10 Best Florida Cities To Retire on $3,000 a Month

[Pelican Press 0]

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

10 Best Florida Cities To Retire on $3,000 a Month

©Shutterstock.com

Many people

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

to warm locales, where the climate is temperate, the scenery is lovely and the amenities are great.

Learn More:

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Read Next:

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

To meet the criteria mentioned, Florida has plenty of appealing destinations, if you know where to look. Since many people are on a fixed income or living mostly on Social Security benefits at this stage, finding beautiful, affordable towns is a big perk.

A GOBankingRates study identified 10 Florida locations where you can live on less than $3,000 a month, including the cost of renting a one-bedroom apartment, groceries, utilities and healthcare in areas popular with retirees. With the cost of living averaging $3,274.77 a month nationally, Florida offers some bargain locations that are beautiful to boot.

So, if you’re close to retirement age, which cities in the Sunshine State should land on your list to consider?

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

:

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==

Rob Hainer / Shutterstock.com

10. Panama City

Monthly expenditures: $2,966

Percent of population 65 and older: 18.9%

Livability: 69

The population of those 65 and older is nearly 20% in Panama City. Though the total monthly expenditures are the largest on this list, a couple can still handle their essential expenditures on a Social Security income.

Find Out:

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Explore More:

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

Earning passive income doesn’t need to be difficult.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==

Zhukova Valentyna / Shutterstock.com

9. Cocoa

Monthly expenditures: $2,991

Percent of population 65 and older: 20.1%

Livability: 70

The delightfully named Cocoa has a nice livability score of 70 or higher than 20% of its population is aged 65 and older. Monthly healthcare costs are $585, right about the national average.

Read More:

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==

Kanokwalee Pusitanun / Getty Images/iStockphoto

8. Pensacola

Monthly expenditures: $2,840

Percent of population 65 and older: 19.5%

Livability: 69

In Pensacola, retirees will be happy to find that the average rent is $1,559, or $428 less than the national average. Additionally, monthly grocery costs are $362, also less than the national average.

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==7. Deland

Monthly expenditures: $2,932

Percent of population 65 and older: 20.7%

Livability: 75

Deland has an excellent livability score of 75, and 20.7% of the population are ages 65 and older. However, there’s a cost to such a good score here, with monthly healthcare costs and monthly utilities costs being above the U.S. average.

Story continues

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==

LennonsGhost / iStock.com

6. Bartow

Monthly expenditures: $2,946

Percent of population 65 and older: 15.3%

Livability: 79

Bartow may have a slightly lower population ages 65 and older, but it makes up for that with a livability score of 79 and rent that is $357 lower than the national average, or $1,630 per month.

Check Out:

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==5. Inverness

Monthly expenditures: $2,921

Percent of population 65 and older: 38.2%

Livability: 70

Inverness has a lot going for potential retirees. For starters, it has a livability score of 70 and a significant percentage of the population that’s 65 and older — 38.2%. Rent is $1,617, more than $300 below the national average. However, groceries and utilities are slightly more expensive than average.

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==

Ebyabe / Wikimedia Commons CC-BY-SA-3.0

4. Titusville

Monthly expenditures: $2,933

Percent of population 65 and older: 22.9%

Livability: 78

In Titusville, where the livability score is high, retirees will find themselves in the company of 22.9% of the population that is ages 65 and older. All other expenditures are below the national average.

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==

Jillian Cain Photography / Shutterstock.com

3. Eustis

Monthly expenditures: $2,950

Percent of population 65 and older: 19.6%

Livability: 82

In Eustis, retirees will find a very good quality of life, with a livability score of 82. Total expenditures are less than $3,000, with rent at $1,646, a bit more than $300 below the national average. Groceries, healthcare and utilities are a bit higher than average, however.

Discover More:

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==

Kanokwalee Pusitanun / Getty Images/iStockphoto

2. Milton

Monthly expenditures: $2,932

Percent of population 65 and older: 15.8%

Livability: 84

Milton is another Florida town where the livability score is high, boding well for amenities for retirees. All of the expenditures are below the national average except for utilities, which are only about $25 above. And rent is $1,642, more than $300 cheaper than the rest of the nation.

data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==

Edie Ann / Shutterstock.com

1. Lake Wales

Monthly expenditures: $2,751

Percent of population 65 and older: 27%

Livability: 74

Lake Wales takes the top spot on this list with the best of everything. Not only does it have the lowest overall monthly expenditures, which is $500 below the national average. The livability score is a decent 74, and rent is the lowest on this list, at $1,430 per month.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

contributed to the reporting for this article.

Methodology: For this study, GOBankingRates found the best cities in Florida to retire on $3,000 dollars or less. GOBankingRates used Zillow March 2023 data to find the thirty cheapest cities in Florida in terms of (1) average 2023 monthly rent. GOBankingRates then used Sperling’s Best to find the cost of living index for every city on the list, looking at (2) grocery, (3) utilities and (4) healthcare index scores. Next, GOBankingRates used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2021 Consumer Expenditure Survey to find the annual expenditure amount for both grocery (“food at home”) and healthcare costs for people aged 65 and older in order to find how much a person 65 and over would spend on groceries and healthcare in each city on a monthly basis. GOBankingRates then added monthly housing, grocery and healthcare costs together to find where a person 65 and older could survive on $3,000 or less. In order for a city to be qualified for the study, it had to have a livabilty score of 65 or higher as sourced from AreaVibes and its population had to be 10% or more over the age of 65 according to the Census Bureau’s 2021 ********* Community Survey. For final rankings all qualified cities were ranked by (5) total monthly expenditures, (6) % of population over 65 and (7) livability with the lowest score being best. Factor (7) was weighted 1.5x. All data was collected on and up to date as of April 12, 2024.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

:

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

#Florida #Cities #Retire #Month

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up