JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ky. — A new study from financial technology company SmartAsset ranked the best counties in Kentucky to retire and Jefferson County is among the top choices.
Their analysis considered three criteria:
- Tax-friendliness.
- Medical care.
- Social opportunities.
Counties which ranked the best across these metrics were the counties that ranked highest in the study.
According to the study Jefferson County ranked ninth among the top 10 best places to retire in Kentucky.
Here is Jefferson Counties stats according to the study:
- Tax Burden: 17%
- Medical Centers per 1,000: 1.64
- Recreation Centers per 1,000: .43
- Retirement communities per 1,000: .05
- Percent of Seniors: 16.1%
- Best places to retire index: 42.91
The top 10 counties are:
- Boyle County.
- McCracken County.
- Greenup County.
- Pulaski County.
- Henderson County.
- Daviess County.
- Shelby County.
- Calloway County.
- Jefferson County.
- Oldham County.
For a full county-by-county breakdown, you can go to SmartAssets website.
To compile that data, the company analyzed state and local tax rates, and considered two types of taxes: income and sales.
Effective rates are based on a retiree earning $35,000 annually (from retirement savings, Social Security and part-time employment) and subtracting income taxes paid from the gross income to determine disposable income.
Sales taxes paid were calculated based on the disposable income being spent on taxable goods.
They also determined the number of doctors’ offices, recreation centers and retirement centers per 1,000 residents in each location.
SmartAsset also measured the number of seniors in each city as a percentage of the total population.
After each location was ranked they calculated an average ranking for each area and weighted the three factors equally. The areas with the highest average ranking were determined to be the best places to retire.
