What is going on everyone? Welcome back to the Day Itinerary Planner, and an article about Best States to Retire in Midwest USA where you could retire on $1,658 a month.
We did this article a few years back and had the price at $1,500 because that was the average social security payment and it was close to about half the average military retirement. Things have changed, prices have gone up across the board, real estate, insurance even scrapbooking cruises have jumped 20%, and yes there are scrapbook-themed cruises. And I read a blog where some guy was describing how his mom had just lost it because they raised the prices of these crews. She went on one during the pandemic and it was half priced, now they’re back up to full price. The world has gone crazy.
Today, we’re looking at the Midwest states, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana. This $1,658 on this article is it would cost the average person to live comfortably. In this case, comfortably means you never have to worry about food, eviction, or your utilities getting shut off. The stats in this article are just the average. There are a million and one scenarios like poor health, divorce, dependence that change a person’s financial situation. This is just the basics for the Average Joe. All right, let’s see where you could live for under $1,658 a month.
10.Concordia, Kansas.
Concordia sits about two hours Northwest of Topeka, Kansas. And it is kind of out in the middle of nowhere. It is really close to the Republican River. And if you know anything about this part of the country, they like the name of that river. Kansas is a great state for a quiet life and a nice retirement. If you like just relaxing, and letting time go by, and doing your hobbies, this is a perfect city for that or town, I should say. They got just over 5,000 residents.
One thing I noticed is their downtown doesn’t have a whole bunch of boarded up shops on their main street. That’s a theme in the Midwest these days, but they look like they’re holding it together pretty good. I mean, there are some, not a ton. I’ve seen some towns where it’s like three out of four shops on a main street are boarded up. The crime in Concordia is 8% lower than the national average, which is solid. They say the median listing price here is about $72,000.
There’s homes right now that look decent, like I’ve said before, I’m not in inspecting the plumbing or anything like that. I’m just looking from Zillow. There are under $60,000 right now that look livable. Like go in there, they look like even painted, taken care of, move your stuff in. Newer nicer homes might set you back 150, $180,000, that’s it. The cost of living here is 25 per percent lower than the national average. Concordia has a quality of life score of 80. And your estimated average monthly expenditure would be $1,389.
9. Tipton, Indiana.
The big bustling city of Tipton. It’s just a little small town out in the middle of the Praire. Tipton sits about an hour north of Indianapolis and they don’t have a lot of homes for sale right now but when they do, they’re pretty cheap. Tipton is a quiet little town of about 5,200 residents. And just this last census, they actually gained 3%. That’s only the second time they’ve gained population in the last 70 years. So it’s becoming a migration hotspot.
Tipton is a very safe place to live. Their crime rate is 64% lower than the national average. Homes are 55% lower. The median home listing price is $83,000. That’s not bad. But like I said, right now they don’t have a lot of homes for sale but some do pop up for about a hundred thousand. But more than likely, if you want something decent it’s gonna be 150 to 220,000. I love little towns like this. They got a lot of old brick buildings that have been there since the 18 hundreds probably. Nice looking little town. The cost of living in Tipton is 26% lower than the national average, that is outstanding. And the estimated average monthly expenditure would be $1,385. That’s pretty low price for a place that still has a quality of life score of 82.
If this is the first time you’ve watched this, a quality of life score if it’s below 60, 59, 58 on down, the place sucks. When you start getting into the mid sixties to mid seventies, it’s a decent place to live. When you get to over 80, you’re living in a nice place. And they got an 82.
8.Tell City, Indiana.
Tell City sits on the banks of the Ohio River right between Louisville, Kentucky, and Evansville, Indiana. A little over 7,000 people call Tell City home and it looks like a nice place to live. You drive down the streets here, you find houses with flag polls, the American flag. Looks like they put it up every morning. All the lawns are maintained. You don’t have a bunch of houses that have boarded up windows. It’s a nice place to live. Their crime rate is 24% lower than the national average. The real estate here is about 51% lower than the national average. The median listing home here is about $90,000. Realistically, you’re looking at about 120 to 250,000 to get something decent. Tell City has a quality of life score of 85. And your estimated average monthly expenditure is $1,433.
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7.Nixa, Missouri.
Nixa is sort of in the Springfield Metro area. It’s actually about 12 miles south of Springfield. And this isn’t really a small town. They got about 22,000 residents and it’s had a little growth spurt in recent years probably ’cause it’s a great place to live. They got a crime rate that’s 58% lower than the national average. And right now their home prices are about 27% lower. The median home listing price is $133,000. That is not bad. Realistically though, homes are gonna start around 200,000 and go on up to 250,000 and actually beyond. But 200, 250,000 is what you’re probably looking at to get a decent home. The reason it’s so low for their median, they have a lot of lots for sale. They’ve got planned communities. You buy the lot that’s like 50,000 to 60, 70,000 and then you have a house built on it. So that kind of lowers their median price.
This is also the home of Jason Bourne. This is where he was born and raised. Sure he’s a fictional character, but in the books and in the movie, he’s from Nixa, Missouri. They’ve even got a street sign that says home of Jason Bourne. The cost living here is 13% lower than the national average. And your estimated average monthly expenditure is $1,478. That’s not bad for a place that’s got a quality of life score of 87.
6.Holdrege, Nebraska.
Holdrege is a farming town about three hours west of Omaha, Nebraska. About five hours east of Denver, Colorado. It is out in the middle of nowhere. I mean farmland as far as the eye can see. And it is a great place to raise a family. That is the strong point of this area. That’s what I like about Kansas and Nebraska. You actually have to go out of your way to find a crappy place to raise a family. Just about any other state you’re trying to navigate where there are good place to raise a family, not them. It’s like the exact opposite. Holdrege is in a big town.
It’s only got about 5,500 residents but there’s like no crime here. The crime rate is actually 53% lower than the national average. The only negatives about Holdrege is, they don’t have a bunch of jobs. So if you’re bringing your own job, great. Or you’re retired, even better. And they don’t have a ton of things to do. It’s not like they’ve got amusement parks or anything like that. It’s just a nice place to live.
The average home price here is 43% lower than the national average and the median listing price is $105,000. Realistically though, you could buy a house here for close to 150, $160,000. They’ve got plenty of lots too. That are going for like 40,000 if you wanna build your own house on it. The cost of living in Holdrege is 16% lower than the national average. Your estimated average monthly expenditure would be $1,454. That is not bad for a place that’s got a quality of life score of 86.
5.Columbia, Illinois.
Columbia, Illinois sits just off the Mississippi River south of east St. Louis, which it already sounds like the place sucks because it’s south of east St. Louis, but it really doesn’t. East St. Louis is a nightmare. I mean it’s crime infested. What’s the old saying crime infested, the hell hole. That’s what’s going on in east St. Louis. But in Columbia it’s a different story. They’re only like 25 minutes south of east St. Louis and they’ve got a really good crime rate. It’s actually 68% lower than the national average.
So they got about 10,000 residents living the good life. It’s nice, safe, and it’s a good life. Well, maybe not for this dude. He looks like he’s walking with a rush. But everyone else seems to be walking around just fine. Now, this is good place to live in. The home prices are a little bit higher than I’d like to see on here, but everything else is pretty cheap.
Home prices here are about 2% higher than the national average which the median listing price is about $197,000. You can sometimes find homes here for under $200,000 but really you wanna be looking to spend around 300,000 at least on up to about 400,000 if you wanna live here. Now they might have some homes coming up that may be cheaper because they’ve got a lot of areas where they’re opening up to plant communities here. So that could be good. They have a lot of lots for sale in Columbia, Illinois. The cost of living here is 4% lower than the national average. Giving your estimated average monthly expenditure $1620. So it barely made it in. The quality of life score is 89. So it might be worth the price.
4.Marietta, Ohio.
Marietta is a beautiful Ohio River town that sits on the tip of Appalachia. And it’s seen better days. This is cold country. So as you can imagine their economy is tanked several times and then it’ll come back and then it’ll tank again. And that’s what has been going on here for probably the last 50 years. But it sits right across the river from West Virginia and if you know anything about this part of the country, you know the people are resilient and they stick with their town and they kind of build stronger communities because of the ups and downs.
Marietta is an old town and they have beautiful architecture here. It’s just that part of the country where you got those beautiful old brick buildings, churches that are just, they don’t build them like that anymore. I know a lot of people from this part of the country and I always just hope for the best for this area. I don’t know why, it’s just this thing I have for them. The population of Marietta has been shrinking since the 1980 census. Actually in this 1970 census they only gained 0.1%. So they’ve been on a downward slide for some time now. The good news about that is, if you could bring a job to this area or you’re retired and you don’t mind the cold because it’s pretty cold here, you could live pretty cheap.
A little over 13,000 people called Marietta home right now. And for a place that has its ups and downs with its economy, their crime rate is pretty low. That’s normally not a thing. If your economy sucks and people don’t have jobs, their crime rate is always through the roof. In Marietta, it’s 43% lower than the national average. Their real estate is 47% lower than the national average and their median home listing price is $99,000. Realistically, if you wanna get a place here, something decent that’s livable is about $150,000. If you get near the 250 to 300,000 you’re living in a nice place. The cost of living in Marietta is 16% lower than the national average meaning your estimated average monthly expenditure would be $1,466. That is not bad for a place that’s got a quality of life score of 89.
3.Denison, Iowa
If you pulled out a map and thought to yourself, you know what? I wanna live as far away as I can from any good-sized cities, where do I go? You would end up in Denison, Iowa. They’re an hour from Omaha, Nebraska, an hour and a half from Sioux City, Iowa, and two hours from Des Moines, Iowa. They do have a Walmart supercenter. Really, that’s all you need in this part of the country. And their hours are 6:00 AM to 11:00 PM. So if you wanna do any 1:00 AM shopping, you’re out of luck here. But if you have a phobia, be neat by a shark, this is probably the best place to live in the United States. It’s like dead center almost.
Denison has a population of about 8,300 residents and their crime rate is next to nothing. It’s actually 66% lower than the national average, which is phenomenal. Their home prices are 50% lower than the national average and their median home listing price is about $95,000. Now, realistically it’s closer to 200,000 because this is one of those places that have a lot of lots for sale and they drive down that median home listing price.
The cost of living in Denison is 20% lower than the national average. All their stats are great for this place. Schools are good, people are decent, they got things to do. If you don’t work in farms, you might wanna bring a job with you. That’s their only knock. But this is kind of geared towards retirement and you don’t really need a job if you’re retired properly. The estimated average monthly expenditure in Denison, Iowa is $1,415. Not bad for a place that’s got a quality of life score of 90.
2.Atlantic, Iowa
Staying in Iowa, we have the great city of Atlantic. I don’t know if it’s a great city. It’s a decent city to live, it’s got the name Atlantic out in the middle of the Prairie. Nobody can really agree on how they got the name Atlantic, but I think they’re trying to scare away all those people that are afraid of sharks. Local legends say that the founding fathers estimated that the town was about halfway between the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. So they just flipped a coin and Atlantic won. Atlantic has about 7,000 residents in every single one of their stats, but employment is phenomenal. I mean, employment’s not terrible but everything else is like graded A, A plus, the exact opposite of Atlantic City, New Jersey. Atlantic, Iowa, you could find right between Des Moines, Iowa and Omaha, Nebraska and like so many other places in this part of the country it is a phenomenal place to raise a family. Or just be retired and relax.
Just like Denison, they got a Walmart supercenter. So you will never run out of HoHos. And they got a pretty good size medical center called Atlantic Medical Center. So if you’re retired you won’t be going without medical care. It’s actually two things. There’s Atlantic Medical Center and in kind of the same little complex Cass County Memorial Hospital is right there too. So if you’re there for a colonoscopy, after you’re done you can just walk across the field to Super Bowls Sports Bar and Grill, do some bowling. If your colonoscopy doesn’t go well, you just pass by the super bowl and right across the street to the Atlantic Cemetery.
You don’t have to worry about getting killed by anything else here because their crime rate is 25% lower than the national average. Let’s say you do survive all that stuff, you can get a home here. Home prices are 50% lower than the national average. The median home listing price is $92,000. They have homes here for about 105. If you wanna get something nice, you’re looking at 200,000, that’s it. The cost of living here is 16% lower than the national average. And your estimated monthly expenditure would be $1,470. That’s the average. Not bad for a place that’s got a 90 quality of life score.
1.New Philadelphia, Ohio
New Philadelphia was started because old Philadelphia sucks. No, actually old Philadelphia is horrible in some places. Woo, I saw some videos of, I guess they’re homeless camps where all the people that are strung out or whatever are living. That was some scary stuff. I’ve seen some scary homeless stuff here in Portland, Oregon. What’s going on in Philadelphia was alarming.
New Philadelphia is south of Canton and Akron, Ohio. And it is west of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They’re one of the only towns I’ve seen on these lists that has continually grown in population. In the nineties, they did lose some population but most of their census since 1880, they’ve grown in population almost in double digits. They’ve had three census where they lost some people and all of them were like 3%. When you got a town in this part of the country that people aren’t flooded out of, that’s kind of tells you it’s a good place to live. And 17,000 people are living the good life in New Philadelphia.
Their crime rate is 73% lower than the national average. Their home prices are 42% lower than the national average and their median home listing price is about $107,000. Realistically, you’re looking around 200,000. The cost of living in New Philadelphia is 11% lower than the national average, giving you an average monthly expenditure of about $1,522. All that, and they have a quality of life score of 90.
All right, that’s today’s article. Hope you guys enjoyed it. Hope you got some information out of it. Now go out, have a great day. Be nice to each other. Do the same with this.