Pahrump moves up in rank for best place to retire, study

Pahrump is moving up in the ranks as a good place to retire in the state of Nevada.

A study ranked Pahrump as the No. 4 best place to retire in the state—moving up from the No. 5 spot, which it was ranked in the same study in 2018. The study was produced by SmartAsset, a financial technology company that assists individuals seeking information and advice on personal finance through its online portal.

A report by SmartAsset showed several factors were used to compute Pahrump’s ranking in its national study: state and local tax rates; number of seniors in an area as a percentage of the total population in Pahrump; and the number of services, per 1,000 people, such as doctors’ offices and recreation and retirement centers.

Seniors made up 31.2 percent of the population in Pahrump, according to data from SmartAsset’s study. That was up from SmartAsset’s study in 2018 when seniors made up 29.5 percent of the population.

SmartAsset considered state and local tax rates on two type of taxes: income and sales, according to information in its study.

“We calculated effective rates based on a typical retiree earning $35,000 annually (from retirement savings, Social Security or part-time employment) and spending their disposable income on taxable goods,” according to the methodology of the study listed on SmartAsset’s website.

The effective tax rate calculated for Pahrump was 15.2 percent—0.5 percentage points higher than Gardnerville, which was ranked the No. 1 place to retire in Nevada in the study.

The No. 2 spot went to Laughlin with Mesquite behind that at No. 3. The No. 5 spot went to Boulder City.

Using the effective tax rates for each area, along with the percentage of seniors of the total population and the number of services, doctors’ offices and recreation and retirement centers, per 1,000 people, SmartAsset ranked each city and county in the study.

“Then we calculated an average ranking for each area, weighing the three factors equally,” information on its website stated. “The areas with the lowest average ranking are the best places to retire.”

An overall index for each city and town was calculated—on a scale of zero to 100. Pahrump’s sat at 28.62, up from 2018’s 28.36.

Nevada’s No. 1 place to retire, Gardnerville, had an index of 32.47.

Compared to the rest of the nation, Pahrump, nor any other Nevada city or town, falls into the top spots of places to retire.

In fact, only two cities in the western half of the United States came in the top 10 nationally: Beverly Hills, Calif. and Gig Harbor, Wash. Wasilla, Alaska came in at No. 5 in the study.

The other seven top-ranking cities and towns were in the Southeast part of the U.S., Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Contact reporter Jeffrey Meehan at jmeehan@pvtimes.com