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Survey: Surprise 2nd for financial security for seniors

SmartAsset ranks city high nationally

Posted 7/21/21

Surprise is a solid place to retire, according to a recent survey by financial site SmartAsset.

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Survey: Surprise 2nd for financial security for seniors

SmartAsset ranks city high nationally

Posted

Surprise is a solid place to retire, according to a recent survey by financial site SmartAsset.

Editors ranked Surprise second on its list of “Where Seniors are Most Financially Secure.”

The city ranked only behind The Villages, Florida, on the list.

Another Arizona city, Mesa, came in at No. 9.

Other cities on the list include Huntsville, Alabama (third); Anchorage, Alaska (fourth); Lexington, Kentucky (fifth); Virginia Beach, Virginia (sixth); Lincoln, Nebraska (seventh); Chesapeake, Virginia (eighth); and Arlington, Texas (10th). 

To rank the cities, editors looked at data for the 100 cities with the largest 65-and-older populations.

Metrics they used included the average senior retirement income, the percentage of seniors below the poverty line, the percentage of seniors who receive food stamps/SNAP benefits.

The study also looked at the percentage of seniors who own their homes, the percentage of seniors with private retirement income and the perrcentage of seniors who are housing cost-burdened.

Editors found only 1.8% of seniors in Surprise are on SNAP, which is the second-lowest percentage of the cities studied.

Surprise also owns the third-highest number of seniors with private retirement income (63.4%). 

For the percentage of seniors living below the poverty line and percentage of seniors who are housing cost-burdened, Surprise ranks fourth-lowest (5.1%).

It also ranks fourth-highest for the percentage of seniors who own their own homes (87.0%).

To see the full study, click here.