: $360.41
Monthly Transportation Cost Per Couple: $299.46
Monthly Necessities Cost Per Couple: $2,835.63
Danville ranks one of the most affordable places to live in the study with an average monthly rent of $1,150. Groceries average $30 a month less than the national average, with transportation about $100 less.
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2. Lynchburg, Virginia
2023 Average Monthly Rent: $1,267
Livability: 90
Monthly Grocery Cost Per Couple: $386.16
Monthly Healthcare Cost Per Couple: $654.72
Monthly Utilities Cost Per Couple: $348.41
Monthly Transportation Cost Per Couple: $299.46
Monthly Necessities Cost Per Couple: $2,956.16
With average rent of $1,267 per month, Lynchburg has one of the most expensive housing prices in the study. Maybe that’s due to its big livability score of 90, which is the highest in the study.
1. Hagerstown, Maryland
2023 Average Monthly Rent: $1,179
Livability: 77
Monthly Grocery Cost Per Couple: $418.54
Monthly Healthcare Cost Per Couple: $525.29
Monthly Utilities Cost Per Couple: $317.35
Monthly Transportation Cost Per Couple: $364.55
Monthly Necessities Cost Per Couple: $2,804.45
Retirees can live in Hagerstown with a few hundred dollars to spare at the end of the month. With the price of monthly necessities about $2,804, Hagerstown is the cheapest place to live. Why? Healthcare costs average about $100 less per month and far below every other city in the study.
Andrew Lisa contributed to the reporting for this article.
Methodology: GOBankingRates determined the best cities in the East Coast (FL, GA, SC, NC, VA, MD, DE, NJ, NY, CT, RI, MA, NH, and ME) to retire on $3,000 or less a month. GOBankingRates first isolated all cities in the East Coast with a 2023 average monthly rent under $1,900 and a size rank below 1,000. GOBankingRates then used Sperling’s Best to find the cost of living index for each listed city, looking at grocery, utilities, transportation and healthcare index scores. Next, GOBankingRates used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics 2022 Consumer Expenditure Survey to find the annual expenditure amount for groceries (“food at home”), utilities, healthcare and transportation costs for people 65 and older to find how much retirees (65 and over) would spend on necessities in each city on a monthly basis. GOBankingRates then added together the monthly costs of housing, groceries, utilities, transportation and healthcare to find where a couple 65 and older could survive on $3,000 or less. To be qualified for the study, the city had to have a livability score above 70 as sourced from AreaVibes. GOBankingRates scored and combined both livability and monthly necessities expenditure, with the lowest score being best, to determine final rankings. All data was collected and is up to date as of Sept. 13, 2023.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 7 East Coast Cities To Retire on a Budget of $3000 a Month
