Where to retire, what it costs, and how the care rates

14,693 facilities ratedCMS data · 53 states
Updated 3 August 2026

Retirement has more options than anyone tells you.

Stay put, move abroad, or do something stranger. We compare the money, the paperwork and the care, using data you can check.

Every number here comes from a public dataset we name and date. Where something is an estimate, we say so.

Why this exists

Retirement advice splits into two piles. Glossy brochures selling a place, and forum threads from one person who moved somewhere in 2019. Neither gives you a number you can plan around.

The Pension Post works from public records. CMS rates every certified nursing home in the country, and we publish those ratings by state. Government fee schedules set what visas and residency actually cost. We put the figures side by side and name the source.

Start here

  • 01Nursing home quality, state by state14,693 certified facilities with ratings, nurse staffing hours, abuse flags and $464m in fines — live now
  • 02Retiring abroad, by the numbersVisa costs, residency rules and healthcare for the countries Americans actually move to
  • 03Living on a cruise shipResidential cabins versus back-to-back bookings, and what a year really costs
  • 04What Medicare does when you leaveCoverage abroad, Part B, and the trap of dropping it