Where Might I Live?County Guides ’26
An older couple sit on a bench watching the sunset over the water

Cheapest Places to Retire by County

Editorial Staff · September 19, 2026

147 counties match

Make this a wish: Where Might I Live highlights US counties where you might find it, in search of YOUR happy place. Combine wishes for healthcare, prices, and more.

Cheap homes and cheap rent. A place of your own at a price you could actually pay. Rent that leaves the rest of the month alone. The bill that usually comes first taking the smallest bite of what you have.

In 147 counties across 23 states both are among the cheapest in the country.2

The cost of a home in a county, whether a retiree buys or rents.1
WishesMatching countiesAcross the country in general
Cheap homes to buy3622in the typical state, the typical county has homes worth $225K
Cheap rent3662in the typical state, the typical county rents at $900 a month

We take the value of a typical home in the county and the rent on a typical home there, from the Census survey of American households, and a county matches only where both are among the cheapest in the country. A cheap home is not a cheap life: nothing here measures what it costs to heat it, insure it, or get from it to a doctor.

What stands out

  • Cheap to buy and cheap to rent are different maps: 362 counties are among the cheapest to buy, 366 among the cheapest to rent, and 147 are both.2
  • A typical home in the cheapest county in the country is worth about $49K, against $185K in the typical county and $1.63M in the most expensive.1
  • Rent in the cheapest county runs about $264 a month, against $877 in the typical county.1

Cheapest places to retire

Two people retiring the same year with the same savings. One buys outright in a county where a house is what a good car costs elsewhere, and keeps the rest. The other puts nearly all of it into a down payment and still owes money every month at seventy.

147 counties across 23 states have home values and rents among the cheapest in the country.2

Affordable places to retire

Housing is the biggest bill most retired people have, and the one that does not fall when income does. Lower it and everything else on a fixed income gets easier at once, whether the money went on a mortgage or on rent.

A retiree renting in the typical county pays about $877 a month, and in the cheapest county in the country the same home rents for about $264.1

Cheapest places to retire by county

A state is far too wide to answer this. Buyers and sellers set what a home is worth street by street, and a retiree comparing whole states never meets the counties inside them where housing costs least. 147 counties across 23 states have home values and rents among the cheapest in the country.2

Counties where buying and renting are both cheapest

These are small rural counties, and housing is cheap in them for one reason: fewer people are bidding for it.

Housing gets cheap a long way before it gets this cheap: 362 counties are among the cheapest in the country to buy in.2

Counties where homes cost the most

The other end of the same figure. A retiree selling in one of these and buying in one of the cheapest counties keeps most of the price.

Check what a home in the county you live in now is worth before you rule anywhere in or out. It takes a minute.

Plenty more places have homes this cheap. Start there and narrow as you go.

147 counties match366 counties match

Sources and review

  1. US Census Bureau, American Community Survey, ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Fact sheet (PDF).
  2. Where Might I Live county figures: what a home is worth and what rent costs in the county. Methodology
Written
2026-09-19
Reviewed by
Editorial Staff, 2026-09-27
Published
2026-10-04

Methodology page: how we build our county data