Is Oro Valley Growing Too Expensive For Retirees?

One "study" says Oro Valley is getting to expensive
This is the conclusion of a study by gobankingrates.com. The study, published in September, ranks Oro Valley as 22 out of 30 nationwide locations that are getting too expensive for retirees.

Oro Valley’s senior population is approximately 30% according to census.gov (US Census Bureau). We are not just a retirement community; but people have traditionally moved here to do just that.


Reason 1: High Cost of Housing

The study uses median housing list price as a gauge of housing cost.

Gauging the cost of houses using that measure can lead to erroneous conclusions since a "median" is not an average. It is the middle number in a bunch of numbers.

We think that the average price per square foot of living space is a better measure. So, LOVE undertook our own study using data provided by Long Realty.

LOVE calculated the average asking price per square foot. We compared Oro Valley to other local retirement communities. We found that Oro Valley is near the top of the pack, but inline with Saddlebrook, which is a retirement community. Take a look at our infographic (panel left).

Reason 2: High cost of  living
We posted about Oro Valley's high local taxation last week, referencing a Kiplinger report that listed Oro Valley as a "high local tax town".

In that posting, we identified heavy taxation of water, a fact not considered by Kiplinger, as an added high tax factor. We also noted in that posting the relatively high property valuations assigned by the Pima County Assessor to Oro Valley properties, values that enable them to collect proportionately more property tax dollars from Oro Valley  property owners than from other communities.

Other than taxation and the cost of housing, the cost of living in Oro Valley is comparable to other local communities
The cost of living in Oro Valley  is also in line with the national average (panel right).

Our conclusion
Oro Valley's high cost of housing and high local taxes not only make Oro Valley expensive for retirees, but also make Oro Valley expensive for everyone else.
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You can do your own research on cost of living by clicking here, customizing it to your income and preferred locations.

About the  GOBankingRates study: They analyzed 50 cities with large senior populations (i.e., 25% or more of the population aged 65 or older).