10 Affordable U.S. Beach Towns Retirees Are Choosing Right Now

For many retirees, living near the beach represents the ideal lifestyle, offering warm weather, scenic views, and a slower pace of life. However, some of the most popular coastal destinations come with rising costs, especially when it comes to housing and insurance. In certain high-demand areas, those expenses can quickly add up and put pressure on a fixed retirement budget.

That’s why more retirees are looking beyond the most crowded beach towns and considering locations that offer similar benefits at a lower cost. In this slideshow, My Investment News highlights 10 U.S. beach towns that remain relatively affordable, along with the key factors that make them appealing for retirement.

• Keansburg is a borough in Monmouth County on the Raritan Bay coastline
• The borough's own visitor information describes a secluded, free beach area with views of the New York City skyline, plus a bayside "Bay Walk" along the beaches
• The borough also highlights a fishing pier and multiple nearby places to fish. This makes Keansburg as a "Bayshore" town for recreational fishing
• There are nearby recreation options in and around town such as Raritan Bayshore Waterfront Park and the Henry Hudson Trail
• Keansburg's geography is mostly water by area

• Zillow lists Keansburg's typical home values at $376,025 (data through Sept. 30, 2025)
• Keansburg's median household income is much lower versus higher-income shore markets
• The borough page also reports notable poverty rates (e.g., 16.1% of the population below the poverty line in the 2006–2010 ACS), a factor that often correlates with lower home prices
• Keansburg's tourism history includes major storm disruption (Hurricane Donna in 1960 is described as wiping out much of the waterfront), and long-term storm risk can pressure pricing and insurance costs

• Ocean Shores is a city in Grays Harbor County on Washington's outer coast
• The city occupies the Point Brown Peninsula, which acts as a breakwater at the entrance to Grays Harbor (the estuary of the Chehalis River)
• Ocean Shores was heavily shaped by a planned development boom starting around 1960, including lot sales and major buildout of roads and amenities
• The peninsula's very low elevation puts parts of the area at high tsunami risk
• Ocean Shores includes an in-town municipal airport (Ocean Shores Municipal Airport) within city limits

• Zillow lists Ocean Shores' typical home values at $343,917 (data through Oct. 31, 2025) and shows a 1-year value change of -2.3%
• Again, the Point Brown Peninsula does have a low elevation, so it can weigh on prices and insurance perceptions
• Ocean Shores is a small market on a peninsula (limited job base compared with major metros), which can cap high-end demand compared with "primary" coastal resort hubs

• Long Beach is a city in Pacific County on the Long Beach Peninsula, with a 2020 population of 1,688
• The city's setting is defined by the Long Beach Peninsula
• Long Beach has a long-running tourism/event identity, including the Long Beach Razor Clam Festival
• The town has a tsunami preparation in the case of a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake
• Climate is described as mild, with heavy annual rainfall

• Zillow lists Long Beach's typical home values at $352,755 (data through Oct. 31, 2025)
• The city is explicitly discussed as tsunami-vulnerable in planning scenarios tied to the Cascadia Subduction Zone, a risk factor that can suppress or complicate coastal pricing
• Long Beach is a very small city (2020 population 1,688), which tends to limit the depth of high-wage, year-round local demand that often drives premium coastal prices

• Westport is a city in Grays Harbor County located on the Point Chehalis Peninsula at the entrance to Grays Harbor from the Pacific Ocean
• The public Westport Marina is described as the largest marina on the outer coast of the United States' Pacific Northwest
• Westport is noted as home to a U.S. Coast Guard station
• The area has invested in tsunami evacuation infrastructure
• The local economy is closely tied to fishing and other coastal-resource activities, with tourism

• Zillow lists Westport's typical home values at $309,344 (data through March 31, 2025) and shows a 1-year value change of -0.3%
• There is tsunami hazard on this coastline, which can pressure prices and ownership costs
• Westport is small and economically oriented around working waterfront industries, which often correlates with lower home prices than resort-dominant coastal towns

• Zillow estimates the town's typical home value at $343,646
• Home prices have been declining somewhat
• There is an active oceanfront segment of the local inventory
• There are entry-level listings priced below $150,000 in the Surfside Beach search area
• It has a mixed market rather than a uniformly luxury-only beach enclave

• The typical home value for Surfside Beach is comparatively low for an Atlantic beach market even if it's higher than the Gulf Coast towns on this list
• There is softer demand or affordability limits relative to nearby higher-priced coastal submarkets
• Good inventory at lower price points (often condos, manufactured housing, or smaller units)

• Port Isabel is a city in Cameron County on the western side of the south end of Laguna Madre, an estuary of the Gulf of Mexico
• The Queen Isabella Causeway connects Port Isabel across Laguna Madre to South Padre Island on the Gulf shore
• Port Isabel had a population of 5,028 at the 2020 census
• The city has a long port history, including being an important cotton-exporting port before the American Civil War
• Port Isabel has a hurricane-impact history, including extensive damage from Hurricane Beulah (1967) and Hurricane Dolly (2008)

• Zillow lists Port Isabel's typical home values at $258,059 (data through July 31, 2025)
• The town's storm history (including major hurricane damage events) can weigh on pricing through insurance costs and risk perception
• Older census socioeconomic figures on the city page show low incomes and notable poverty rates, which can constrain local buying power

• Port Lavaca is the county seat of Calhoun County and sits on the west side of Lavaca Bay, an arm of Matagorda Bay
• The city's recreation amenities include Lighthouse Beach (picnic tables, swimming, and a birdwatching trail) and multiple fishing piers including "Lighthouse Pier"
• The local economy includes the Port of Port Lavaca and proximity to large industrial/manufacturing facilities, while tourism is a small portion of the economy
• Port Lavaca has had serious storm exposure during Hurricane Carla (1961) and storm surge impacts from Hurricane Harvey (2017)
• Population has been declining, unlike the fast-growing coastal markets nearby

• Port Lavaca's typical home values at $180,718 (data through March 31, 2025)
• Tourism is a "small portion" of the local economy (with more emphasis on the port and nearby manufacturing work), which tends to keep prices lower than resort-first beach towns
• The area's major-hurricane exposure can suppress prices

• Ocean Springs is a Jackson County coastal city about 2 miles east of Biloxi and west of Gautier
• It's known as an arts community and tourist destination, with a historic downtown of galleries, shops, restaurants, and bars
• The town hosts major events, including the Peter Anderson Festival (arts-and-crafts festival) held annually
• Ocean Springs traces roots to Fort Maurepas (1699), the first permanent French outpost in French Louisiana
• Hurricane Katrina severely damaged shoreline buildings and destroyed the Biloxi Bay Bridge connection between Biloxi and Ocean Springs (the replacement opened later)

• Zillow lists Ocean Springs' typical home values at $265,528 (data through Dec. 31, 2025)
• The city sits in a hurricane-exposed part of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, and Katrina-era destruction along the shoreline can be a long-term drag on costs
• The smaller market can limit the kind of intense, big-money demand seen in "trophy" beach destinations

• Pass Christian is a small city in Harrison County and part of the Gulfport–Biloxi metro area
• Geographically it sits on the Mississippi Sound on a peninsula, with the Gulf of Mexico to the south and the Bay of St. Louis to the west
• The city has a municipal harbor that was formalized via a Harbor Commission (1956) and later received a breakwater wall in the Mississippi Sound
• Historically it was a famous resort town before the Civil War and a summer-home area for wealthy New Orleans residents along the shoreline
• The nearby unincorporated community of DeLisle shares Pass Christian's zip code, even though it's outside city limits

• Zillow lists Pass Christian's typical home values at $302,515 (data through July 31, 2025)
• The city has a documented history of extreme hurricane impacts, with Katrina almost completely destroying Pass Christian
• Katrina's storm surge at Pass Christian is described as reaching an estimated 8.5 m (27.8 ft)
• The city has been rebuilt with a possible future impact in mind

• Pascagoula is a city (and the county seat) of Jackson County, located on Mississippi Sound at the mouth of the Pascagoula River
• It sits near other Gulf Coast communities, with U.S. Route 90 connecting toward Biloxi
• It's part of the broader Gulfport-Bilox-Pascagoula combined statistical area
• Pascagoula is a major industrial Gulf Coast city, home to Ingalls Shipbuilding (the state's largest private single-site employer) and other major industrial facilities including a large Chevron refinery
• Notable local sites include the Old Spanish Fort (the oldest building in the Mississippi Valley) and the "Legend of the Singing River" post office mural

• Zillow lists Pascagoula's average home value at $140,573 (and notes it was down 0.7% over the past year on that page)
• Pascagoula is a working industrial/shipbuilding city, rather than a primarily resort-driven beach market. This has kept prices lower
• Hurricane Katrina's storm surge is described as devastating Pascagoula, with nearly 92% of the city flooded and many homes along Beach Boulevard destroyed. This history has suppressed prices due to perceived risk
• Population decline since 2000 has reduced housing pressure relative to fast-growing coastal markets