Among America's Best Small Towns For Retirees In 2025 Is A New York Village You've Never Heard Of

Look out the window of a Manhattan high rise facing east, and you might just be looking at your future retirement spot. The sleepy little village that AARP named America's best small community for retirees in 2025 is hiding in plain sight. The incorporated town of Great Neck Plaza, which has a population of around 8,000, is a long-overlooked village tucked away on Long Island's Great Neck Peninsula. AARP's livability index considers factors like transportation, health care, affordability, and social life, and it gives Great Neck Plaza a score of 73 out of 100.

Americans are re-thinking their retirement goals, and the dream is no longer all about Florida. Overtourism and extreme weather events like hurricanes are just two of the reasons many Americans regret retiring to beach towns. Isolation from friends and family is another reason, so if you're an urban East Coaster, why not pick a beautiful, historic town like Great Neck Plaza, especially when you're just over half an hour from New York City by train? With a rich and colorful cultural history, beautiful classic architecture, and a downtown that gives off Norman Rockwell "Main Street USA" vibes, Great Neck Plaza is the kind of place that's easy for friends and family to get to, with attractions that will make them want to come visit, even if they've never heard of the town. Plus, you can still pop over to Times Square to see a Broadway matinee with your senior discount.

While neighboring communities fell prey to strip mall development, Great Neck Plaza maintained its village character, which it still has to this day. According to the AARP's livability index, Great Neck Plaza gets particularly high scores in the categories of neighborhoods and transportation, even ranking much higher than larger towns. A brief walking tour will show you why. Well-preserved architectural specimens are everywhere you look, including rustic Tudor buildings from the 1800s, lavish apartment buildings from the 1920s, and a classic train station that can whisk you away to Penn Station in Manhattan (just 38 minutes away).

With its walkable historic downtown bustling with some 250 businesses, including retail shops and restaurants, Great Neck Plaza is the heart of the Great Neck Peninsula. The peninsula is made up of nine such villages, in an area that was once a playground for the rich and famous. The long list of celebrities who lived in Great Neck includes comedians like W.C. Fields, Groucho Marx, and Sid Caesar. "The Great Gatsby" author F. Scott Fitzgerald also did, and it is believed that he based the fictional town of West Egg on it. While the wealthy may have moved on to other picturesque villages in the Hamptons, the well-preserved architectural legacy is certainly helping this town stage a comeback as a retirement destination.

Great Neck Plaza has two hotels right in the village, both of which you can walk to from the train station. The Inn at Great Neck is a modern boutique hotel that has Gatsby-era Art Deco decor and an Asian fusion restaurant, Marco Polo. There's also The Andrew, a contemporary boutique hotel with mid-century modern appeal. It's a pet-friendly hotel where dogs are welcome to stay for an additional fee of $150 (at the time of writing). The hotel restaurant, Colbeh, offers kosher Mediterranean-Persian fusion cuisine.

The Andrew is also positioned to be a perfect base for visiting a nearby historic horse racing track, Belmont Park, reopening in fall 2026, following a major renovation. Nearly 300,000 square feet of modern amenities will include new tracks, grandstands, and entertainment venues designed by Populous, the architecture firm behind Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and Wembley Stadium in London. Neighboring UBS Arena hosts New York Islanders hockey games and concerts by acts like Barry Manilow, Bruce Springsteen, and Lionel Richie. If you're hoping to lure the grandkids, more contemporary performers like J. Cole make appearances, too.

If you retire here, you'll doubtless join the regulars at the beloved Great Neck Diner, which one Tripadvisor reviewer called "a neighborhood gem with the absolutely best diner menu and unbelievable food! Burgers, fries and egg creams are absolutely classic." A fizzy chocolate-or-vanilla-flavored drink (with no eggs), the egg cream is quite popular in New York, including at the historic Lexington Candy Shop on the Upper East Side.