This sun-soaked Southern European country was just named the world’s best place to retire. Here’s why
Dmitry_Rukhlenko / Envato
Imagine waking up in a coastal Greek village and walking to your terrace that overlooks the bay.
Sunlight streams over whitewashed walls, the scent of sea salt and wild thyme fills your lungs, and the distant sound of waves and church bells promises another day of peace and simple pleasures.
If that sounds like a good way to spend your retirement years, you’re in luck. Greece has just been named the number one place for Americans to retire by International Living. (1)
International Living scored countries on seven key metrics: housing, visas and benefits, development and governance, cost of living, affinity rating, healthcare, and climate.
In all of these categories, Greece beat out other top contenders including Spain, Portugal, Panama, and Thailand.
For many Americans, their dream retirement takes place under a different sun.
Exhausted by polarized politics and priced out by healthcare and housing markets, retirees are trading the rat race for walkable streets and a relaxed pace of living in coastal villages and cities abroad.
According to a recent study, 34% of Americans are considering retiring to another country to lower their cost of living. (2) They’ll be joining the roughly 1.62 million Americans of retirement age who already live abroad. (3)
Many countries around the world have helped to cultivate this trend by making visa and permanent residency requirements easier for Americans — especially if you have the money and are independently wealthy.
There are a lot of benefits to retiring in countries that welcome American expats. In EU member countries like Spain, Portugal and Greece, this means automatic access to travel freely within the Schengen Zone (29 European countries) for up to 90 days out of every 180 days.
For many American retirees, Greece’s healthcare system is also a major draw. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), spending on healthcare in the U.S. is $14,885 per person in 2024, while in Greece it was $3,607. (4) American expats often report that their out-of-pocket costs are lower than what they spend in the U.S.
Everyday essentials also tend to cost less. Fresh produce, bread, cheese, and olive oil are widely available and relatively affordable, especially in local markets.
Eating a simple meal out, grabbing coffee, or buying pantry staples often costs half as much as in many American cities. (5)
Many golden visa programs require applicants to make a significant investment in their new “home” country, and Greece is no exception.
Until 2024, you could pay a flat €250,000 fee to get a golden visa, but since then, the requirements have gotten a little stricter.
Greece’s new golden visa rules require an investment in Greek real estate and use a tiered system to spread the wealth around the country.
Tier 1 requires an investment of no less than €800,000 in a single property of at least 120 square meters (1292 square feet) in prime areas such as Attica (Athens), Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini, or islands with more than 3,100 residents. Tier 2 requires €400,000 for similar sized property elsewhere.
Tier 3 keeps the €250,000 minimum for projects that ease the housing shortage, such as converting commercial spaces to homes or restoring protected historic buildings. Unfortunately, properties bought under the new rules cannot be used for short term rentals like Airbnb, only for long term leases.
Before you tell your retirement advisor you’ve packed your bags for Greece (or anywhere else), there are some complications to consider.
Like many countries, Greece’s golden visa does not get you EU citizenship. You have the right to stay in the country for five years, and then you have to renew the visa.
Because you’re not a Greek citizen, you won’t have access to Greece’s public health service, and you must show that you have purchased at least €30,000 of medical coverage through a private insurance company.
You also will have to utilize private hospitals, which isn’t a problem in major urban areas, but could be a big hassle if you’re in the Tier 2 zone.
Other problems could arise if you’re not very familiar with the region you’re moving to. Unless you find a community of American expats to live with, you may discover your neighbors don’t speak English and don’t understand your attempts at the local dialect. And seeing loved ones back in the states will become much more expensive.
But if your heart is set on contemplating the wine-dark sea from your terrace, proper planning and a healthy endowment of cash could make that dream come true.
