A Pennsylvania College Town On The Susquehanna River Is One Of The Best Places For Retirees
Financially speaking, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania is a great place to consider retiring. With 17% of the population being 65 years old and over, you'll find a large community of retirees. If nearly a fifth of the population in a town with around 5,255 people are seniors, it would make sense that monthly expenses and your average mortgage here likely have a lot to do with that.
Home to Bucknell University, another quaint town in Pennsylvania that's one of America's most affordable places to retire. For a retiree in the borough, you'll find a lifestyle conducive to slow living close to the city life, depending on what you feel like experiencing that day. For instance, you enjoy the experience of shopping in a small town, places like the Rollermills Antique Center, the Lewisburg Farmers Market and the indoor Street of Shops offer that small town charm in spades. Health and wellness is another lane Lewisburg excels at, with a whole complex — The Miller Center for Recreation and Wellness — dedicated to the pursuit of things that will become more important as you age. With Fero vineyards and winery, horseback riding on Stillwater Farm, and the bike paths along the Buffalo Rail Trail, you'll find plenty to keep your retirement interesting.
Retirement in Lewisburg will cost you less than in many other places
According to the Mortgage Bankers Association's latest February 2025 calculations place the national median mortgage at $2,205 per month. As per a 2024 Experian study, the average consumer debt balance in 2024 was $105,056 per person with $17.57 trillion in total debt in the third quarter of 2024. Of that, retirement-age Boomers carried $4.5 trillion. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) September 2024 release of data looking at consumer expenses in 2023 found that Americans' average annual expenses were $77,280, or $6,440 per month.
Meanwhile, the average mortgage in Lewisburg is $1,796 per month. By comparison, this represents a mortgage reduction of 18.5%, and makes the average mortgage in Lewisburg close to ⅕ lower than the national average. Meanwhile, according to the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors, Pennsylvanians owe less debt than the rest of the country too, owing an average $85,047 per person, which includes home equity lines of credit, auto loans, credit card debt, student loan debt, personal loans, and yes, mortgage debt. When you get to retirement-age Pennsylvanians, the debt load gets even lower, with an average non-mortgage debt load of $32,190.
Community and assisted living ranks high for affordability and care
According to Genworth's CareScout 2024 Annual Cost of Care survey, the national median cost of community and assisted living for 2025 is estimated to be $6,077 per month. Meanwhile, the average cost of living in a nursing home with more acute care could cost anywhere from $9,555 to $10,965 per month.
According to A Place for Mom, the median monthly cost of assisted living in Pennsylvania in 2025 is $5,220 per month, with the state ranking 15th place out of 50 states for overall quality of care. In Lewisburg, independent community living averages $4,027 per month. The sort of specialized care required for seniors experiencing memory loss or physical limitations averages around $4,399 per month, with the average cost of living in a nursing home in Lewisburg being $4,823 — but potentially higher — depending on the amount of care required. With certain essential healthcare costs for seniors projected to rise over the next decade, a town with a lower cost of living and housing, on both ends of the lifestyle spectrum, should be important factors in your retirement planning.