1 small US city was just named best for middle-class retirees (you live here?)

What’s the Number 1 thing you’d value if you were picking somewhere to retire to?

Being a frozen Canadian myself, I think my ideal location would need the following two things:

1. Nice weather year-round
2. To be located near the water

The first one is obvious.

Although there are many outstanding benefits to living in Canada, from a relatively sane political climate (increasingly valuable), to great education, to reliable healthcare no matter your economic class, it gets downright depressing by late winter.

I’m very much into physical activity and being outdoors, and -35 C weather just isn’t conducive to spending a lot of time outside your office, home, or car from about early January to mid-March.

As for being near water, I don’t know, I just find it both soothing and energizing at the same time.

In my fantasy retirement life, nothing would beat a nice long nature hike followed by a cool dip at the beach.

Last week, I came across an article featuring a new ranking of the top U.S. cities for middle-class retirees, and it turns out more than a few of them meet my criteria — with some other benefits thrown in for good measure.

Would you move to any of the following places?

My ideal retirement location would have to include a beach. (Licensed by the author under the Unsplash+ License)

Ranking the top spots for middle-class retirees

The ranking, compiled by personal finance site GOBankingRates and featured in an article in Travel and Leisure Magazine, used data from the U.S. Census and the Federal Reserve to determine which cities deserved long looks from retirees-to-be.

To qualify, the cities needed a population of at least 10,000 people, with 25% of that population aged 65 or older.

From that group, researchers looked at various factors including median household income, average home value, average social security benefit, and total annual cost of living.

So which cities topped the charts?