A 2025 GoBankingRates ranking named Saratoga, California, the most expensive retirement town in its study. The 2024 ranking behind this headline named Rancho Palos Verdes, California. Those results are dated, model-based rankings of selected places—not a definitive answer for every retiree or a confirmed 2026 winner.
Which place ranked as the most expensive?
Travel + Leisure’s August 6, 2024, story reported that GoBankingRates ranked Rancho Palos Verdes, in Los Angeles County, first in its 2024 study. A later GoBankingRates ranking for 2025 named Saratoga, California, the most expensive town in that edition. The winner depends on which year and study you mean.
Neither result establishes the most expensive place for all retirees. The studies screen for qualifying towns and estimate selected costs using particular data and assumptions. The available rankings do not establish a comparable 2026 winner.
How did the rankings define an expensive retirement town?
The 2024 study
The 2024 ranking screened for U.S. cities with more than 25,000 residents and more than 25% of residents age 65 or older. Travel + Leisure says eligibility was based on 2022 American Community Survey data. The study considered annual rent, home value, groceries, healthcare, utilities, and a cost-of-living index. Its underlying method separated renter and homeowner estimates, including estimated annual mortgage costs for owners.
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These were modeled category estimates, not one universal annual bill. A home value is not itself an annual expense, and a mortgage estimate is not a complete accounting of owning a home.
The 2025 study
The 2025 edition required a population above 25,000 and at least 25% of residents ages 65 and older. For housing, it used Zillow rent and home-value indexes from May 2025. Its homeowner scenario assumed a 20% down payment and a 30-year fixed mortgage at the national average rate of 6.77% reported for June 26, 2025. That rate is a historical input to the study, not a current mortgage quote. The study explicitly excluded property taxes and HOA fees from its mortgage assumption.
Rank #2
For other costs, the study applied Sperling’s BestPlaces cost-of-living indexes to retired-household spending from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2023 Consumer Expenditure Survey. Renters and homeowners were modeled separately. Because the editions use different data vintages and calculations, their winners should not be read as a like-for-like year-over-year comparison.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the rankings can—and cannot—tell you
The rankings indicate that housing and selected everyday expenses were high under each study’s assumptions. They do not determine what a particular person would spend in retirement. Your own budget may differ with housing tenure, household size, healthcare needs, taxes, income, and lifestyle.
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Rank #3
- Check the year: Rancho Palos Verdes was the 2024 study’s winner; Saratoga was the 2025 edition’s winner.
- Separate rent from ownership: A renter estimate and a mortgage-based homeowner estimate describe different scenarios.
- Read the housing assumptions: The 2025 mortgage scenario excluded property taxes and HOA fees; the reported inputs do not establish a full ownership budget.
- Look beyond housing: The studies also include selected measures such as groceries, healthcare, utilities, and broader cost-of-living estimates, but they are not personalized retirement budgets.
- Note the eligibility screen: These rankings cover qualifying towns, not every U.S. community.
How to use a town ranking in your retirement planning
- Start with your housing scenario. Estimate rent or ownership costs for the home you would actually choose, rather than treating a ranking’s modeled housing figure as your likely bill.
- Build a location-specific budget. Add the expenses that matter to your household, including healthcare and recurring housing costs omitted from a study’s assumptions.
- Compare equivalent cases. When looking at two places, use the same household size, tenure, spending categories, and time period wherever possible.
- Treat rankings as a screening tool. Use them to identify places worth examining, then test the costs against your own income and needs.
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