Retirement comparison reports
Where you retire changes far more than your address.
Taxes at every layer, housing, healthcare, Social Security timing and risk. Pick the places you're considering, enter your own numbers, and see them compared side by side, year by year.
You choose every place. We show the comparison and never tell you which to pick.
Personal retirement report · Sample
Sarah and Joe: stay, or move back home?
“Would moving home cost us, or would it pay for itself?”
Savings at 85, today's dollars · 16 chapters
The address is the part you can see.
Most retirement location sites stop at a ranking. A report goes underneath it, to the costs that actually decide whether a move works.
The place
Which state, which county, one home or two, a house or an RV.
DuPage County, IL → Allen County, IN
Taxes, every layer
Federal, state, county and city income tax; property tax; estate tax.
Property tax falls $6,710 in year one, while Indiana adds $4,237 of state and county income tax.
Housing
Selling, buying, property tax, insurance, upkeep, second homes and RVs.
$15,395 a year in DuPage County versus $6,585 in Allen County.
Social Security timing
Each spouse's claiming age, survivor benefits, and how much is taxed.
Every combination of claiming ages, side by side, in every place.
Healthcare
Coverage before 65, Medicare and Medigap quotes by county, hospital access.
Sarah's marketplace plan to 65, then Medicare, in both counties.
What could go wrong
A bad start in the market, higher inflation, one spouse dying first.
Every plan rerun under each stress test.
Which one sounds like you?
Three fictional households, three real questions. Each full sample report is 16 or more chapters, built the same way yours would be.
“Would moving home cost us, or would it pay for itself?”
Sarah and Joe, 63 and 65 · DuPage County, IL or Allen County, IN
Savings at 85: $426k if they stay, $811k if they move.
Open the sample reportTwo homes“Can we afford two homes, and does it matter which one is home?”
Linda and Mark, 66 and 68 · Crow Wing County, MN and Lee County, FL
Making Florida their legal home costs about $400 more in the first year, not less.
Open the sample reportRV snowbirding“Is the RV life a way to save money, or an expensive hobby?”
Dave and Carol, 64 and 62 · Summit County, OH and the road
Both RV plans run out of savings by 84. Staying home keeps $383k at 85.
Open the sample reportWhat's inside a report
Every chapter is built from your inputs and named public sources, with the assumptions shown so you or your adviser can check the math.
Sarah and Joe, 2026. Everyday spending of $54,000 is the same in both and included in the total.
Savings and home values, every year to 95.
| Joe \ Sarah | 65 | 67 | 70 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 67 | $251k | $278k | $312k |
| 70 | $331k | $369k | $405k |
Savings at 90 if they stay, for each pair of claiming ages. No cell is marked best.
Savings at 85: stay · move.
Which inputs move the comparison most.
- Allen County property tax
- Indiana tax rates
- Sarah's marketplace premium
- Medigap and Part D
What the report couldn't price is listed, never counted as zero.
Why not a free ranking or calculator?
They answer a different question.
| State rankings | Cost-of-living calculators | RetireLocation report | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uses your income, savings and home | No | Partly | Yes |
| Looks inside the state, county by county | No | Sometimes | Yes |
| Taxes on retirement income, every layer | State only | Rarely | Yes |
| Social Security claiming ages in each place | No | No | Yes |
| Two homes and RV plans | No | No | Yes |
| Every number sourced and dated | Varies | Varies | Yes |
| Tells you where to go | Yes | Sometimes | No, you choose |
The report column describes the sample reports above. Reports aren't on sale yet.
Start free. Go as deep as your decision needs.
No report can be bought yet. The early-access list hears first when reports open.
Free
$0
Guides, maps and tools
- County property tax and hazard map
- Stay-or-move comparison and hospital access map
- Savings, claiming and two-home calculators
- All guides
State comparison report
$19
One-time · up to 4 states you pick
- Up to 4 states you choose, compared at the state level
- Social Security explainer: each person's estimated benefit and birth year, and a couple view. No recommended claiming age or break-even
- Two income sliders, Traditional 401(k)/IRA (taxable) and Savings/Roth (untaxed), adding up to a yearly income taxed under each state's rules
- Federal tax shown once, shared across states, with the standard deduction assumed
- Not included: county data, pensions, brokerage accounts or a full profile
- Every assumption stated, plus what the $49 personal report adds
Personal retirement report
$49
One-time · your numbers, county level
- Your income, savings, homes and health quotes
- Year-by-year comparison to 95
- Every tax layer in dollars
- Social Security combinations and survivor view
- Stress tests and what would change it
Multi-location plan
Price at launch
Every 3 months · cancel anytime
- More places and scenarios while you decide
- Two homes, RV and move-back plans
- Alerts when tax laws or ballot measures affect your shortlist
- A refreshed report each quarter
Paid tiers describe what each report is planned to include at launch. The multi-location plan will email a reminder before each renewal.
How it works
Anything you don't know, the report estimates and labels as an estimate.
- 1
Choose your places and plans
Stay or move, one home or two, a house or an RV. Compare the plans you're actually weighing.
- 2
Enter your numbers
Savings, pensions, Social Security estimates, home values and any quotes you have.
- 3
Read the comparison
Every plan year by year, with sources, assumptions and a list of what to check next.
Try a piece of it free
Each free tool is one chapter of the report, running on the same data.
Latest guides
Browse all guides
Housing
Aging in Place vs. Moving to a Community: The Later-Care Math
Home modifications and in-home care versus a community's continuum. Both are priced by the county. How to compare them for the decade when care matters.
Published · 6 min read
Housing
Can Airbnb or VRBO Pay for Your Second Home? Check the County First
Short-term rental permits, caps, bans, and HOA rules are set by cities, counties, and associations. Verify them before the rental income goes in your budget.
Published · 6 min read
Where to Retire
Community Amenities vs. County Amenities
A pool and a fitness center inside the gate cost thousands a year in fees. The county's parks, senior center, library, and programs are mostly free. Which do you actually use?
Published · 4 min read
Healthcare
Hospital Access in Both of Your Locations
A two-location retirement needs two answers to 'where's the hospital.' How to check emergency, specialist, and chronic-care access in each county.
Published · 4 min read
Where to Retire
Living Abroad Part-Time? Your U.S. Home County Still Sets Your Costs
The magazines sell the destination. The U.S. county you keep goes on charging property tax, insurance, and state income tax the whole time you're away.
Published · 6 min read
Housing
Manufactured-Home and Land-Lease Retirement Communities
Low purchase price, rising lot rent, and no land equity. How land-lease communities work, what investor ownership has done to rents, and what to check first.
Published · 5 min read
Built so you can check it
You're making expensive, hard-to-reverse decisions. The report only works if you can see how every number was made.
We compare. You choose.
Reports only cover the places and plans you pick. There's no "best place for you" and no highlighted winner.
Sources on everything
Every figure names its public source and the date of its data.
Unknown is never zero
What we can't price is listed as something to check, not quietly left out.
Assumptions in the open
Returns, inflation and every quote are shown, so you or your adviser can test them.
Educational information, not financial, tax or legal advice. For decisions, talk with a fee-only professional. Methodology and sources
Be first to run your own report.
Early-access members get founding prices and a first look at the personal report. One email when it's ready.