Seniors Are Fleeing The NYC Area In Droves, Study Shows

NEW YORK — It's not just the snowbirds who are getting out of the Big Apple. Senior citizens are fleeing the New York City area in droves and only about half as many are moving in to replace them, a recent study indicates.

Some 33,638 retirees older than 65 left the New York metropolitan area from 2016 to 2017 while just 18,262 entered the region, according to a MagnifyMoney report published last week. That means the region effectively lost more than 15,000 seniors — the biggest number for any metro area in the nation, according to the report.

That figure puts the New York area at the bottom of MagnifyMoney's ranking of the nation's most popular destinations for retirees. The personal finance website found that "bustling metro areas full of workers bees weren’t desirable spots" for oldsters, as big cities often lose people who are out of the work force.

As such, the Chicago and Los Angeles areas saw the second- and third-largest outflows of retirees, losing 8,497 and 8,332 seniors respectively, the report shows.

By contrast, Florida and Arizona are home to the nation's top retirement hotspots, according to MagnifyMoney, which is owned by the mortgage service LendingTree. The Pheonix area ranked No. 1 with a net gain of 7,129 seniors, followed by the Tampa and Sarasota areas in Florida at Nos. 2 and 3 respectively.

MagnifyMoney's analysis is based on data from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, which offers survey and census figures from around the world.

Read MagnifyMoney's full report here.