Where are the happiest retirement hotspots in the UK?
If you’re thinking about retiring soon, you may be interested in finding the right place for you to enjoy your golden years. We reveal the happiest retirement hotspots in the UK.
Retirement is a huge milestone to reach after decades of hard work. If you’re considering moving once you retire, you may be interested in one of the happiest retirement hotspots.
L&G’s retail business has conducted extensive research on 632 parliamentary constituencies to discover the happiest retirement hotspots.
The study looked at six factors that measure a good quality of later life, including:
Housing: Access to residential care homes, availability of senior housing, and the percentage of senior housing.
Health: Access to GPs and dentists, NHS waiting times, and the percentage of over-65s in good and bad health.
Social and community: The proportion of residents aged 65+, life satisfaction levels, reported levels of happiness, and distance to the nearest train station.
Financial security: Average pension income, housing affordability, the cost of living, and lack of deprivation.
Nature: The number of reported ‘summer’ days, air quality, the percentage of addresses with private outdoor space, and the average size of this space.
Access to amenities: Access to pharmacies, supermarkets, post offices, banks, libraries, theatres, museums, historical sites, and gardens.
All areas that were looked at were given a score out of 100 based on the above factors.
Where are the top happiest retirement hotspots in the UK?
We’ll now reveal some of the happiest places for retirees to live.
| Ranking | Constituency | County | Overall index score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chesham and Amersham | Buckinghamshire | 74 |
| 2 | Beaconsfield | Buckinghamshire | 72 |
| 3 | Dorking and Horley | Surrey | 71 |
| 3 | Godalming and Ash | Surrey | 71 |
| 5 | Mid Sussex | West Sussex | 70 |
| 5 | Woking | Surrey | 70 |
| 5 | Farnham and Bordon | Surrey | 70 |
| 8 | Esher and Walton | Surrey | 69 |
| 8 | Suffolk Coastal | Suffolk | 69 |
| 10 | East Grinstead and Uckfield | Sussex | 68 |
| 10 | Henley and Thames | Oxfordshire | 68 |
| 10 | Sevenoaks | Kent | 68 |
| 10 | New Forest West | Hampshire | 68 |
Now we’ll explore the top retirement hotspots.
Farnham and Bordon scored 85 for health, 71 for social and community, and 69 for both financial security and nature. Its score for financial security was the lowest on this list.
The constituency also received 66 for housing and 55 for access to amenities.
Overall, Farnham and Bordon ranked 19th for retirement health.
Woking also scored 70 out of 100 alongside Farnham and Bordon, and Mid Sussex.
It scored 84 and 80 for health and financial security, respectively, followed by 74 for social and community, 72 for nature, 69 for housing and 30 for access to amenities, the latter of which was the lowest score on this list.
Mid Sussex, a local government district in West Sussex, includes many towns, such as Haywards Heath, also scored 70 out of 100.
The area scored highly for health, and social and community factors, at 81 and 80, respectively.
Mid Sussex scored 77 for financial security, 69 for housing and 59 and 53 for nature and access to amenities, respectively. Its score for nature was the lowest out of the top hotspots in this list.
Overall, Mid Sussex is fifth for retirement social life and community.
Godalming and Ash scored an impressive 86 for health, followed by 77 for financial security and 71 for social and community factors.
The constituency scored 69 for nature, 63 for housing, with the lowest score of 54 for access to amenities. Its score for housing is the lowest out of the top hotspots.
Overall, Godalming and Ash placed 13th for retirement health.
Dorking and Horley also scored 71 out of 100. When it came to health, and social and community factors, the area scored 85 and 82, respectively.
The constituency scored 72 for financial security, 70 for housing and 66 for nature.
Dorking and Horley are third for retirement social life and community, and 15th for health.
Beaconsfield scored an impressive 91 for health, followed by 79 and 73 for financial security and housing, respectively.
The constituency scored 69 for social and community, 62 for nature, and 61 for access to amenities.
It scored the joint lowest for social and community factors with Chesham and Amersham.
Overall, Beaconsfield ranks third for retirement health and 19th for later life housing.
In the top spot are Chesham and Amersham with a score of 74 out of 100.
The top score for the constituency was retirement health at 93, followed by financial security (78) and nature (72). The area scored 69 for social and community, 66 for housing, and 64 for access to amenities.
Overall, Chesham and Amersham are first for retirement health.
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