Nonmetropolitan Retirement Location

The purpose was to study future retirees who had indicated a preference to live in nonmetropolitan communities during the first ten years of retirement. The four community size preferences ranged from a community of less than 2,500 people to a community of 20,000 to 49,999 people. The first objective was to determine if age and income influence the importance of community characteristics. The second objective was to determine if the importance respondents placed on selected community characteristics differed by the size of nonmetropolitan area preferred for retirement living. Data from an age-stratified random sample of preretirees in four states were analyzed (N = 702). Multiple regression results indicated that age had a significant (p <.05) influence on the importance of medical facilities, low cost of living, low utility rates, and recreational facilities; income had a significant (p <.05) influence on the importance of low cost of living, proximity to family, and recreational facilities. One-way analysis of variance revealed that the importance of having medical facilities differed (p = .0002) according to the size of nonmetropolitan area preferred for retirement living

Cost of living · Demographic economics · Economic growth · Economics · Geography · Political science · Preference · Recreation · Retirement community · Rural community · Sample (material · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Stratified sampling · Demography · Health disparities and outcomes · Medicine · Migration, Aging, and Tourism Studies · Retirement, Disability, and Employment · Gerontology