Colorado lags the rest of the country in accommodating retirees surviving on just Social Security, but a few pockets around the state do provide seniors a little more breathing room financially, according to a study from SmartAsset.
“Planning where you’ll spend your retirement can be difficult, especially for folks who will be relying heavily on Social Security as a main source of income,” said Steve Sabato, a spokesman for the New York company.
Financial planners warn people not to rely on just Social Security to survive in their golden years, but about 23 percent of Colorado residents over age 65 count on it for 90 percent or more of their income, according to a 2015 study from AARP’s Public Policy Institute.
The average annual Social Security payout for adults 65 plus in Colorado, net of taxes, is $16,900, while their average cost of living, as determined by MIT’s Living Wage Calculator, is $19,785, according to SmartAsset.
Nationally, the gap is a smaller $17,124 a year in Social Security payments a year to cover $18,413 in average annual living costs.
The study found that, in general, seniors in rural areas are better able to cover their living costs than those in more populated Front Range metro areas.
“The urban Front Range is getting more expensive,” said Stephan Weiler, director of the Regional Economic Development Institute at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.
Custer County, home to the city of Westcliffe, had average annual Social Security payment of $19,694 and living costs of $18,247 a year, according to SmartAsset. Mineral and Ouray were the only other Colorado counties where the average Social Security income covered average annual living expenses.
Grand, Phillips, Chaffee, Archuleta, Summit, Sedgwick and Las Animas were areas that came closest to covering without covering, the study found.
While Custer ranks highest in Colorado, it ranks only 184th nationally, and Mineral County ranks 601st. And before metro Denver retirees start packing up for Westcliffe or Creede, Weiler warns of the expenses missed by cost-of-living calculators.
For example, while housing may cost less in most rural areas, health care and transportation costs can be significantly higher. Retirees who need more intense medical care or who want to fly frequently to see the grandchildren may end up spending more than if they had stayed in the big city.
In several rural areas, living costs were lower than those found in Custer, Mineral and Ouray and the other counties on the SmartAsset list. The reason they didn’t make the list is that Social Security earnings were also comparatively low, a reflection of the limited earning potential those areas provided their residents.
Only 23 of Colorado’s 64 counties have drawn in more of the 65-plus demographic than they have lost since 2010, said state demographer Elizabeth Garner.
“Using Census data, the top 10 net-migration counties since 2010 for 65-plus have been Douglas, Larimer, Boulder, Weld, Broomfield, El Paso, Adams, Mesa, Montrose and Fremont,” she said.
The counties that lost the most people in that age range were Denver, Eagle, Summit, Park and Pitkin counties.
