Only 1 Florida City Made The Top 10 In US News ‘Best Places to Retire’ List
Florida has always been seen as the retirement destination. Jerry Seinfeld said it best “My parents didn’t want to move to Florida, but they turned sixty and that’s the law.” So when US News came out with their ‘2024 Best Places to Retire’ list, it was a bit startling to only see one Florida city in the top 10. Fort Myers, Naples, Cape Coral – none of them even made the top 25. The only Southwest Florida city on the list at all is Sarasota.
So where are the new best places to retire?
Well, according to US News, it’s Pennsylvania. Apparently the warm weather of Florida is no longer a draw. Number one on this list is Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Harrisburg, on average, gets 33.2 inches of snow per year. And the cold? According to rssweather, “Harrisburg’s coldest month is January when the average temperature overnight is 23.1°F.” Retirees seem to be drawn to the parks, state forests, and accessibility to major metropolitan areas. After Harrisburg at 1, Reading, PA is number 2. Lancaster PA is third, and Scranton is fourth. It’s actually a top 5 sweep as Allentown, PA is fifth on the list. Personally, I love February weather in Florida. Wouldn’t trade it for any other month. So where does Florida rank on the list?
8. Daytona Beach, Florida. Daytona has a lot going on, including 23 miles of beaches.
12. Tampa, Florida I never really thought of Tampa as a retirement hotspot, but 19.6% of it’s residents are 65+.
18. Sarasota, Florida Sarasota I definitely see as a retirement haven. But escalating housing costs have moved them down the list.
22. Lakeland, Florida Lakeland is all the way down at 22 on the list, but I’d have it higher. Lakeland offers a lot of what other Florida cities do, at a fraction of the cost. Ever been jet skiing on a lake? It’s kinda awesome.
23. Melbourne, Florida Up the Space Coast. Beautiful place. Side note – Toledo Ohio is number 19 on this list. Hooooow is that possible?
24. Orlando, Florida There’s so much more to Orlando than the big theme parks. Did you know you can rent a tank and crush cars there?
Let’s see what’s in the news in Daytona…