Surprising New Survey Finds Many Retirees Plan on Moving in Retirement

June 29, 2010. How closely do you match the profile of your fellow visitors at Topretirements? We just finished a new research study which looked at the questions asked by the almost 5000 people who have taken our Retirement Ranger Quiz. The results from that study have helped us learn more about baby boomer retirement hopes, dreams, and preferences. One of the most interesting things we’ve learned is that the people who have taken our quiz are much more ready to relocate than the average population – the vast majority of Ranger takers plan on moving in retirement. Another finding is that they are very open about the kind of environment they want to live in. We found out that most of our visitors are either already retired – or will do so soon. Taxes, cost of living, and region are all important considerations for just about everybody taking the quiz. Find out what we found out – and how you compare to the average Topretirements visitor – in our analysis of over 4840 responses to the Retirement Ranger retirement quiz. Read on and compare your preferences to the surprising – and the predictable – things we found out in this research.

As background, the Retirement Ranger is a free quiz, or retirement calculator, that asks 10 short questions. Based on the answers, an email is sent that provides a personalized recommendation of retirement towns that match their criteria. Since the Ranger was launched about a year ago, we have been curious about exactly what our readers’ retirement preferences might be. Most of the results are common sense – people who come to a website like Topretirements are interested in retirement, and they are ready to move. Here are the results in detail, which we will try to use in future weeks and months to help give you the resources and guidance you are looking for.

Q 1: When do you plan on retiring?
The overwhelming majority of people who take this quiz are either already retired (22%), or they will soon (about 13% will retire within the year, and 39% more will retire within 1-5 years).

Q 2: Will you move in retirement, and how far?
Statistics we’ve seen in the past are usually a bit fuzzy about the moving intentions of prospective retirees. A Del Webb survey found that about one third of baby boomers plan on moving in retirement – other surveys have found even less who want to move. The Retirement Ranger results are quite different – people who take our quiz are very interested in finding a place to retire that is different from where they live now. Excluding those who were unsure of their plans, 39% said they plan on moving out of state or out of the country. The most startling difference from other surveys is how few people taking the Retirement Ranger plan on staying where they are now – just 2%. The biggest category of responses on this category is the 46% who plan on moving out of their “current metro” – presumably not too far from where they live now, but a move from their current home at least. Presumably that means they intend to downsize and/or find a home in a more retirement friendly location or development – but not move too far away from where they live now.

Q 3 Are you interested in a 55+ or active adult community?
About 50% of quiz takers are “somewhat” interested. Those who are “not at all interested” (30%) outweigh the test takers who are “very” interested (20%). Bottom line – a lot of people remain to be persuaded about the benefits of active adult living.

Q 4. Cost of living preference?
These results surprised us. Against a steady drumbeat of interest in low-cost of living responses, the fact is that the majority of people (62%) taking the Retirement Ranger are looking for an average cost of living. There were 30% who are looking for a lower cost of living (a much smaller number than we would have thought), compared to a paltry 6% who for some reason want a higher cost of living.

Q 5. What environment are you looking for?
The results to this question are refreshing – Topretirements visitors are looking for all kinds of experiences – from coastal to lakes to college towns to suburbia. Aside from a clear preference for a coastal environment, most other environments were fairly close together. College towns, small towns, and suburbia were slightly preferred over the mountains or an urban experience. Deserts and a rural environment brought up the rear in retirement interest.

Q 6. Size of town?
This question gave some dimension to the previous question about the kind of town these prospective retirees want to live in. By far, most people are open minded on this question too – they do not have a strong preference on the size of town they want to retire to. Of those who do care, in general it seems the smaller the better – 0-25,000 population got the most interest, followed by towns 25,001-100,000, and bringing up the rear – cities of more than 100,000.

Q 7. What is the lowest median January temperature (F.) you want to live in?
As we will see in Q 9 (Region), there is a strong preference for a moderate to warm winter temperature. Just over 50% are looking for a place where the January median temp is over 40 degrees, while 36% are willing to tough it out if the temperature is 20 or higher. Only 12% are going to insist that the January temperature average over 60.

Q 8. How much culture do you need to have?
Not surprisingly, Topretirements visitors are an educated group who wants to live in an exciting and stimulating environment. Almost no one selected lower than average culture for their retirement town preference, compared to 36% who are looking for higher than average culture – presumably museums, theaters, music, dance, movie theaters, concerts, restaurants, etc. The rest of the people would be OK in a middle of the road cultural scene.

Q 9. What are your regional preferences?
Close your eyes and try to guess – what are the most, and the least popular retirement regions in the U.S. for takers of the Retirement Ranger quiz? Chances are you will guess the trend correctly – although the results are a bit more lopsided than we thought. The most popular retirement region, by far, is the southeast – 51% of takers were looking for retirement ideas in that region. The southwest and west were tied in 2nd and 3rd place at about 17% each. The northeast and midwest held the least interest.

Q 10. Would you like to find a retirement destination with a lower than average tax burden?
The short answer is yes, but not nearly as emphatically as we might have thought. This was a yes or no question: 58% apparently could be induced to move by a low tax burden, while the remaining 42% have no strong preference.

A Few Caveats
People who take the Retirement Ranger are not typical retirees. By taking the quiz they show they are more interested in finding and moving to a better place to retire than other people. When people take the quiz the first time we encourage them to take the quiz with as few selections as possible, which gives them a broader range of results (they can retake and narrow down the choices, if necessary). That emphasis could have biased the results in the direction of “no preference” as well as away from the extreme range of choices.

The Bottom Line
We are very happy that almost 5,000 people have taken our Retirement Ranger. It looks like the changes we made to it to give you more results are working. We just hope that people find it useful to help find the retirement town of their dreams – one that matches their personal priorities. Last of all, it is exciting to see these results and realize what a diversified and open-minded group come to this website – thanks!

What do you think?
Are some of these results startling to you? Any you disagree with? How was your experience with the Retirement Ranger – any recommendations or experiences you would like to share? Use the Comments section below.