What do Malta, Sarasota, Fla., Comporta, Portugal, and Carmel, Ind., have in common?
They each recently topped lists as “Best Places to Retire” from a variety of sources based on different metrics.
If your brain needs a quick little mid-December break from work and holiday stress, take a few minutes to daydream of retiring to a top destination with us as we explore why these four very different places earned the top spot in new rankings.
Comporta, Portugal
Live and Invest Overseas, a resource for people who want to live, retire, and invest overseas, just yesterday released its annual index of the 15 best places in the world to retire in 2022—perhaps trying to pre-empt competitor International Living’s annual Jan. 1 announcement of its Best Places to Retire list.
The new Live and Invest Overseas index concentrates on 15 locales across 15 countries and provides specific information for retirees to make more informed decisions. Destinations are ranked based on 13 categories: cost of living, health care, entertainment, recreation, whether or not the English language is spoken, expat community, infrastructure (Internet, electricity, domestic access), access to North America, environmental factors, crime, real estate restrictions, residency, and taxes.
Topping the list for 2022 is Comporta, a village in the southern wine region of Alentejo on the west coast of Portugal, about an hour’s drive from Lisbon. Here ex-pat retirees can live amongst rice farmers, fishermen and salt makers who have called Comporta home for generations.
It topped Live and Invest Overseas’ list with an “A” grade thanks to A+ health care, an A for low crime, a B+ cost of living (monthly budget: $2,935) and a B for taxes.
“With the current strength of the U.S. dollar, the opportunity is now to take your hard-earned retirement savings and extend them even further in another country, while also benefiting from warmer climates, lower costs of living, and endless access to adventure,” said Kathleen Peddicord, Founding Publisher of Live and Invest Overseas.
Comporta topped Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and Cayo, Belize, which ranked second and third on the list.
Malta
Speaking of International Living, the well-known ex-pat resource came out with a new list Dec. 14 called “The 15 Best Islands in the World to Retire On,” in advance of its aforementioned and impending 2022 Best Places to Retire list.
Here’s how the article starts: “Picture yourself lying on a deserted beach sipping your favorite cocktail and enjoying the ocean breeze. No computer…no telephone…no stress. Sound tempting?”
Well, yes it does, as long as we’re daydreaming about retiring to a great place at the moment.
International Living tends to focus on affordable retirement locales where one doesn’t have to have a million-dollar retirement portfolio to live the good life.
Malta, the tiny island nation which site in the central Mediterranean Sea between Sicily and the North African Coast, apparently fits the bill.
International Living praises English-speaking Malta’s ancient walled cities, breathtaking coastal trails, countryside farmhouses, charming restaurants, warm year-round weather and number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
“Dollars can go surprisingly far here,” International Living notes, “with couples living comfortably on $2,600 per month.”
And you weren’t hallucinating if you noticed Malta in the news this week for becoming the first European Union country to legalize marijuana for recreation use.
Mallorca, Spain and Penang, Malaysia placed second and third on the list, with Ambergris Caye, Belize the top island in the Western Hemisphere to make the list at No. 4. Roatan, Honduras was sixth, Isla Mujeres, Mexico seventh and Isla Colon, Panama eighth.
Carmel, Indiana
Let’s stay a little (OK a LOT) closer to home for this next list-topper.
Carmel, Indiana topped Money magazine’s “10 Best Places to Retire in 2022” list, posted on Dec. 2.
“We looked at nearly 100 different metrics (for a total of over 150,000 unique data points) to determine the top 10 most desirable places to retire in the U.S. Home prices, weather and access to health care factored in, as did local amenities and facilities. The result is a wide-ranging list of towns that spans all the way from New Hampshire to Texas to Idaho,” the article states.
Beyond its picturesque Main Street and affordable housing, Carmel, a quaint suburb of Indianapolis with about 100,000 residents, took the top honor for its bustling activity and cultural scene.
“The town is home to its own orchestra, several art councils and theater troupes, a Center for Performing Arts and a number of museums,” Money notes.
Known as the “roundabout capital of the U.S.,” Carmel also plays host to a year-round slate of events, including regular farmers markets, an annual German Christkindlmarkt, and festivals for art, coffee, beer and more.
To find Money’s Best Places to Retire, the publication considered cities and towns with populations ranging from 25,000 up to 500,000 and eliminated locations with more than 1.5 times the national crime risk, a median income lower than its state’s or significantly less racial diversity than the surrounding state. This left about 1,300 places to consider.
Franklin, Tenn., placed second, and Boca Raton, Fla., was third.
Sarasota, Florida
What story about “best places for Americans to retire” these days could possibly omit someplace in the state of Florida—which tends to dominate most of these types of lists we see all the time? Certainly not this one.
So here you go. Sarasota topped not just one but two recent lists: U.S. News & World Report’s 2021-2022 rankings of the “Best Places to Retire in the United States,” released back in October, and WalletHub’s Nov. 3 report identifying 2021’s Best Places to Retire in Florida.
Despite decreases in scores for health care, housing and happiness, Sarasota earned the No. 1 spot in the USN&WR rankings for the second year in a row due to increases in desirability, retiree tax and job market scores. Sarasota’s white sand beaches, including Lido Key and Siesta Key, draw many retirees to the area. About 40% of the city’s population of roughly 800,000 is made up of people age 60+ and the median monthly mortgage cost was listed at $1,531.
Cities and towns in Florida completely dominated this list, landing eight of the top 10 spots with Naples placing second and Daytona Beach third.
For its list, WalletHub compared more than 100 cities in the Sunshine State across 29 key indicators of retiree-friendliness. The data set ranges from cost of living to health care facilities per capita to number of attractions.
And one final ode to Florida as we stir from our daydreaming: A recent MagnifyMoney report found the Sunshine State to be the most-desired U.S. state for retirement. Fifteen percent of those surveyed want to retire in Florida, “a state known for its warm climate, low cost of living and leisure activities for retirees and younger families alike.” That topped California, which was second with 11% despite its high cost of living.
Still looking for more top places to retire? AARP recently posted a “non-ranked” list of Best Places to Live and Retire Now, or check out the links below.
SEE ALSO:
• ‘Best Places to Retire’ Rankings Dominated by Two States