The AARP Says This Vibrant West Coast Gem Is The Best Big City In America For Retirees (If You Can Afford It)

Reports often suggest that Americans relocating for retirement are escaping the noisy, bustling, and expensive city where they made their livelihood to replace it with a quieter, more relaxed pace of life in the countryside. But the proverbial traffic doesn't have to be one way. And according to the AARP, one of America's most vibrant and iconic cities, San Francisco, is the best large urban area in the country for older adults to live. The AARP report praised San Francisco's convenience and sense of community, noting the city's solid public transport network, residents' access to parks, libraries, and amenities, and the abundant opportunities for social interaction.

Living out the autumn of your years in the Bay Area comes with a proviso, though: First, make sure you can afford it. According to Payscale, the average rent in San Francisco is more than $4,000 a month, while utilities cost around 50% higher than the national average. A WalletHub report ranked San Francisco the third-best food city in America — a boon to any potential emigre — yet it's also one of the most expensive, for residents and visitors alike. Recent data from GoBankingRates placed San Francisco as the most expensive tourist destination in California.

The steep costs of life in San Francisco are difficult to circumvent, but in return, you get access to a place that's long been regarded as one of the most fun cities in America. There's the top-drawer food scene, replete with Michelin-starred restaurants and cosmopolitan gastronomic neighborhoods like the Richmond and the Mission District. You could spend an afternoon strolling along the lively, historic streets of Haight-Ashbury, still redolent with the countercultural atmosphere that put it on the map in the 1960s. You can also enjoy the Bay Area's wind-swept beaches and the year-round temperate weather that typifies this stretch of America's West Coast.

San Francisco is fun, no matter your age. If you enjoy a morning stroll, or even a run when you're feeling up to it, there are lovely parks throughout the city, including Golden Gate Park, Glen Canyon Park, Land's End, and the Presidio, a former military site now transformed into a scenic escape. Museophiles are spoilt for choice, too. The de Young Museum and SFMOMA are repositories of fine and contemporary art, and you can roll back the years at the Beat Museum, commemorating the iconoclastic artists and thinkers that defined the 1950s Beatnik movement.

There are also attractions celebrating San Francisco's multiculturalism, from the Museum of the African Diaspora to the tranquil Japanese Tea Garden. This is mirrored in the local culinary world, with areas like Chinatown, the largest and oldest of its kind in the U.S., and Japantown showcasing Asian cultures through the language of food. For more cultural immersion, spend time in North Beach, affectionately known as Little Italy, where you'll find restaurants serving pizza and handmade pasta, as well as Caffe Trieste, where Francis Ford Coppola wrote "The Godfather" screenplay, per Golden Globes.

The quieter, coast-facing suburbs tend to be popular neighborhoods for retirees to live. Sea Cliff offers awesome views, with the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Golden Gate Bridge and the Presidio to the east. Further inland, Pacific Heights, with its pastel-colored mansions and roads unfurling towards the Bay, is another popular choice. If the high cost of living in San Francisco is a deal breaker, you could consider moving to a cheaper Bay Area alternative. Vallejo, known as the "Spirit Of The Bay," is a more affordable place to retire, and it's only a 40-minute drive from the city, or an hour by ferry.