2020 Study: Where Do Americans Move When They Retire?

Key Findings

• Almost 400,000 thousand Americans moved for retirement, the highest number in five years
• 30% more people moved for retirement in 2020 than a year before 
• Retirees are 2x as likely to move to a different state than all other movers
• Virginia was the most popular retirement destination in 2020, 15% of retirees who left their state retired there
• 7% of all Americans who moved for retirement went to Orlando, FL
• 26% of retirees chose to move away from cities and metropolitan areas
• Women were more likely to choose Virginia for their retirement, while men preferred Florida

Hundreds of thousands of Americans who retire each year are faced with a choice: stay put and continue living where they are, or take a leap and move somewhere they maybe always wanted to live.

It turns out that an increasing number of retirees in the United States choose the latter. In this piece, we examine how many Americans leave their homes to retire elsewhere, what states and cities they choose for their retirement, and just how likely they are to retire away from home than 20 years ago.

Moving for Retirement on the Rise

More and more Americans are moving for retirement. Some, as we noted in our previous study, move abroad for better weather and lower cost of living. The overwhelming majority stays in the U.S., but they are hardly staying put.

According to the US Census Bureau, 35% more people moved for retirement in 2019 than 10 years prior. And while the 2019 figure of 397,00 is some way off the 2015 peak of 417,000, if we look at the overall trend, since 2011 the retirement moves are only going one way – up.

Senior Movers More Likely to Leave Their State

Not only are retirees moving in droves, but they’re also willing to travel further than those moving for other reasons. While we can’t know the figures on the exact distances of moves, we do know that 38% of Americans who moved for retirement moved to a different state—meaning they’re twice as likely to cross state lines as the general population (19%).

Beyond Florida: Where Do Americans Move to Retire?

If you were guessing, you would probably say that most people who move to retire move to Florida. And you’d be right, but not quite as right as you might think.

Sure enough, Florida is the number one destination for Americans who left their home state for retirement in the last ten years. But if we only looked at the year 2020, we’d find that the most popular state was Virginia, attracting 15% of all retirement moves from out of state.

 

“…if we only looked at the year 2020, we’d find that the most popular state was Virginia, attracting 15% of all retirement moves from out of state.”

 

Cracking into the top 10 of both Kiplinger’s and WalletHub’s rankings, Virginia is known for its tax-friendliness, good access to healthcare, and lower cost of living than Florida. It may well have been these factors that allowed it to edge out the Sunshine State as the top destination in 2020. 

As many as 13.5% went to Florida, and one in ten (10%) of retirees who went out of state relocated to Wyoming. Pennsylvania and Idaho were the 3rd and 4th most popular destinations for, respectively, 7% and 5% of all retirees choosing to retire outside their home state.

If these are the states retired Americans are flocking to, which states are they leaving behind? Turns out Utah is the state American retirees are most likely to leave. Odd, considering the beautiful landscapes and slower pace of life, but 17.3% of all Americans who left their state for retirement came from Utah.

Maryland and California came in second and third place, each contributing around 11%-12% of all interstate retirement moves.

Seaworld, Disney, and Putt-Putt Golfing: Orlando #1 City for Retirement

Virginia might have beaten Utah at the state level, but Orlando reigns supreme as the retirement destination among metro areas in the US. Roughly 7% of all retirement moves in 2020 were destined for Orlando. 

Behind Orlando, and each attracting around 5% of the retirees, are three metros in Virginia—Roanoke, Charlottesville, and Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News.

Curiously enough, there were 15 metropolitan areas (read: cities) that were so popular that half of all the retirement moves Americans made in 2020 were to one of these cities. Check our map below to see what these 15 retirement hotspots are:

Going Off The Grid: A Quarter Of Retirees Leave Cities Behind

Half of the retirees may well have moved to a city or a town in a built-up metropolitan area like Orlando or Virginia Beach-Norfolk, but one in four (26%) retirement moves was a move out of the city.

From our COVID moving study covering the first months of COVID pandemic, we already knew that Americans are rethinking their choice to live in big cities, many choosing to abandon the likes of New York and San Francisco for comforts and lower cost of living on offer in smaller towns across the U.S. 

 

“Turns out Utah is the state American retirees are most likely to leave.”

 

If people who work remotely choose to move to the country, what is there to stop retirees from taking the same path?

Seeking peace and quiet in old age is by no means surprising, but considering that 83% of the American population live in urban areas, for a quarter of our retiring population to leave cities behind is a significant shift.

Women And Singles Retire In Virginia, Men And Married Couples Move To Florida

While retirement moves of men and women mostly align, a few curiosities emerge in their choices of retirement destinations.

Male retirees overwhelmingly retire in Florida, with as many as 15% of men who moved states for retirement choosing the Sunshine State as their destination in 2020. Retiring women, on the other hand, were more likely to choose Virginia, as 17% of women retiring out of state heading to this state on the East Coast.

On a related note, Virginia is also a beacon for retirees who aren’t married. Some 15% of moves made by single retirees (including those divorced and widowed) were to the Old Dominion.

Florida, on the other hand, remained more popular with married couples, with 16% of married retirees who moved out of state to retire going to the Sunshine State.

---

Even in the year of the pandemic, people’s desire for a peaceful retirement found a way to prevail. The year 2020 saw the second-highest number of people move for retirement in the better part of 20 years—a trend that’s likely to continue in the future.

Whether you choose Florida for one of its many retirement communities, Virginia for its tax friendliness, or Wyoming for its beautiful natural expanses, make sure to plan your move properly. At HireAHelper, we can hook you up with exactly the right help you might need to make your move.

---

Sources & Methodology

All the percentages, graphs, maps, and visualizations are based on the data from the Current Population Survey – a Census Bureau survey reaching around 60,000 Americans each year – for the years 2010 through 2020 (latest year available). Only responses of those who relocated to their current place of residence for retirement were analyzed.

Illustrations by Daniel Fishel