10 Best Small Towns In Southern United States For Retirees

There's a kind of arithmetic to retiring in the South that holds up across the region. Mild winters mean the heating bill stays low. Property taxes run lower than the national average in most of these states. Several Southern states either don't tax retirement income at all or exempt Social Security, pensions, and qualified IRA and 401(k) distributions. The seafood is reliably good. Strangers say hello on the sidewalk and mean it. The ten towns below cover the basics retirees ask about (cost of living, healthcare access, walkability, climate) and a few they don't (a working theater, a federal wildlife refuge at the edge of town, a Greek bakery on every other corner). Each one is a place where settling in is straightforward.

Beaufort, North Carolina

Beaufort is North Carolina's third-oldest town, established in 1709 and named for the 2nd Duke of Beaufort. The Crystal Coast position keeps winter mild (average January high in the mid-50s) and the in-town walking is flat and easy, with most of downtown sitting within half a mile of the Beaufort Inlet waterfront. Carteret Health Care, a 135-bed regional hospital, is in nearby Morehead City about ten minutes west, and Vidant Medical Center in Greenville is the closer tertiary referral center. The Olde Beaufort Farmers' Market runs Saturday mornings on Turner Street from May through October, and the Harvey W. Smith Watercraft Center at the North Carolina Maritime Museum offers boat-building classes on the water. North Carolina exempts Social Security but taxes most other retirement income at the flat 4.5% rate.

Abingdon, Virginia

Abingdon is a Washington County town in southwestern Virginia, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge near the Tennessee line. The town is anchored by the Barter Theatre, the State Theatre of Virginia, which has produced live performances year-round since 1933 (audiences originally paid in produce, hence the name). The 35-mile Virginia Creeper Trail leaves from the Abingdon trailhead and runs east through Damascus to the North Carolina line; the first three miles are flat and the rest is a long downhill grade if you start at the Whitetop end. Ballad Health's Johnston Memorial Hospital is in town and runs a Level III trauma center. The Martha Washington Inn anchors the historic district. Virginia taxes retirement income but exempts up to $40,000 of taxable income for residents 65 and older.

Ocean Springs, Mississippi

Ocean Springs sits on the east shore of Biloxi Bay in Jackson County, with a downtown built around Government Street and the historic Louisville and Nashville depot. Mississippi is one of the most retirement-friendly states in the country for tax purposes: it does not tax Social Security, pensions, or qualified IRA, 401(k), or 403(b) distributions. The state's regular income tax rate is currently 4.4% on income above $10,000 and is scheduled to drop to 4.0% in 2026 and to 3.0% by 2030 under the Build-Up Mississippi Act. Singing River Health System runs a 136-bed hospital just north of town, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast National Heritage Area covers the surrounding coastal counties. The Walter Anderson Museum of Art on Washington Avenue is the town's cultural anchor.

Blowing Rock, North Carolina

Blowing Rock sits at 3,566 feet in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Watauga County, the highest-elevation town in the state. The elevation makes the summers cooler than down the mountain (average July high around 76°F), which is part of why retirees come. The Blue Ridge Parkway crosses Highway 321 less than two miles from the town center, and Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, a former carriage estate, runs about 25 miles of carriage roads kept in walking condition for the public. Watauga Medical Center in Boone is six miles down the mountain, and Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist's tertiary hospital in Winston-Salem is about 90 miles east on US-421. Bistro Roca on Sunset Drive runs a regular Sunday brunch.

St. Augustine, Florida

St. Augustine, founded by the Spanish in 1565, is the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement in the contiguous United States. Florida has no state income tax, which is the headline reason retirees move here, and the local healthcare landscape is anchored by Flagler Hospital (recently affiliated with University of Florida Health) and HCA Florida Memorial Hospital in Jacksonville about 40 miles north. Beyond the Castillo de San Marcos, the town has a working public beach at St. Augustine Beach, a 31-mile network of bike paths in St. Johns County, and easy access to the Intracoastal Waterway. The Lightner Museum, a Henry Flagler hotel converted to a decorative-arts collection, runs a steady program of community events.

Eureka Springs, Arkansas

Eureka Springs sits in the Ozark Mountains of Carroll County, with a Victorian downtown built into the side of a hill: there are no traffic lights in the city limits because the streets are too narrow and steep, and Spring Street and Main Street weave around the hillside on different elevations. The town is small (about 2,200 year-round residents) and the median home price runs well below the national figure. Mercy Hospital Berryville covers basic care 15 miles east; major medical centers in Fayetteville sit about 50 miles south. The 1,610-acre Lake Leatherwood City Park, owned by the city, runs hiking and mountain biking trails plus a stocked fishing lake. Arkansas exempts the first $6,000 of pension income from state taxes for retirees.

Naples, Florida

Naples sits on the Paradise Coast in Collier County and is one of the most retirement-heavy towns in the country: the city's median age runs in the mid-60s, and the surrounding Collier County is built around 55-and-up communities like Pelican Bay and Lely Resort. The cost of living is well above the national average, but Florida's lack of state income tax and Naples' tier of healthcare (NCH Healthcare System runs a 715-bed hospital downtown, and Physicians Regional adds a second campus) compensate for the higher base cost. The Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge sits about 35 miles south for paddling, and Naples Botanical Garden runs 170 acres of gardens at the southern edge of the city.

Cumming, Georgia

Cumming is the seat of Forsyth County, a fast-growing exurb about 39 miles north of downtown Atlanta. Sawnee Mountain Preserve covers about 1,000 acres on the southern edge of town with eight miles of marked trails and an interpretive center. Northside Hospital Forsyth runs a 244-bed campus on Hospital Boulevard. Lake Lanier sits on the eastern side of the county for boating and fishing, with about 700 miles of shoreline. Georgia is one of the more tax-friendly states for retirees: it exempts Social Security and gives residents 65 and older up to $65,000 in retirement income exclusion (or $130,000 for couples). The county runs a Senior Services center on Pilgrim Mill Road.

Tarpon Springs, Florida

Tarpon Springs sits on the Anclote River in Pinellas County and has the highest percentage of Greek Americans of any city in the country, a holdover from the natural-sponge industry that brought sponge divers from the Dodecanese in the early 1900s. The Sponge Docks on Dodecanese Boulevard still ship sponges and run year-round, and the working bakeries (Hellas Restaurant and the National Bakery) handle the daily Greek pastry order. AdventHealth North Pinellas runs a 168-bed hospital on the south side of town. Florida's lack of state income tax applies, and Tampa is about 30 miles south on US-19 for the bigger-city day. Craig Park on the Spring Bayou holds the annual Epiphany cross-diving ceremony every January 6.

Hendersonville, North Carolina

Hendersonville is the seat of Henderson County in western North Carolina, sitting at about 2,200 feet in the Blue Ridge foothills. The county is the largest apple-producing area in the state, and the North Carolina Apple Festival has run on Main Street every Labor Day weekend since 1947. Pisgah National Forest sits a few miles west and covers more than 500,000 acres of national forest land. AdventHealth Hendersonville (formerly Park Ridge Health) and Pardee UNC Health Care both run hospitals in town, and Mission Hospital in Asheville is 26 miles north for higher-level care. Asheville Regional Airport sits halfway between the two cities, which makes flying out for medical appointments at Duke (about three and a half hours east) straightforward.

The Takeaway

The South delivers on the basics retirees ask about: mild winters, lower property taxes than most of the country, and several states (Florida, Mississippi, and Georgia among them) that either don't tax retirement income at all or exempt most of it. The ten towns above each lean into a different version of the equation. St. Augustine and Naples handle the no-income-tax Florida case. Ocean Springs picks up the Gulf Coast and Mississippi's broad retirement-income exemption. Blowing Rock and Hendersonville add elevation for retirees who want a real winter without a hard one. Pick the climate, then the tax bracket, then the town.