Sonoma a retirement heaven, says study

Sonoma ranked seventh best city for old folks|

Sonoma may not be able to touch Beverly Hills as a pleasant place for elderly Californians to retire, but it’s still better than Westlake Village, Ojai or Marina Del Rey.

According to a study recently published by SmartAsset – a personal finance technology company based in New York – the city of Sonoma ranks as the seventh best place in California for folks to retire. Ranking under the number one choice of Beverly Hills are Laguna Woods (no. 2), Indian Wells (no. 3), Auburn (no. 4), West Hollywood (no. 5), and Rancho Mirage (no. 6).

Sonoma earned its seventh place slot for a combination of statistical and demographic reasons.

Chief among the factors examined by SmartAsset are an area’s tax rates, its number of doctors’ offices per 1,000 people, recreation centers per 1,000 people, retirement centers per 1,000 people, and the number of seniors residing in the area.

Also factored in were the cities’ ratings on a so-called Recreation and Social Index. Sonoma hits 49.59 on SmartAsset’s Recreation and Social Index, compared to 89.45 for Beverly Hills and 39.69 for Ojai.

Overall, Sonoma’s top 10 rating seems based more on the general appeal of Wine Country than the city’s actual ranking in terms of doctors’ offices (3.9 per 1,000) and retirement centers (0.8).

Though its 13 percent tax rate places Sonoma amongst the highest on the list – only Beverly Hills (13.8 percent) and West Hollywood (13.8 percent) are higher – the Valley nevertheless shows a large number of seniors in residence (28.6 percent), and considers the area’s general high standard of living and access to first-rate food, recreation and cultural resources as a major reason Sonoma is a highly desirable place to retire.

Take that Ojai.

Contact David at david.templeton@sonomanews.com

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