Whether you plan on seeing out your post-work years on a sunny beach sipping martinis, or hiking your favourite hills and forests even when it’s raining, it’s safe to say that we all have some form of retirement plan in mind for when we finally step away from the working world.
Of course, for some of us, one of the key parts of our retirement plan is to potentially up-sticks and move to an entirely new city, one that can perhaps better facilitate our hobbies or simply for a change of scenery.
But with so many cities across the UK and Europe, how do you decide which city to retire to when the time comes? To lend you a hand answering this question, we conducted extensive research to uncover the cities in the UK and Europe which offer the best overall retirement experience!
By taking into account numerous factors, including average rent, cost-of-living index, number of green spaces, and how many cafés there are, we were then able to rank the top cities for spending your golden years in.
If you’d like to stay in the UK when you retire, here are our recommendations of the top five cities that offer pensioners a fantastic setting for retirement:
When the time comes to retire, you’ll be very lucky if you already live in Belfast. The capital of Northern Ireland is at the very top of our rankings with a total score of 4.9, which is thanks to a variety of factors.
The average cost of rent per month is £703.33 and utilities are a low £133.99, and when combined with a cost-of-living index of 61.3, you get a city that’s incredibly pensioner friendly – especially when compared to cities like London, where the same figures sit a £1,626.99, £291.14, and 78.9, respectively.
Based on our research, you’ll likely only need a minimum of £337,850 to retire here comfortably, which is pretty low compared to London’s £560,845. As for amenities, Belfast has 8 health and fitness clubs, 20 golf courses, 235 cafés, and an impressive 44.52% of green space.
Located at the heart of England’s largest county, Leeds is the second-best place to retire in the UK, with a total score of 4.6. The average rent per month is a little lower than that of Belfast at £691.67, although utilities do cost a fair bit more at £219.36.
This gives it a cost-of-living index of 59.3 and you’ll need about £335,691 to retire here, at which point you can make the most of the city’s 15 health and fitness clubs, 21 golf courses and 337 cafés. Leeds even has 41.9% green space coverage, with plenty of parks, walking routes and elevated views of the Yorkshire countryside.
Coming in at number three is Bradford, which has a cost-of-living index of 59.8 and a total score of 4.2. Though the average monthly utility costs are exactly the same as Leeds (to the penny), the average rent cost is a lot lower at £531.67.
This means that you’ll only need a minimum of £307,275 in retirement savings, giving you plenty of cash to enjoy Bradford’s 1 health and fitness club, 6 golf courses and 113 cafés. As for green space coverage, it’s also a little higher than its neighbour Leeds at 43.7%.
The historic city of Preston in Lancashire is fourth on our list, with a cost-of-living index of 55.8 and a total score of 4.2. The average monthly rent here is exactly £600, and utilities are the same as Leeds and Bradford (£219.36).
To fully enjoy your retirement in Preston, a minimum savings pot of £312,688 is recommended. And once you’re receiving your pension, you can spend as much time as you like in the city’s 4 health and fitness clubs, 1 golf course and 96 cafés. Or maybe you’d prefer to soak up the peaceful ambience in its 45.14% of green space.
Lastly, we have the home of England’s pottery industry, Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, which just made our top five UK cities for retirement.
The cost-of-living index here is 56.4 and the total score is 4.1, with rent costing an average of just £450 a month but utilities a rather high £302. As a result of generally lower prices, your savings can be just £290,012 in order to retire in Stoke-on-Trent.
The city has 3 health and fitness clubs, 3 golf courses and 67 cafés, plus it’s the leafiest place on our list at 46.09% green space coverage.
For those who have their hearts set on emigrating to a country in the EU when retirement time comes, we also ranked the top five cities for retirement in Europe.
For this, we used the same criteria as we did when researching the UK but there are also some key additions, namely the average retirement age and the percentage of healthcare access. These factors help to give a feel for how each city treats its elderly and what you can expect if you were to retire there:
The capital of Bulgaria, Sofia has a cost-of-living index of 41.2 and a total score of 5.5. This is due to an average rent of £322.36 and utilities of £108.27 a month, which means your minimum retirement savings only need to be £126,301 (the lowest out of our UK and EU rankings).
Sofia has 69% access to healthcare, 27.85% green space, 25 fitness clubs, 2 golf courses and 246 cafés. With a male retirement age of 64.8 and women usually retiring when they’re 62.17, people can generally enjoy their nest eggs earlier than those in the UK.
Hungary’s capital, Budapest, comes in as the second-best place in Europe to retire. The cost-of-living index here is 43.8 and the city’s total score is 5.1, which comes with a typical rent of £385.27 and utilities averaging at £120.90.
To retire here, your savings will need to be at least £175,420, with both men and women retiring at 65. Green space coverage is 20.03%, healthcare access is 74%, and there are 31 fitness clubs, 4 golf courses and 691 cafés.
You may notice a pattern at this point, as all of the top 5 European destinations for retirement are capital cities. Zagreb in Croatia has a slightly higher cost-of-living index at 46.5 and a total score of 5.1, plus you’ll need at least £238,852 to retire here comfortably.
Men in Croatia tend to retire when they’re 65 and women a year and a half earlier at 63.5, at which point rent will cost a relatively high £444.30 and utilities £154.93 a month.
Healthcare access in Zagreb is actually the lowest of our top five European cities at 59% but green space is the highest at 53.77%. There are also 11 fitness clubs, 4 golf courses and 146 cafés for you to spend your pension at.
At number four it’s Bucharest in Romania. The city’s cost-of-living index is 41.4 and the total score is 5.0, which is thanks to a quite low average monthly rent of £304.50 and utilities of £123.35.
This means that you’ll need only £152,707 in savings to retire in Bucharest, which is a city with a relatively high 74% access to healthcare but only 16.44% green space (the second lowest out of the 50 EU cities we researched).
Still, men in Bucharest retire at 65 and women at 62, at which point they can make full use of the city’s 6 fitness clubs, 1 golf course and 311 cafés.
Last on our list but fifth overall, Rome has a cost-of-living index of 54.6 and a total score of 4.9. This city is the most expensive out of our top five, with an average rent of £565.15 and utility bills coming to £180.18 per month. You’ll also need a lot more saved up if you want to retire in Italy’s capital city, as the minimum recommended pension pot is £316,497.
When it comes to the retirement lifestyle that can be expected in Rome, healthcare access is 68% and there’s 43.03% green space coverage. Add to this a total of 79 fitness clubs, 13 golf courses and a whopping 1,052 cafés, giving men and women plenty of opportunities to relax and socialise when they retire at 67.
And there you have it; those are our top recommendations for cities to retire to in the UK and Europe. Naturally, retirement might still be several years away for you, but it never hurts to start planning now so you can be ready to enjoy your later years in comfort.
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