With its picture-perfect small towns and hundreds of miles of coastline, where beaches and windswept cliffs with the odd lonely light house look just like you'd imagine the storybook version of New England to look, Rhode Island is a dreamy place to think about retirement. But there are also a lot of myths associated with retiring in the Ocean State.
Here are four myths.
1. It's cheap
While it is cheap compared with other parts of New England, in general, retirement in Rhode Island is going to cost a pretty penny when compared with many other parts of the U.S. The cost of living here is more than 25 percent above the national average. Additionally the state has some tax laws that penalize retirees. Rhode Island, for instance, is one of only a few states to tax Social Security income.
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"Not only does [Rhode Island] tax Social Security benefits, similar to the way the federal government taxes up to 85 percent of benefits, it also taxes virtually all other sources of retirement income, including pension income,"
according to a report by the finance website Kiplinger, which ranked Rhode Island as the worst state to retire in the U.S. from a tax perspective.
2. Residents are snobby
Although the Northeast has long carried a stereotype of being unfriendly, Rhode Island bucks any truth to this.
“Everyone knows everyone and says hello,”
Rhode Island resident Grafton "Cap" Willey told MarketWatch. “If you own a business in Rhode Island, you meet all the senators and governors and probably know them on a first-name basis.”
3. It's tiny; it must not have much culture
Rhode Island is tiny, but it also wins in the arts and culture department. The state capital, Providence, is a creative hub, home not only to the Ivy League Brown University, which also has a unique curriculum, but also to the Rhode Island School of Design, which is one of the top art schools in the country. Retirees with a love of art won't want to skip the school's Museum of Art, housing some 80,000 pieces from contemporary paintings to ancient Greek sculptures.
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4. Not accessible
Just because Rhode Island is easy to misplace on a map (it's so small after all), doesn't mean it isn't accessible. In fact, one serious advantage to being the smallest state in the country is how easy it is to get anywhere in the state in less than an hour. This is a plus for retirees who want to live on the coast, away from the lights of Providence, but still want to be able to access the big city should they need medical care. The state is also convenient for visiting loved ones in other parts of New England, with New York City just a 2.5-hour drive away.
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