Forget Florida. Many Retirees Are Settling Down in Alabama.
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Here's your Money Briefing for Friday, May 19th. I'm J.R. Whelan for The Wall Street Journal. For many Americans, rising costs have knocked Florida off the list of options for where they'll live in retirement. And more of them are choosing to spend their golden years just over the state line in Alabama.
the houses are cheaper there than they are either in southwestern Florida or on the southeastern shore of Florida where people may have retired in the past. What makes Baldwin County even more attractive, especially to older Americans, is that it has one of the lowest property taxes in the country, in the nation.
We'll talk to WSJ contributor Cecile Rowetter more about Baldwin County, Alabama and what other cities and towns can learn from it after the break.
As the cost of living rises and people live longer lives, many retirees are passing up Florida to spend their later years, and many have chosen to live in neighboring Alabama. Wall Street Journal contributor Cecile Rowetter joins us to discuss why Alabama and what other states and cities can learn from the shifting trend.
Why are retirees leaving Florida for more affordable options?
So, Cecile, traditionally, Florida often comes up as a retirement destination option for people. And for a lot of retirees, it makes financial sense. Florida is one of a handful of states with no income tax. So why are retirees being priced out?
This story actually was born from another story I was writing about Fort Lauderdale, which of course is a traditional retirement community. And I was interviewing a professor at Florida Atlantic University, was talking about how much that region was changing, how much home values were going up because so many tech workers and financial services workers were moving there. And almost as a throwaway line, he said, well, the only collateral damage is that the retirees and snowbirds that traditionally would come and move to Fort Lauderdale or spend months of the year here can no longer afford to be here because house prices are so high. And so I said, well, where are they going? And he said, a lot of them are moving to Alabama.
As it happens, home prices with the changing Florida economy and people from everywhere moving there to work, especially to these traditional retirement destinations on sort of the western coast of Florida and in southeastern Florida, home prices have exploded and really are no longer affordable for a lot of Americans.
Now, you spoke to several people who've looked outside the Sunshine State and have settled in Baldwin County, Alabama. Where is that in Alabama?
So Baldwin County is in the southwestern part of Alabama. And if you imagine it like an oval, on the right side, on the eastern side, you have the Florida Panhandle. And on the other side, you have Mobile Bay. But the bottom of your oval, that's the Gulf Shore. It's the Gulf of Mexico. So Baldwin County is one of two counties in Alabama that borders the Gulf of Mexico. And the beaches are called Orange Beach, Gulf Shores. And they're literally, if you look at a map, right next to Pensacola Beach or beaches that you may know from Florida. So it's a continuation of the Florida coast, except it's in Alabama and therefore more affordable.
Now, in your story in The Wall Street Journal, you cite census data showing that Baldwin County was the fastest-growing county in Alabama between 2010 and 2020. What's the appeal of that specific area of Alabama? How do the living expenses compare to Florida?
So the largest appeal, of course, is affordability. You said it, houses are cheaper there than they are either in southwestern Florida or on the southeastern shore of Florida where people may have retired in the past. The cost of living is lower as well. Cost of living, of course, depends on the average salary in an area. Those things are linked very closely. And so in Baldwin County, the average salary is $49,000. And that compares... to 57 000 in lee county that's the county around ford myers and 67 in broward county now of course if the average salary in a region is lower that means your massages are lower your dinners your grocery bills and your gas everything is more affordable
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