This Is the No. 1 Affordable Retirement City in the U.S.

• Akron, Ohio, is the No. 1 most affordable place to retire in the country, according to GoBankingRates.
• The company estimates that a retiree would need just under $1,700 a month to live in the city where almost 16 percent of the population is aged 65 and over.
• Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Spokane, Washington, round out the top three cheapest retirement cities.

For many, retirement means relocating to a new city to make their dollar stretch. And GoBankingRates has an idea of where you should go in the U.S. to do just that.

In March, the website released its list of the 50 cheapest places to retire across the U.S. It analyzed the 100 biggest cities in the U.S. with a population of at least 150,000 and at least 10 percent of residents aged 65 and over. For each destination, it also considered factors like the number of households, median income, and the cost of living.

And the winner was Akron, Ohio, which came up as the most affordable retirement destination.

GoBankingRates reports that a retiree can expect to spend just under $1,700 a month. Additionally, the town has a fairly large community of seniors, with 15.7 percent of its population aged 65 and older. The company also noted that the city’s livability score is a healthy 81. That number is sourced from AreaVibes, which gave Akron a high score due to its number of coffee shops and restaurants, access to parks and retail stores, easy commutes, and low cost of living. 

In the past couple of years, the Midwest has emerged as a popular retirement destination, with several Ohio cities like Akron, Toledo, and Youngstown leading the pack.

With 188,000 full-time residents, Akron offers a good mix of urban amenities like hospitals, recreation centers, restaurants, museums, and parks without being hectic. The city is also just eight miles away from Ohio’s only national park, Cuyahoga Valley. Akron also has some of the most affordable real estate in the country—Zillow reports that the median home value is $132,233.

Coming in second on GoBankingRates’ report is Albuquerque, New Mexico, with a livability score of 71 and estimated monthly expenses of $1,710. It’s followed by Spokane, Washington, with a livability score of 81; Cleveland, Ohio, with a livability score of 72; and Toledo, Ohio, rounding out the top five with a livability score of 66.

See the full report and all of the top 50 locations at gobankingrates.com.