Westmoreland County among Pennsylvania's best places to retire

Ready to retire? Westmoreland County is a good place to do it, according to SmartAsset, a company that provides online advice on personal finances.

According to the company, Westmoreland County ranks among the top 10 Pennsylvania places to retire based on Social Security income, cost of living and taxes. SmartAsset used those factors to calculate where people are getting the most out of Social Security funds.

Ranking fifth in the state, Westmoreland County has an average cost of living of almost $18,230, with annual Social Security checks providing slightly more than $19,390, SmartAsset said. No taxes on those funds helped boost the county’s ranking. In the nation, Westmoreland County ranks 230th.

This is not the first time Westmoreland made the SmartAsset list. Last year, the county ranked ninth in the state and 355th in the nation.

Washington County came in behind Westmoreland, ranking eighth on the 2019 list and 350th in the nation.

Wayne County is ranked first in the state, followed by Sullivan, Juniata and Elk counties. Among remaining counties in Pennsylvania’s Top 10, Tioga grabbed sixth place, Lawrence seventh, Venango ninth and York 10th.

Box Butte County in Nebraska ranked first in the nation based on cost of living and Social Security, followed by Sumter County, Fla.; Storey County, Nev.; Custer County, Colo.; Wahklakum County, Wash.; Antrim County, Mich., Greene County, Ga., Emery County, Utah and Armstrong and Hartley counties in Texas.

To figure rankings out, SmartAsset looked at the average Social Security income for each county, according to the website. After that, officials calculated the taxes a typical retiree would pay on that income based on state Social Security rules. The taxes were then subtracted from the average income to calculate the net income from Social Security.

Officials then figured out how that income would cover basic necessities based on individual counties. That county-level cost of living was subtracted from each county’s net Social Security income.