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If you think that New York is too big, too expensive, and too boring of a state to spend your retirement years, you're wrong.
And, folks, HomeSnacks is here to tell you why. More importantly, we've created a list of the best places to retire in NewYork for 2021. Incidentally, this is our seventh time ranking The Empire State's best places to retire, so trust us when we that these are the best of the best.
How'd we determine the best places to retire in New York? Well, we know that when people are searching for the best places to retire, they are looking for things like nice looking homes, great parks, and friendly neighbors; and folks, New York's best places to retire have all this and then some. But in order to rank the best, we had to give each place an actual concrete score: we call this a city's overall 'Snackability'. To get this score, we consulted the numbers. In total, we analyzed 44 cities. We looked at important factors like cost of living, crime, amenities, rent and distance to closest airport for every place with over 10,000 residents.
Living in upstate New York does seem to be the best deal for most retirees, but there are awesome places sprinkled throughout the state for every retirement budget. There's Tonawanda for the retiree that can afford a boat and a boat slip, Beacon for the retiree that likes a quaint downtown with plenty of coffee shops and local chatter, and make sure to give Lockport a second look if living close to Niagara Falls is your schtick.
So, where are these amazing places in New York where the cost of living is doable on a retirement budget, where crime is low, and neighborhoods are safe? Read on.
The 10 Best Places To Retire In New York For 2021
Why did Ogdensburg take the top spot? And where are New York and Buffalo?
New York really looks out for its retirees. Did we mention that New York is great for people looking to retire because the state offers lower property taxes for people over 65 and there are no taxes on Social Security benefits or retirement account distributions? New York really looks out for its retirees.
So, where is the best place to retire in New York? Well, according to the latest data, Ogdensburg is the best place to retire in New York for 2021.
Want to know the other places that made this list? Take a look below; and if you don't see what you're looking for there, head to the bottom.
For more New York state reading:
- Best Places To Live In New York
- Cheapest Places To Live In New York
- Best Places To Raise A Family In New York
- Best Places To Retire In America
The 10 Best Places To Retire In New York For 2021
/10
Population: 10,635
Rank Last Year: 1 (No Change)
Median Rent: $627
Distance to Closest Airport: 1 miles
More on Ogdensburg: Real Estate | Data | Photos
/10
Population: 30,487
Rank Last Year: 2 (No Change)
Median Rent: $706
Distance to Closest Airport: 5 miles
More on North Tonawanda: Real Estate | Data | Photos
/10
Population: 10,287
Rank Last Year: 3 (No Change)
Median Rent: $838
Distance to Closest Airport: 25 miles
More on Canandaigua: Real Estate | Data | Photos
/10
Population: 13,634
Rank Last Year: 4 (No Change)
Median Rent: $1,323
Distance to Closest Airport: 7 miles
More on Beacon: Real Estate | Data | Photos
/10
Population: 57,027
Rank Last Year: 5 (No Change)
Median Rent: $863
Distance to Closest Airport: 7 miles
More on Tonawanda: Real Estate | Data | Photos
/10
Population: 15,820
Rank Last Year: 7 (Up 1)
Median Rent: $2,195
Distance to Closest Airport: 21 miles
More on Rye: Real Estate | Data | Photos
/10
Population: 33,507
Rank Last Year: 8 (Up 1)
Median Rent: $1,874
Distance to Closest Airport: 7 miles
More on Long Beach: Real Estate | Data | Photos
/10
Population: 13,670
Rank Last Year: 10 (Up 2)
Median Rent: $648
Distance to Closest Airport: 61 miles
More on Olean: Real Estate | Data | Photos
/10
Population: 11,865
Rank Last Year: 6 (Down 3)
Median Rent: $663
Distance to Closest Airport: 44 miles
More on Dunkirk: Real Estate | Data | Photos
/10
Population: 10,948
Rank Last Year: 9 (Down 1)
Median Rent: $739
Distance to Closest Airport: 22 miles
More on Oneida: Real Estate | Data | Photos
How We Determined The Best Places To Retire In the Empire State for 2021
To create our list of the best places in New York to retire, we first used Census data to find all places in the Empire State -- 1186 cities and towns.
We then narrowed it down to places with at least 10,000 people that weren't townships. This left us with 44 places from across the state.
For these 44, we looked at the following criteria taken from the Census, the FBI's Crime Report, National Weather Service, and OpenFlights:
- Low cost of living as measured by rent
- Low crime
- Things to do (Museums, Colleges, and Libraries in town)
- Nice weather
- Distance to the closest international airport
- Other retirees (High median age)
We then ranked each of these places for each criteria from one to 44, with the lowest number being the best.
Finally, we took the average rank across these criteria. The place, in this case Ogdensburg, with the lowest average rank was crowned the best of the best, a place for you to start your second careers. You can download the data here.
Maybe You're Not Ready To Retire In New York Yet...
So there you have it, the best place to retire in New York goes to Ogdensburg.
If you're not ready to hang up your office apparel yet, then these places might be up your alley:
- Ithaca
- New York
- Utica
For more New York reading, check out:
- 30 Things To Know About Moving To New York
- Richest Cities In New York
- Safest Places In New York According To Science
Where Are The Best Places To Retire In New York?
| Rank | City | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ogdensburg | 10,635 |
| 2 | North Tonawanda | 30,487 |
| 3 | Canandaigua | 10,287 |
| 4 | Beacon | 13,634 |
| 5 | Tonawanda | 57,027 |
| 6 | Rye | 15,820 |
| 7 | Long Beach | 33,507 |
| 8 | Olean | 13,670 |
| 9 | Dunkirk | 11,865 |
| 10 | Oneida | 10,948 |
