Living on the Treasure Coast sure has its perks.
There’s beautiful weather most of the year, there are lots of ways to enjoy the outdoors, there’s no state sales tax and, well, besides those few months where we might have to follow the path of a hurricane, it’s pretty much a little slice of heaven.
And people are catching on.
Recently, 24/7 Wall Street, a financial news and commentary website, ranked the healthiest communities for retirement. Martin and Indian River county ranked in the top 25. (Martin ranked 12th and Indian River came in at 23rd.)
On Monday, SmartAsset, a personal finance technology company based in New York, named Stuart and Vero Beach as two of the top 10 best places to retire in Florida. Stuart ranked fifth and Vero Beach ranked sixth. (In 2015, Stuart ranked No. 1 and in 2016, ranked fifth.)
Nationally, Stuart ranked 13th and Vero Beach ranked 14th. Naples topped the list in Florida as well as nationally, just like in 2017.
Methodology
SmartAsset ranked the Martin and Indian River county cities fifth and sixth, respectively.
To find the best places to retire, SmartAsset gathered data on three separate regional factors that affect the quality of life for retirees.
It looked at state and local tax rates, considering two types of taxes: income and sales. It calculated effective rates based on a typical retiree, earning $35,000 annually (from retirement savings, social security or part-time employment), and spending their disposable income on taxable goods.
Next, it determined the number of doctors’ offices, recreation centers and retirement centers per thousand residents in each area. Finally, it found the number of seniors in each area as a percentage of the total population.
In its final analysis, SmartAsset ranked each county and city on these three factors, and calculated an average ranking for each area, weighing the three factors equally. The areas with the lowest average ranking are the best places to retire.
SmartAsset, a personal finance technology company, ranked Stuart and Vero Beach in the top 10 best places to retire in Florida.
