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Social Security pays retirees an average of $1,632 per month as of November 2022. For a couple he is $3,264. You can’t afford much in a country where the average person spends $1,954 a month on rent and her $3,241 on monthly necessities when program benefits are your only source of income.
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The good news for fixed-income retirees is that there are still some places you can live well enough to stretch your Social Security checks – and many of those places are in the southeast, famous for their affordability.
GOBankingRates used data from the Social Security Administration (SSA), Sperling’s Best, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics to identify cities with low cost of living but high quality of life.
As you read, keep in mind that the average grocery bill is $4,497 annually ($374.75 monthly), medical bills are $7,030 ($585.83), and utility bills average $3,921 ($326.75). .
If you plan to survive old age on Social Security alone, you’ll be best served in these Southern cities.
10. Madison, Alabama
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Average Monthly Rent: $1,570
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Monthly essentials: $2,980
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Habitability Score: 89
Madison’s total monthly spending on basic necessities is higher than all nine other cities on this list. Groceries and utilities are actually a little cheaper than average, but a Social Security recipient pays nearly 25% more for health care ($8,703 a year). The trade-off is an exceptional livability score.
9. Johnson City, Tennessee
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Average Monthly Rent: $1,225
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Monthly essentials: $2,452
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Habitability Score: 72
Johnson City boasts one of the three cheapest cities on the list for total monthly spending on essentials, but the trade-off is the second-lowest livability score on the list. Utilities, healthcare and grocery are all a few percentage points below the national average.
8. Winter Haven, Florida
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Average Monthly Rent: $1,625
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Monthly essentials: $2,934
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Habitability Score: 89
Only Madison residents pay more for basic necessities than Winter Haven residents, but Social Security recipients in both cities enjoy the same impressive livability scores. In Winter Haven, the main he pays average or slightly above in all three categories.
7. Lafayette, Louisiana
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Average Monthly Rent: $1,157
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Monthly essentials: $2,474
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Habitability Score: 73
Lafayette Social Security recipients enjoy one of the three lowest rents on this ranking. Medical costs are high. The monthly bill of $672 is nearly 15% higher than the average. But your monthly utility bill of $287 is more than 12% cheaper.
6. Brandon, Mississippi
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Average Monthly Rent: $1,559
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Monthly essentials: $2,841
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Habitability Score: 86
The trade-off for Brandon’s excellent habitability score is one of the three highest monthly necessities expenditures on this list. The good news is that utilities are $307 a month, nearly 6% cheaper than the national average.
5. Houma, Louisiana
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Average Monthly Rent: $1,100
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Monthly essentials: $2,449
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Habitability Score: 73
Social Security beneficiaries spend less on rent in Houma than anywhere else on this list, and at $287 a month they pay less on utilities.At the other end of the budget is healthcare, which at $699 a month is nearly 20% below average It’s getting higher.
4. Lake Charles, Louisiana
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Average Monthly Rent: $1,113
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Monthly essentials: $2,352
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Habitability Score: 70
Rent in Lake Charles is the lowest of any city in the ranking except Houma. On top of that, groceries are over 7% cheaper than average, and utilities are over 10% cheaper than average. Although still considered excellent, its livability score is the lowest on the list.
3. Conway, Arkansas
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Average Monthly Rent: $1,234
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Monthly essentials: $2,434
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Habitability Score: 74
All three big categories are cheaper at Conway. The big winners are healthcare and utilities, both of which are more than 8% lower than the national average.
2. Bentonville, Arkansas
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Average Monthly Rent: $1,588
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Monthly essentials: $2,825
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Habitability Score: 92
Bentonville’s livability score is one of the highest in the United States and the only score above 90 on this list. Food and utility bills are at or below the national average, but medical bills are over 8% lower for him.
1. Rogers, Arkansas
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Average Monthly Rent: $1,281
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Monthly essentials: $2,501
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Habitability Score: 81
At $311 a month, Rogers’ utilities are nearly 5% below average. Medical bills of $539 a month cost him over 8% less, and groceries are just below average at $370 a month, all with excellent livability scores.
Methodology: GOBankingRates is based on average monthly benefits for retirees to find the best Southeastern (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee ) has been determined. Labor, $1,632.04 ($3,2604 for couples), sourced from the Social Security Administration. GOBankingRates was the first to isolate all Southeastern cities with average monthly rent less than $1,632 in 2022 and a size rank above 1,000. GOBankingRates then used Sperling’s Best to find the cost of living index for each of the cities listed, looking at the food and medical index scores. GOBankingRates then used data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2021 Consumer Expenditure Survey to examine annual spending on both food (“food at home”) and health care for people 65 and older. , couples 65 and over will spend on groceries and medical care in each city each month. GOBankingRates then combined monthly housing, food, and medical expenses to find where couples over the age of 65 could live below Social Security. A city had to have a livability score of 70 or above by AreaVibes to be eligible for this study. GOBankingRates scored and combined both livability and monthly necessities spending, with the lowest score being the highest to determine the final ranking. All data collected and current as of January 4, 2023.
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 10 Best Places in the Southeast Where You Can Live on Just Social Security Checks
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