SeniorAdvice.com, a website that focuses on senior housing, has just announced its second annual report on the best places to retire in the United States for the LGBTQ community, of which there are an estimated 3 million people aged 55 and older in the country.
Unsurprisingly, the list is full of large cities that have a strong LGBTQ presence, a high percentage of older people, affordable housing and access to quality health care.
The cities are scattered across the country, with multiple locales in California and Florida having both a large senior population as well as a high number of same-sex households. Other good retirement cities were included because of the senior support services they provide, their reputations as gay-friendly communities, or their abundance of hospitals, home health and Medicare providers.
The list may contain some surprises!
More than 100 factors were considered in developing the list, said a SeniorAdvice spokesman. Among them: the percentage of LGBTQ population in the area, available social activities, festivals, weather, the existence of an LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce, presence of gay-friendly senior communities, quality of health care, number of hospitals and pharmacies, local and state legislation protecting the LGBTQ community, cost of living, and the city’s SeniorScore ― SeniorAdvice’s own scoring system designed to identify and measure livability for seniors.
The full list of cities, in no particular order, is below:
1. Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
2. Austin, Texas
3. Atlanta, Georgia
4. Portland, Oregon
5. Palm Springs, California
6. Santa Fe, New Mexico
7. Providence, Rhode Island
8. Seattle, Washington
9. Columbus, Ohio
10. Los Angeles, California
11. New Orleans, Louisiana
12. Tampa, Florida
13. Boston, Massachusetts
14. Salt Lake City, Utah
15. San Diego, California
16. Cleveland, Ohio
17. San Francisco, California
18. Albuquerque, New Mexico
19. Baltimore, Maryland
20. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
