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Hanover Takes the Lead in SmartAsset's Study on Best Places for Retirees

Jul 24, 2017 03:02PM ● By Linda Ditch
Recently, the financial website SmartAsset released its third annual study on the most tax-friendly places for retirees. The results show Hanover as the most tax-friendly place in New Hampshire to retire. Portsmouth came in second, followed by Hampton, Hudson, and Laconia.

SmartAsset is a financial technology website that offers tools designed to help “provide simple, easy to understand answers to complex financial questions.” The site has calculation tools for everything from home buying and refinancing to banking, life insurance, taxes, and credit cards. Their retirement calculators include ones for overall retirement, 401(k), and Social Security, along with the Retirement Tax Friendliness Calculator.

The study ranks locations in every state on a Retirement Tax Friendliness Index, which looks at property, income, fuel, sales, and Social Security tax data. It found that our state is popular overall with retirees in New England thanks to a lower cost of living and some of the lowest retirement taxes compared to other states in the region. Our lack of personal income tax and sales tax helps balance out our higher property taxes (more than twice the national average) and five-percent tax on interest and dividends. No personal income tax means Social Security retirement benefits are tax free in the state, as well as on income from pensions and retirement accounts.

SmartAsset based the study on a hypothetical retiree with a $50,000 annual income broken down as getting $15,000 from Social Security benefits, $10,000 from a private pension, $15,000 from retirement savings, and $10,000 from wages. Then they applied all the expected income tax deductions and exemptions to calculate how much this person would pay at the federal, state, county, and local income tax levels. Property tax was calculated by dividing median property tax paid by median home value for each city.


To check out how other cities were rated in New Hampshire and throughout the rest of the United States, visit the SmartAsset website (https://smartasset.com/retirement/new-hampshire-retirement-taxes#newhampshire).          

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