The choice someone makes about where to live in retirement is a matter of personal preference, with some preferring quiet spaces and others preferring the convenience of city life.
Multiple cities in Colorado have been named its best place for retirement before, and a new report from U.S. News adds another candidate.
Centennial, a Denver suburb in Arapahoe County, claimed the top spot for the state, leading a list dominated by communities along the front range.
U.S. News’ methodology created indexes for quality of life, value, healthcare quality, taxes, senior population and migration, and the job market. The data is sourced from Applied Geographic Solutions and U.S. News’ “internal resources.”
Colorado cities did not fare well overall in the national rankings, but U.S. News found clear leaders in the state.
Centennial earned Colorado’s top spot, according to U.S. News. The city of about 108,000 people had an average commute time and a slightly better than average job market. The median household income in Centennial is a little over $135,000, compared with the national median of slightly above $79,000. The city had a median home value of nearly $640,000, far above the national average of about $370,000.
While it was the top city in Colorado, Centennial only ranks No. 262 nationally.
Most of the Colorado cities ranked by US News were along the front range, with Grand Junction the only western slope community in the top 10.
Southern cities scored well under U.S. News’s methodology, but a pair of Rust Belt cities made the list.
Nate Trela covers trending news in Colorado and Utah for the USA TODAY Network.