Yahoo Finance Why You Won’t Be Able To Afford Retiring in These 15 Cities in Colorado
Colorado ranks as one of the most expensive states to live in when you include high-dollar resort communities like Aspen and Vail or some of the pricier communities around Denver and Boulder. You’ll find much more affordable cities and towns elsewhere in the Centennial State, though they might not be ideal for retirees because of a lack of amenities.
A recent GOBankingRates study looked at each state to determine how long $1 million would last you in retirement. In Colorado, $1 million would last you an average of 16 years, two months and four days. That ranked it as the 16th most expensive state for retirees with a $1 million nest egg.
Here’s how the costs broke down:
Annual groceries cost: $4,979
Annual housing cost: $13,691
Annual utilities cost: $3,944
Annual transportation cost: $5,254
Annual healthcare cost: $7,465
Total annual expenditures: $61,807
When you break those annual expenditures down further, they come to about $5,150 a month. But plenty of municipalities in Colorado will cost you a whole lot more than that. A separate GBR study that looked at costs in thousands of U.S. communities found that average monthly expenditures in Aspen are a whopping $56,746 — the second highest in the country behind Palm Beach, Florida.
Much of Aspen’s expense is based on an average monthly mortgage of about $55,000, which means many homes are priced at $10 million or above. Other ultra-expensive Colorado communities include Mountain Village ($36,542 a month), Snowmass Village ($31,458) and Telluride ($29,715).
Obviously, you need to be wealthy to retire in any of those places. But there are also dozens of less expensive communities that are still out of reach for most U.S. retirees.
Following are 15 Colorado cities where retirement is unaffordable based on GBR’s analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Sperlings BestPlaces, AreaVibes, Zillow Home Value Index and the Federal Reserve. All cities listed have average living expenses above $6,000 a month.
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Dillon
Average monthly expenditures: $1,703
Average monthly mortgage: $6,568
Monthly cost of living: $8,271
Sedalia
Average monthly expenditures: $1,888
Average monthly mortgage: $5,250
Monthly cost of living: $7,138
Meridian
Average monthly expenditures: $1,836
Average monthly mortgage: $4,679
Monthly cost of living: $6,515
Estes Park
Average monthly expenditures: $1,773
Average monthly mortgage: $4,748
Monthly cost of living: $6,521
Lyons
Average monthly expenditures: $1,827
Average monthly mortgage: $4,605
Monthly cost of living: $6,432
Durango
Average monthly expenditures: $1,701
Average monthly mortgage: $4,657
Monthly cost of living: $6,358
Highlands Ranch
Average monthly expenditures: $1,863
Average monthly mortgage: $4,422
Monthly cost of living: $6,285
Erie
Average monthly expenditures: $1,805
Average monthly mortgage: $4,474
Monthly cost of living: $6,279
Monument
Average monthly expenditures: $1,787
Average monthly mortgage: $4,463
Monthly cost of living: $6,250
Lafayette
Average monthly expenditures: $1,799
Average monthly mortgage: $4,434
Monthly cost of living: $6,234
Morrison
Average monthly expenditures: $1,874
Average monthly mortgage: $4,268
Monthly cost of living: $6,142
Parker
Average monthly expenditures: $1,880
Average monthly mortgage: $4,255
Monthly cost of living: $6,135
Gypsum
Average monthly expenditures: $1,749
Average monthly mortgage: $4,386
Monthly cost of living: $6,135
Elizabeth
Average monthly expenditures: $1,930
Average monthly mortgage: $4,130
Monthly cost of living: $6,060
Ouray
Average monthly expenditures: $1,756
Average monthly mortgage: $4,288
Monthly cost of living: $6,044
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Why You Won’t Be Able To Afford Retiring in These 15 Cities in Colorado
