Is a Rural Retirement for You?
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
March 25, 2025 — It usually starts with a weekend or vacation home in the mountains or a peaceful lake. As the years go by, the appeal of living there full time grows ever more strong. So when it comes time to retire, the direction seems clear – let’s go rural for your senior years. This article will explore the pros and cons of retiring in a rural environment, then you can make up your own mind.
What is a rural retirement
For our purposes here we will consider a rural retirement as any place that is outside of a city, town, or suburb. Somewhere where there are plenty of open spaces, be it in the country, mountains, or on a river or lake. There are degrees of ruralness of course. Plenty of rural environments are an easy drive to a town or city. And then there are those that are truly out there – hours from a hospital, medical offices, and big box stores – sometimes along difficult roads.
On the plus side
Living in the country appeals to a certain kind of person. They value their independence and generally seek a quieter life. Here are some of the things they are looking for:
Peace and quiet. People who retire in the country cite the peace and quiet that comes from living far away from the hubbub.
No traffic. They love the absence of congestion and traffic that can bring so much frustration.
The natural world. The easily accessible natural beauty, wildlife, and outdoor recreation is a huge plus to many folks who go rural.
No nosy, noisy neighbors. They are a welcome absence in the country.
Live as you please. These retirees enjoy not having to contend with strict zoning or architectural review boards.
Trading up for more space and less money. Rural real estate is generally less expensive than in town or the suburbs. So you can trade your existing house for one with more space and/or land, and maybe have enough left over to put money in the bank towards your other retirement expenses.
Negatively speaking
Many other folks love the excitement of a city, the neighborliness of a small town, or the activities and social life of a 55+ active community. Putting them in the sticks would seem like a prison sentence. Here are some of the disadvantages of a rural retirement:
Lack of social interaction. Neighbors are generally few and far between, and you better like the folks who live nearest.
Limited cultural activities. For folks who love concerts, plays, museums and libraries a rural environment seems very sterile. Of course with periodic stays in a city, one can overcome that.
A restaurant desert. People who love to go out to eat at different restaurants won’t like living in the country, where the choices are few and far between.
Lack of medical facilities. The biggest drawback to a rural retirement has to be medical. In your 60’s you might not feel the need to be close to good emergency and specialty healthcare. As we age, our health problems usually get more acute. The prospect of a 2 hour drive or ambulance ride is daunting. Periodic visits to a specialist of some kind might require a similar trek, even requiring overnight stays.
No good shopping. In the country you might be limited to one small market, which might be a Dollar General. With no big box stores in the area, you’ll have to rely on ordering most stuff online.
Bottom line
There are plenty of advantages and disadvantages to living in a rural environment. In the end it is a personal choice of what you value most. The important thing is to know what you are getting into before you make a big move. On this score, folks with weekend and vacation experience have an advantage.
Comments? Have you considered a rural environment, or is that where you live now? Please tell us about your experiences, what you love and don’t love about it in the Comments section below.
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Comments on "Is a Rural Retirement for You?"
RichPBh says:
Wow, does this strike home! Before retiring, we had our fully self-designed, rural home in the woods built for future retirement. 11 years later we retired having worked to fully pay off the mortgage early. Quite frankly, the 30+ years we lived there were some of the most satisfying and happy years of our lives. No regrets on that count.
But there are caveats. At 45, our 3-story house delivered great views, but 30 years later we were looking into a stair- lifter -- and still are for our new home. With rural, assume more time to get anywhere. We used to say we were 20 minutes from everywhere, at least 20 minutes from anywhere. Consider a guick trip for bread -- not possible, took almost an hour.
I planned to and did take care of almost all upkeep and improvements, but after bad back issues 5 years ago, that became impossible and the cost of upkeep became a real budget hit -- especially so far out with travel time.
One thing we accepted was 20 minutes to ER. Could be a problem for some especially with EMTs taking 20 minutes to get to us. Now we are 5 minutes away.
One last comment -- know yourself. We left that home to move to a beautiful retirement condo in a really good location. HOA issues caused us to leave, but we were at the condo long enough to accept that we are not condo people. Numerous daily nuisances, but would not have moved but for that HOA. (Caution: all was fine when we moved in, but six months later brought new members with unreasonable demands). Looking back, we knew we loved our relative isolation for 30 years -- condo not so much. We've now moved to a newer, minimal upkeep, single family home. Personally, I'm very pleased to live in a pocket community with people of all ages including kids.
Steve T says:
Your article concisely hits the main points of rural living. For me, inconvenient distances from shopping, doctors etc. is a worth wile trade off for the peace and quiet and slower more relaxed life style. Probably add years to you life also. You also have to be more self reliant because competent help with repairs or upkeep may be scarce. I would miss cultural attractions but that can be solved by living reasonable close to a town or city which fills that need. Lastly, having lived in a condo for two years before I called it quits, I do strongly agree with Rich. I'll never go back to a condo because of the condo association, almost total lack of privacy and the fact that one condo owner's problems tend to become everyone's problems. You are living in just too close contact with other people - not cool.