Joane Acar

In the right small town, a fixed income can feel like a raise. Johnstown, Pennsylvania, has houses around $110,000, and Natchez, Mississippi, around $120,000. Wyoming, Tennessee, and Florida take nothing out of retirement income, and New Hampshire adds no sales tax on top. At nearly 6,000 feet in Silver City, New Mexico, summers stay mild and winters stay light, with homes in the low $200,000s. Here are eleven of the best small US towns to retire in without spending a fortune.

The Southern United States is home to some of the best places to live in the country. Charleston wraps a 1770 college and a major medical school into a walkable downtown. Richmond turned its riverfront into a hub for artists and small-business owners. Up in Chattanooga, a mountain and a major aquarium are minutes apart. These cities share affordable homes and real jobs. The hard part is choosing just one. Charleston, South Carolina Historical downtown area of Charleston, South Carolina.

Skaneateles holds about 130 Federal, Greek Revival, and Italianate buildings within walking distance of the clearest lake in the Finger Lakes region. Lake Placid sits in the High Peaks with Whiteface Mountain rising 4,867 feet to the east. Aurora's one-mile Main Street follows the east shore of Cayuga Lake. The fourteen New York towns ahead split into four regional clusters: the Adirondacks, the Catskills and Hudson Valley, the Finger Lakes country, and the river-and-Atlantic edges.