A town in Kent is the most expensive of its kind to retire in the country, a new study has found. While London, Leeds and the City of Westminster took the top three spots in Sambla’s latest study of the most expensive places to retire in the UK, Maidstone ranked as the first town, taking the fourth spot in the list.

The study focused on the cost of living, not including rent, of the top 100 most populated towns in the UK.

It then used retirement age with the average life expectancy to calculate the years left after retirement for the average local, then applied this to each town’s annual cost of living, reports KentLive. As a result, the attractive market town of Maidstone, surrounded by fantastic countryside, parks and historic buildings, secured a spot high on the list.

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The study also calculated the cost of living if someone earned themselves a letter from the King by reaching 100.

Sambla worked out that according to current state pension rates, someone would accumulate an average retirement pot of £187,020 for 15 years after retirement or £423,912 if they lived to 100.

The cost of living before rent in Maidstone came to £832 per person, per month, according to the research. Meanwhile people retiring in Maidstone would accumulate an average retirement pot of £149,760, or £339,456 if they lived to 100.

It is the largest town in Kent, with a population of 176,700 in 2021 – which according to Kent Council, makes up 11.2 percent of the county’s total population.

One of the biggest attractions of living in Maidstone is its surrounding countryside, living up to Kent’s reputation as the Garden of England. The borough is home to several countryside parks, with one of the largest being Mote Park.

This huge green space is in the heart of the borough and just a short drive from the town. VisitMaidstone writes: “Covering over 450 acres, it includes natural features such as grassland, woodland, rivers and a 30 acre lake.

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“The vast numbers of mature trees create a beautiful, tranquil landscape offering cool shade in the summer and glorious colour in autumn. It is also home to over-wintering birds, many of whom stay to nest and raise their chicks here in the spring.”

Entry to the park is free. Retirees of Maidstone can also head to Cobtree Manor Park, which while smaller, includes more activities. Boasting over 50 acres of parkland, it includes a cafe and a themed play area for younger visitors.

The town of Maidstone itself is rich in history, including its historic County Hall and the magnificent Leeds Castle.

Once the centre of agricultural trade in kent, Maidstone remains a key market centre, situated in the largest hops-growing area in England. Brewing and malting and the manufacture of agricultural implements are still prominent industries in the area.

Explaining its methodology behind ranking the most expensive places to retire, Sambla said: “We began our study by collating the cost of living for all countries and UK locations from livingcost.org. We then sourced the average life expectancy between men and women from Worldometer and compared this to each country’s minimum retirement age which was cross-referenced through manual research. Where a location’s data was not complete, it was excluded from our final ranking.

“By comparing each country’s minimum retirement age with its cost of living, we were able to determine how many years the average local would live post-retirement. Retirement fund considers ‘cost of living’ x ‘years lived post-retirement’.”

The Top 20 Most Expensive Places to Retire in the UK, according to Sambla are:

• London
• Leeds
• City of Westminster
• Maidstone
• Chesterfield
• Birmingham
• Lincoln
• Chelmsford
• Manchester
• Milton Keynes

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