The World’s Best Towns and Cities for a Low-Cost Retirement

When you choose a place to retire to, ultimately it's not a country you decide on... it's a community. Just as the United States offers a vast array of lifestyle options, cultural traits, budget choices, and landscapes...so, too, do the countries beyond our borders.

So while it's important to narrow down your search to a region of the world and, then, to a country within it... in the end, what you really have to settle on is the town or city or village you'll call home.

The good news is: All around the world, you'll find safe, friendly communities where you can improve your quality of life while you spend less... communities that offer mild climates, engaging diversions, and low-cost luxuries.

Your options are varied: Laidback surf towns on the beach... cool-weather villages surrounded by green valleys and snow-capped peaks... arts-rich university towns... cosmopolitan cities that offer the conveniences and amenities of a well-connected metropolis.

The point is: You have excellent options, all around the globe—great places to live year-round or to escape to a few weeks or months a year.

These are towns and cities where you can live better for less... enjoy a measure of adventure in retirement... and afford the sorts of luxuries (like travel, dinners out, even a gardener or housekeeper) that only the wealthier folks can bankroll at home.

So how do you know where to go? It's simply a matter of pinpointing the towns and cities most worth your attention... and then drawing a line from what you're looking for to that singular place that's the best fit for you, given your own interests, preferences, priorities, and budget.

Now, only you can say exactly what you're looking for... identifying the criteria most important to you is a wholly individual task.

But we've done the heavy lifting required to cull through all the many affordable locations around the world where you could, as a retiree, settle... to identify those most worth your consideration today.

The World's Best Towns and Cities to Retire

We've identified what we believe are the towns and cities most worth your attention right now if you're in the market for a good-value, low-cost life overseas.

From Central and South America to Europe and Southeast Asia, we've highlighted the places we believe provide the best bang for your buck.

In making our choices, we considered—in addition to the cost of living—all sorts of other important attributes that help to make a place comfortable and attractive for day-to-day living... like the ease to which you can integrate into an already-existing expat community; access to sound, affordable medical care; a comfortable climate; proximity to amenities like a sandy beach or to great arts offerings... and more...

To be clear: This is not a scientifically generated Directory. It's better than that.

Our in-house experts—all based around the world, living and traveling in the countries we've focused in on—they've made the well-informed calls about which places to include and which to leave off.

If you're trying to find a good-value escape where you can settle comfortably and afford to live better than you do now... frankly, you don't need a catalog of every community on the planet.

The 75 Best Towns and Cities For Retirement - By Region

You need a list of the ones you should consider. And that's exactly what we deliver here. Click on the links below to explore the 75 best towns and cities by region.

Mexico and Central America	South America
Europe	Southeast Asia