Birmingham ranked 10th-most affordable retirement destination in recent study

Birmingham ranked 10th-most affordable retirement destination in recent study

If you’re looking for an affordable place to retire Birmingham is one of the country’s best options according to a recent study from personal finance website WalletHub. But the study also found that saving money might come with some downsides.

In WalletHub’s “2023′s Best and Worst Places to Retire” list Birmingham was ranked the 10th most affordable retirement destination out of 182 locations. Local real estate agent Chris Prichard said this didn’t come as a surprise.

“Despite the unprecedented increase in local home prices over the past few years, they rose drastically nationwide,” Prichard said. “So, Birmingham remains one of the more affordable metros in the US because of its lower than average home prices, relatively low property taxes, and an overall lower cost of living compared to most places in the US.”

While Birmingham rent prices have seen an increase in recent months while other cities’ prices have started to decrease, they still remain comparatively low according to Bennie Waller, a William Cary Hulsey faculty fellow in the Culverhouse College of Business at The University of Alabama. This is possible because other U.S. cities had larger price hikes during the pandemic and are now having to make more corrections as the market stabilizes, Waller told the Lede previously.

Prichard said the city’s low cost of living is a big selling point for retirees around the country, like her own parents.