24/7 Wall Street used 17 factors in study
If you’re thinking about retiring in Kentucky and wonder where the best place is for retirement, chances are you already live there — or nearby.
The website 24/7 Wall Street compiled a list of the best places to retire in each state.
And in Kentucky, the site says, it’s Daviess County.
“That’s fantastic,” Candance Castlen Brake, president of the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce, said Friday. “That’s wonderful news. That’s another huge piece of the talent recruitment puzzle.”
Retirees bring a lot of talent into a community, she said.
Daviess County’s cost of living is low, Brake said.
The quality is life is high, and the county has good health care, she said.
The website said it created an index based on 17 health and economic considerations.
Health factors, it said, included the number of health professionals per capita, the presence of social institutions, access to exercise facilities and the prevalence of diseases such as diabetes.
Economic factors included median home values, the estimated monthly cost of living for two people and the amount of state and local taxes.
It said that 16.2% of Daviess Countians are 65 and older.
That ranked 73rd among Kentucky’s 120 counties.
The study found that there are 56.7 primary care physicians per 100,000 people.
The county’s population is estimated at 101,104
The site said the estimated monthly living expenses for two people here is $3,649.43 — 57th out of 120 counties.
The median home value here, the study said, is $123,200.
The website said, “Baby Boomers — people born from 1946 to 1964 — started turning 65 in 2011 and are today entering retirement in unprecedented numbers. According to the National Institute on Aging, this generation is retiring at a rate of 10,000 people per day. By 2030, 20% of the U.S. pop will be comprised of elderly Americans, climbing from 15% in 2015.”
In 2015, SmartAsset.com said Kentucky was best state for early retirees to call home.
Daviess County has been somewhat ambivalent toward attracting retirees in the past.
At times, there has been a behind-the-scenes debate over whether the county wanted more retirees.
There were concerns about a declining tax base because of Kentucky’s Homestead Exemption Act, which exempts from taxes $39,300 of the assessed value of a home owned by someone 65 and older or a disabled person.
In other words, a person 65 and older would pay taxes on $60,700 if their house was valued at $100,000.
A younger person would pay taxes on the full $100,000.
And they both get the same services.
But the issue hasn’t been discussed publicly in recent years.
Keith Lawrence, 270-691-7301, klawrence@messenger-inquirer.com