One Of The Best Places For Retirees Is A Midwest College Town With Riverside Access

College towns are no longer just for college students. Older adults, including retirees, are moving into small municipalities for their livability and affordability, per MarketWatch. And one of the best college towns for retirees to move to is home to the main 406-acre campus of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, as well as a satellite campus for Mid-State Technical College.

Stevens Point in northern Wisconsin, which is more than 100 miles away from Milwaukee and the state capital of Madison, was listed as one of the top 25 college towns for retirees by financial advisory website GOBankingRates.com. With a population of about 26,000 people, Stevens Point has a crime rate that is 38% lower than the state average and 59% lower than the national average, according to the geographic data website AreaVibes.com. It has two hospitals: Aspirus Stevens Point Hospital and Aspirus Plover Hospital. And Stevens Point abounds with parks, restaurants, bars, shops, as well as visual arts, music, museums, and other cultural venues.

But best of all for anyone still figuring out how much money they should save for retirement, Stevens Point has a cost of living that is 12% lower than the national average, per AreaVibes.com, and 9% lower than the Wisconsin state average.

Unlike Florida, where retirees are leaving for other states because it's become more expensive, Wisconsin is actually the sixth most affordable state for retirees in 2025, according to Bankrate.com. The average price for a house or condo in Wisconsin was $331,195 as of the end of July 2025, which was $37,386 less than the national average. Yet, the average home price in Stevens Point is lower still: $276,151, according to Zillow. And Stevens Point might also be a place where the housing market could boom, as the city's home values went up by 6.6% year-over-year compared to the statewide average increase of 3.9%. In terms of leasing, as of August 29, 2025, the average monthly rent in Stevens Point was $1,294, which was 38% lower than the national average, per ZillowRentals.

As for other cost-of-living items, groceries such as beef, fried chicken, and potatoes are anywhere from 6.5% to nearly 10% cheaper in Stevens Point than the national average, per AreaVibes. The price of beer is 16.5% lower than the rest of the U.S.

However, some essential items are more expensive for a community that is surrounded by farmland. Electric utilities are 10.5% higher than the national average, and doctors' visits can be 49.3% more costly, according to AreaVibes. Yet a visit to the optometrist is 28.7% cheaper, a dental appointment is 2.6% lower, and the cost of the anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor is 4.5% lower.