Something big is happening with how Americans think about retirement. It’s no longer just about picking the right Florida zip code or downsizing to a smaller suburb. Increasingly, people are looking at a map of the entire world and asking a question that would have seemed radical a generation ago: Why stay?
The numbers behind this shift are remarkable, and the reasons driving it are deeply tied to financial anxiety, healthcare costs, housing prices, and a growing desire for something more. This isn’t a fringe idea anymore. it’s a full-blown cultural movement with real data behind it.
Here Are the 10 Key Reasons Driving This Remarkable Trend
Retiring overseas used to be seen as an adventurous outlier choice, something reserved for the unusually bold or the fabulously wealthy. Today, it’s increasingly the pragmatic, calculated decision of ordinary middle-class Americans who have run the numbers and realized that geography might be the most powerful retirement planning tool they have.
The forces pushing this trend are economic, cultural, political, and deeply personal – and honestly, some of them might genuinely surprise you. Here are the 10 key reasons driving this remarkable trend.
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1. The U.S. Retirement Savings Crisis Is Very Real
Let’s be honest about where things stand. The average American worker has less than $1,000 saved for retirement, underscoring the financial strain millions could face in old age, according to a report from the National Institute on Retirement Security. That figure isn’t cherry-picked – it factors in workers with 401(k) and other retirement plan savings, while also including the roughly 56 million U.S. workers who lack access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan, with a median savings of just $955 for all employed adults between the ages of 21 and 64.
Prudential’s 2024 Pulse of the American Retiree Survey found that 55-year-olds have median retirement savings of less than $50,000, falling significantly short of the recommended goal of having eight times one’s annual income saved by that age. Two-thirds of 55-year-olds fear they will outlive their savings. When you look at those numbers, the choice to retire abroad stops looking like escapism and starts looking like basic math.
Two-thirds of retired Americans say the U.S. is in a retirement crisis. Roughly 45% of U.S. households are predicted to fall short of money in retirement by leaving the workforce at age 65, according to a Morningstar model that analyzed spending, investing, life expectancy, and other factors. For many, moving abroad isn’t a dream – it’s the only plan that actually pencils out.
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2. Your Dollar Goes Dramatically Further Abroad
Here’s the thing that surprises most people when they first look into this. All of the top retirement destinations consistently ranked for Americans have a monthly cost of living that is between 34% and 71% lower than the United States. Think about that for a moment. Your fixed income suddenly buys twice as much life.
According to Numbeo 2025 data, rents, food, and utilities in Europe are 35 to 45% cheaper than in the U.S. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports the average American aged 65 and above spends $5,007 a month to live. Meanwhile, in Catalonia’s Tarragona a retiree’s monthly budget was estimated at just $2,008, and in the Thai retreat of Hua Hin, at only $1,442.
According to Investopedia’s analysis of official U.S. statistics, the number of American retirees relocating internationally grew from 500,000 in 2016 to 760,000 by 2024. People are voting with their feet, and the cost-of-living math is a huge part of why.
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3. Healthcare Abroad Is Cheaper and Often Comparable in Quality
Healthcare costs are probably the single biggest fear Americans carry into retirement, and for good reason. The U.S. currently has the world’s most expensive private healthcare market, with average annual international private medical insurance premiums of about $18,000 per person, according to a report by Henley and Partners. That figure alone is enough to make someone seriously reconsider where they live.
Europe spends nearly half per capita compared to the U.S. and provides wider healthcare coverage with limited premium hikes. A knee replacement that costs $30,000 in the U.S. runs just $10,000 to $13,000 in Bangkok at internationally accredited hospitals. Mexico boasts healthcare costs a whopping 60% less than U.S. prices.
I think the quality concern holds people back more than it should. Many hospitals in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and southern Europe are modern, internationally accredited, and frankly less chaotic than overloaded American emergency rooms. The gap is much smaller than most Americans assume.
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4. Medicare Does Not Travel With You – and That Forces Smarter Planning
Medicare Part A and Part B, often referred to as Original Medicare, generally do not provide coverage for healthcare services outside of the U.S., which means if you are living abroad, these parts of Medicare won’t help with medical expenses such as doctor visits, hospital stays, or ambulance services. This is a hard reality that surprises many people when they begin planning. U.S. Medicare and Medicaid simply do not pay for medical care outside the United States.
In countries with national healthcare systems that extend to legal residents, such as Spain, Portugal, Italy, or Greece, some expats simply use the local public healthcare and purchase supplemental catastrophic insurance for emergencies. In Portugal, you pay modest fees of €5 to €10 for appointments with small copays for prescriptions, and many expats add a private insurance policy for €50 to €100 monthly that covers private hospitals, shorter wait times, and English-speaking doctors.
Surprisingly, this constraint often leads to better planning. Retirees are forced to think creatively and proactively about their healthcare, and many discover that international private coverage combined with local systems still costs a fraction of what they would pay navigating the American healthcare maze at home.
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5. Many Countries Are Actively Recruiting American Retirees With Visa Programs
This is one of the parts most people don’t realize. You don’t just show up and hope for the best. Most top retirement destinations provide retirement-specific visas, favorable tax laws, and strong expat communities to make settling in easier. Golden Visa, D7, D8 visas, and passive income visas provide a fast track to legal residence.
Greece offers user-friendly residency visas and special tax perks for retirees, with a non-domicile regime where a retiree’s passive income is taxed at a flat rate of just 7% for up to 15 years. Spain offers a non-lucrative residency visa that most U.S. retirees can qualify for, with the main requirement being sufficient income, set at about $2,535 per month for an individual.
The number of Americans who proactively seek relocation increased by 76% in 2024 compared to 2023, according to Get Golden Visa data. These governments aren’t passive bystanders – they’ve built formal pathways precisely because American retirees bring spending power and economic stability to their communities. It’s a two-way relationship, and it’s growing fast.
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6. Remote Work Normalized the Entire Idea of Living Abroad
Something fundamental shifted in the American mindset during the pandemic years, and its effects are now showing up in retirement patterns. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the growth of virtual work, providing new opportunities and demonstrating that physical location no longer had to dictate professional or personal life choices. A generation of workers spent years proving you can live anywhere. Retirement became the natural extension of that mindset.
With the rise of remote work and tools that facilitate connectivity, more Americans nearing or in retirement are exploring extended overseas adventures, according to financial services specialists who focus on international relocation. The mental barrier that once made living abroad feel exotic and impractical dissolved quietly during those years of Zoom calls from spare bedrooms.
The number of Americans looking to settle outside of the country has tripled over the past 30 years, according to a 2024 Monmouth poll. The cultural shift is real and measurable. For future retirees who already worked remotely, packing up and moving to Lisbon or Medellín feels like a natural continuation of something they already started.
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7. Climate, Lifestyle Quality, and Walkability Are Genuine Quality-of-Life Drivers
This one gets dismissed too easily as soft or optional. It isn’t. Some of the top reasons for retiree moves abroad included a lower cost of living, a more comfortable lifestyle, and better weather, according to a CNBC survey of more than 6,600 U.S. adults. Living somewhere warm, walkable, and socially vibrant isn’t a luxury when you’re on a fixed income; it’s genuinely transformative for physical and mental health.
Everyday life in places like Portugal is easy, with walkable neighborhoods, reliable transit, ocean air, and plenty of sunshine. Compare that to a car-dependent American suburb where you need to drive everywhere and social infrastructure is thin. The contrast is striking. Many Americans reaching retirement age find that the lifestyle they actually want is far more accessible – and affordable – somewhere else.
Retired migrants who have positive post-migration experiences engage in active and healthy lifestyle choices, such as participating in outdoor activities, exploring cultural and natural attractions, and meaningful social engagements with other expatriates or with local residents. Active aging is easier when the environment supports it.
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8. Social Isolation in American Retirement Is a Documented Problem – With Real Tradeoffs Abroad
The paltry level of retirement savings may also help explain rising poverty among older Americans, with the share of seniors living in poverty climbing to 15% in 2024, up from 14% a year earlier, the highest rate among all age groups according to Census data. Social isolation compounds this financial vulnerability. Many Americans retire into environments where community is thin and daily human contact is limited.
That said, it’s worth being honest here. A study published in Psychology and Aging compared nearly 5,000 retirees living abroad to those who stayed home and found that retirees who move abroad often experience greater social isolation than those who stay in their home country. The risk of loneliness abroad is real, particularly for those who lose contact with friends and family back home.
The difference is that the problem is solvable. Researchers found that maintaining contact with friends and family in your country of origin should be a primary goal, as those who had lost contact with good friends or children left behind in their home country experienced higher degrees of emotional and social loneliness. Expat communities in most major retirement destinations are genuinely vibrant, and deliberate social engagement makes a measurable difference.
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9. The U.S. Housing Market Has Made Staying Extremely Expensive
Selling an American home at or near peak value and relocating somewhere with dramatically lower property costs is, for many retirees, essentially a financial superpower. Some move abroad because they simply cannot comfortably live on a fixed retirement income in the U.S., where the costs of housing and healthcare are becoming increasingly unaffordable. The home sale can fund decades of comfortable overseas living outright.
As retirement decisions loomed for some couples, they were forced to confront the fact that their retirement income would not continue to support the same lifestyle they had enjoyed in the U.S. while working, and decided that moving to a less expensive country was a good way to stretch their dollar and keep their lifestyle the same. That’s not an unusual calculation – it’s become a common one.
Portugal continues to charm retirees with its scenic diversity and historic allure, with couples needing about $2,500 to $3,000 per month for a comfortable lifestyle depending on choices and location. For someone who just sold a home for $500,000 or more, that math creates a kind of freedom that simply isn’t available staying put in an American metro area.
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10. A Growing Number of Americans Have Simply Lost Confidence in the U.S. System
This is the reason people talk about least, but data increasingly shows it’s a real factor. With fewer than half of Americans expressing confidence in the U.S. healthcare system and Medicare projected to run short within a decade, retirees are increasingly seeking affordable, reliable alternatives abroad. Social Security’s funding shortfall, if not addressed by Congress, could result in a roughly 20% cut to benefits starting in 2034.
Among Americans surveyed about their motivations to consider moving overseas, lower cost of living and desire for travel ranked as top motivators, followed closely by safety and quality of life, retirement or lifestyle upgrades, healthcare access, and the outcome of the 2024 election. These aren’t fringe concerns – they represent a wide slice of the American population reassessing what the future actually looks like at home.
In 1974, only 10% of U.S. citizens expressed interest in moving abroad, but by 2024, that number had risen to 34%. Recent polls show about a third of Americans – around 117 million people – would like to go and settle in another country. That’s not a niche movement. That’s a generational reckoning with what retirement in America actually means today.
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The Bottom Line: This Trend Isn’t Slowing Down
In 2024 and 2025, retirees accounted for 62% of U.S. citizens relocating abroad. In 2024, more than 760,000 Social Security beneficiaries received their retirement benefits while residing outside the United States, a sharp increase from the 431,000 recipients who received benefits abroad in 2019. The trend has a pulse and it’s accelerating.
Retiring overseas is not a magic solution. It requires planning, flexibility, legal paperwork, and a genuine willingness to adapt. Healthcare navigation, tax obligations, and distance from family are all real challenges. Whatever avenue you choose, expats and relocation specialists offer the same advice: don’t rush it, and visit your target country for an extended period first to determine whether it fits your budget and lifestyle needs.
Still, the data tells a clear story. Millions of Americans are doing the math, visiting their options, and choosing a different kind of golden year – one that’s actually affordable. The real question isn’t whether this trend will continue. It’s whether staying put still makes sense for more and more people when so many other options exist. What do you think? Would you ever consider it? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.