Yahoo Finance 10 Best Cities Abroad Where You Can Live on Social Security Only
It’s getting harder and harder to stretch a Social Security check far enough to cover the cost of living in America, so many retirees turn to living abroad where costs are lower. In addition to enjoying a new culture, American retirees may find that a Social Security check is enough to live off overseas, sometimes comfortably.
To determine the best cities abroad where you can live on Social Security only, GOBankingRates used data from the Social Security Administration and Numbeo to find the cost of living in various foreign cities versus the average Social Security check, as of July 2024.
Find out which countries have an incredibly affordable cost of living.
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Malaysia
Monthly savings (after expenditures): $1,045
This Southeast Asian country is incredibly affordable, with average rent for a one-bedroom in a city center at around $338 and a total cost of living at around $822.
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Morocco
Monthly savings (after expenditures): $1,047
A single person could expect to live on just $820 in Morocco. The average rent for a one-bedroom is around $334.
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Vietnam
Monthly savings (after expenditures): $1,054
In the beautiful South Asian country of Vietnam, a single person can comfortably live on about $814 per month.
Indonesia
Monthly savings (after expenditures): $1,134
Your money will go far in Indonesia. A single person can expect to pay around $733 total monthly, with less than $300 of that going to rent.
Sri Lanka
Monthly savings (after expenditures): $1,155
Sri Lanka, located off the southern coast of India, offers a more than reasonable cost of living, at about $712 for a single person.
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Tunisia
Monthly savings (after expenditures): $1,193
A single person in this North African country can survive on a very reasonable $675 per month, with only $219 of that going toward rent.
Algeria
Monthly savings (after expenditures): $1,205
Algeria, another North African country, located between Morocco and Tunisia, is a comfortable place to live on just $663 per month. A single person will have more than $1,200 remaining to thrive.
India
Monthly savings (after expenditures): $1,317
India is the third most affordable country on this list, though you’ll join a population of over 1.4 billion people.
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Nepal
Monthly savings (after expenditures): $1,334
This South Asian country holds the second spot on this list, with about $1,334 remaining after you pay your monthly cost of living.
Egypt
Monthly savings (after expenditures): $1,347
In addition to the wonders of ancient Egypt and all that modern cities like Cairo have to offer, American retirees can expect to keep about $1,347 in their pockets from the average Social Security check every month.
Jordan Rosenfeld and John Csiszar contributed to the reporting for this article.
Note: all costs shown are in USD.
Methodology: For this study, GOBankingRates analyzed countries to find the best cities where you can afford to live on Social Security Benefits. First GOBankingRates determined the habits of someone to keep the costs consistent for all countries. The household for this study is one person in the household, eating lunch or dinner in restaurants 20% of the time and when eating in restaurants they choose inexpensive 70% of the time, they drink coffee outside the home on a low level, they go out once per week, they do not smoke cigarettes, they moderately consume alcoholic, they eat western-style food at home, they do not drive, the do not take a taxi, they buy a monthly public transportation pass, they use local sports memberships, they don’t travel, they moderately buy clothes, they have no kids for which they are paying for schooling and they rent a one bedroom apartment in the city center. Using these traits, GOBankingRates analyzed countries around the world for their cost-of-living indexes as sourced from Numbeo. The average full Social Security benefits for one person was sourced from the Social Security Administration. The average Social Security benefits and average total cost of living can be used to calculated the leftover savings. The countries were sorted to show the cheapest to the most expensive in order to find the cities abroad where you can live on Social Security benefits. All data was collected and is up to date as of July 18, 2024.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 10 Best Cities Abroad Where You Can Live on Social Security Only
