The Real Cost of Retiring to Scottsdale, Arizona, at 65 on $950,000 Stress Free

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Drew Wood

Fri, July 3, 2026 astatine 10:04 AM CDT 5 min read

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Combined Social Security of astir $45,000 covers astir of a $60,000 Scottsdale budget, leaving a withdrawal complaint of betwixt 1.6% and 2.1% connected $950,000, which is rather sustainable.
Arriving without location equity destroys the plan. Buying Scottsdale's $919,500 median location with currency wipes the portfolio, portion a owe runs betwixt $5,000 and $6,000 monthly.
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Scottsdale offers galore of the amenities retirees want: lukewarm winters, title golf, upscale dining, abundant outdoor recreation, and nary Arizona taxation connected Social Security benefits. It besides has 1 of the priciest lodging markets successful the Mountain West. The question is whether a mates with $950,000 tin comfortably discontinue determination astatine 65. The reply is yes, but lone if they debar the lodging mistake that derails galore status budgets.

Residential condos and apartments successful Scottsdale AZ.

What Scottsdale Actually Costs successful Current Dollars

The Scottsdale median merchantability terms sat astir $919,500 successful April 2026, with median database prices pushing adjacent $1 million. That reflects the mediate of Scottsdale's lodging market, though retirees tin often find smaller condos, patio homes, and 55-plus communities astatine substantially little prices. Arizona's statewide outgo of surviving index, 100.677, severely understates Scottsdale itself, which behaves much similar coastal California for lodging and similar the remainder of the Southwest for astir everything else.

Are You Ready To Retire, Or Years Behind?

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For a mates owning a paid-off location successful a 55-plus assemblage oregon right-sized condo, a realistic moving fund successful today's dollars looks astir similar this: spot taxation astir $3,000 (Scottsdale's combined complaint runs astir $0.91 per $100 of assessed value, and assessed worth is simply a fraction of market), homeowners security and attraction astir $5,000, HOA successful a 55-plus oregon patio-home assemblage $3,500, utilities $4,500, groceries and household $11,000, proscription $8,000, healthcare $9,500, question and manner $10,000, and miscellaneous and reserves of $6,000 for replacement vehicles, gifts, and income taxes connected withdrawals. That produces a moving status fund of astir $60,000 per twelvemonth earlier national income taxes.

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