Sarasota, Florida Named Best Place to Retire in the U.S.

Posted by Marc Rasmussen on Monday, December 27th, 2010 at 7:22am.

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Sarasota did it again! In a survey conducted by Portfolio.com Sarasota/Bradenton earns the designation as America’s most popular retirement destination. This is not the first time Sarasota was named one of the best places retire. Money magazine once gave it the number one spot. It usually ranks near the top depending on what publication is writing the article.

Top 20 Places to Retire According to Portfolio.com

1) Bradenton/Sarasota, Florida

2) Prescott, Arizona

3) Lake Havasu City, Arizona

4) Cape Coral/Fort Myers, Florida

5) Naples, Florida

6) Palm Bay/Melbourne, Florida

7) Homosassa Springs, Florida

8) Ocala, Florida

9) Punta Gorda, Florida

10) Port St. Lucie, Florida

11) Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida

12) Daytona Beach, Florida

13) Seaford, Delaware

14) Barnstable, Massachusetts

15) Santa Rosa, California

16) Reno, Nevada

17) Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

18) Lakeland, Florida

19) Phoenix, Arizona

20) Riverside/San Bernadino, California

 

How They Did It

Portfolio.com devised a six-part formula to rank the most popular retirement destinations, using raw data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau. The study encompassed all 157 metropolitan and micropolitan areas with at least 40,000 senior citizens.

Bradenton-Sarasota ranks first because of its striking performances in several categories:

  • Nearly 27 percent of its residents are 65 or older, the fourth-highest concentration of seniors in any market. That’s more than double the national average of 12.9 percent.
  • Bradenton-Sarasota has a median age of 48.1. A median is a midpoint, with half of all residents being older and half being younger. The national median age is 36.8 years.
  • Fully 95 percent of the seniors in Bradenton-Sarasota moved to Florida from another state. Only 53 percent of the elderly residents of a typical U.S. market were born out of state.

Young People Live in Sarasota Too

Don't get the wrong idea about Sarasota. There are plenty of young people here too. I was showing Lakewood Ranch real estate recently and asked my clients why they decided on Sarasota, Florida. Aside from the normal reasons - beaches, cleanliness, arts, culture, affordability and low crime they said that enjoyed seeing younger people around town. The previous night they had eaten dinner at a sushi restaurant and enjoyed seeing the younger crowd. They loved Naples, Florida as well but decided not to purchase there because they wanted to be around younger people. 

The younger crowd can afford to live here too. Check out a whole bunch of houses for sale under $300,000.

For a complete list of properties for sale visit Sarasota FL real estate. If you need help buying or selling Sarasota give Marc Rasmussen a call at 941.812.6272.

5 Responses to "Sarasota, Florida Named Best Place to Retire in the U.S."

Wilford Brimley wrote:
By golly you and your young whippersnapper friends in Sarasota are something else I tell ya. Get's my diabetes and corns all riled up. Everybody knows when you get old and retire you move to Sarasota, and your parents move to Venice.

Posted on Monday, December 27th, 2010 at 8:09am.

Susan Zanzonico wrote:
Look at that picture! I can understand why people retire in Sarasota. I love my area in Morristown New Jersey, even though we're having a snow blizzard right now. When I retire, I could really get into staring out at the water from one of those boats. ;-)

Posted on Monday, December 27th, 2010 at 1:35pm.

Marc Rasmussen wrote:
Hi Wilford - I am big fan of your movies. ;-)

Susan - I saw the snow. Brrr....fun to play in. Hope you are well. ;-)

Posted on Monday, December 27th, 2010 at 1:54pm.

Randy Vanderpool wrote:
I have been to many of these places, and I would agree that for the money, the weather, and the things to do. Most of these would be the perfect place to slow down!

Posted on Monday, January 3rd, 2011 at 3:32pm.

Barbara wrote:
I lived in Sarasota for 25 years when I was younger....beautiful place....have since retired and winter in Phoenix east valley area....talk about tremendous value regarding real estate, and beautiful to boot....winter in the mountains of Colorado as well. Loved Sarasota while living there, very clean city....and it has really grown...when I left the population was 250k, not now, I'm sure!

Posted on Tuesday, March 1st, 2011 at 9:53am.


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