Which are the best places to retire in Denver?
Retiring is something many of us think about even if we’re decades away from the big moment, wondering what exactly we’ll do once we’re no longer tied to a certain place, going to work every day and having to keep the same home, so it is good to be informed on time about the best places for retirement days that are in your neighborhood.
photo.ua/Shutterstock.com
If you didn’t know, Denver was named the number 1 place to live in the 2016 Best Places to Live in the United States report released in March by U.S. News & World Report. The ranking was determined in part by a public survey of thousands of Americans, but data from the United States Census Bureau, the FBI and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as well as the US News rankings of the Best High Schools and Best Hospitals was included as well. Denver, Colorado was followed by Austin, Texas and Fayetteville, Arkansas, if you were curious, but we’re going to focus on the top city for now.
To have a few more options to pick from we decided to include neighborhoods that are a few miles away from Denver City since, well, living in downtown Denver can be great, but it’s also quite expensive. At the same time, living a few miles away from the city isn’t that big of a tragedy and it may even come with a bit more of that quiet time everyone hopes for once they hit retirement age, while still being close enough to the rowdiness that comes hand in hand with a modern city for those moments when you feel like getting a taste.
The Mile High City (Denver) is the capital of Colorado and it is located at the base of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of one mile above sea level, hence the nickname. The city has over 682,000 citizens, with over 2.5 million in the extended Metro area. The median home price in Denver hits $251,000, while the cost of living index in the area is 115, meaning you’ll be paying a bit extra over the average across the US. If you want to find more similar cities, you can also take a look at the 11 best places to retire in Colorado.
In order to create our list we took a look at all surrounding neighborhoods around Denver and took into consideration multiple criteria. For instance, we wanted to make sure the cities are safe, so we checked out the crime index, then we took into consideration the average commute time since no one wants to spend forever stuck in traffic, even if public transport is an option. The median home price was also of interest since you need to be able to afford moving to a new location, as well as the cost of living index since paying double for the same thing isn’t something anyone wants.
Lastly, since healthcare is so important, we looked into how many doctors per 100,000 residents were in these neighborhoods and cities. Those who had the best numbers got the highest marks and resulted in the best scores.
We got our information from Sperling’s Best Places which takes government data and mixes it together, as well as Denver Relocation Guide where we found more inside scoops about each place. Without further ado, here are the 10 best places to retire in Denver.
