Retiring to Columbus, Ohio — The Honest Review

Columbus is not a Sun Belt retirement market wearing a different zip code — it is its own thing, with its own tax math and its own building tradition. For decades the only 55+ product here was Epcon Communities’ small “Courtyards” neighborhoods. In 2026, Del Webb finally arrived. Here is the balanced version of what that actually means for a buyer, not the brochure version.

The Case for Central Ohio

• A genuine 55+ building tradition, not an import. Epcon Communities was founded in Columbus in 1986 specifically to build for the 55+ buyer, and its single-level “Courtyards” homes around private interior courtyards are all over Central Ohio — dozens of established neighborhoods, most under 150 homes, in cities from Grove City to Powell to New Albany.
• Del Webb finally showed up in 2026. Del Webb Maygrass in Plain City is a true age-restricted 55+ community with 711 homes planned, priced from the low $400ks — the first resort-brand option this market has had.
• The 65+ homestead exemption is real, usable money. Qualifying homeowners 65 and older get $28,000 of their home’s market value shielded from property tax (disabled veterans get a $56,000 shield with no income test) — several hundred dollars a year back on a typical bill.
• Social Security and military retirement pay are untouched. Ohio does not tax Social Security benefits at all, and military retirement pay is 100% exempt.
• A wide, genuinely varied price ladder. From The Villas of Gahanna in the mid $200ks to The Estates at Tremont Club above $400ks, there is real range across dozens of communities rather than one price tier.

The Fine Print Behind “Affordable Midwest”

• Ohio is not a no-income-tax state. Buyers moving from Florida, Texas, or Tennessee often assume it works like those states. It does not: pensions, traditional IRA withdrawals, and 401(k) distributions are taxed as regular income. The state’s retirement income credit tops out at just $200, which barely moves the needle for most retirees.
• Franklin County property taxes run well above the national median. The effective rate is roughly 1.69%, versus a national median near 1.02%. On a $450,000 Courtyards home, that is about $7,600 a year before any exemption — a number worth budgeting for rather than assuming away under a general “affordable Midwest” impression.
• Delaware County carries the highest average property tax bill in Ohio. Some of the most desirable addresses — Powell, Lewis Center, Delaware — sit there, largely because of the Olentangy school district. Confirm the specific tax bill on the specific home rather than assuming a Central Ohio average applies.
• Most communities are small, not resort-scale. Outside of the brand-new Del Webb Maygrass, the typical Columbus 55+ neighborhood is under 150 homes built around a courtyard rather than a large clubhouse-and-amenity campus — a very different experience from big single-site resort communities in other markets.
• Central Ohio has real winters — snow, ice, and stretches of gray sky that a Sun Belt buyer should weigh honestly before committing, distinct from the year-round mild climates of the other markets we cover.

Who Should Actually Consider Columbus

Buyers who want a genuinely varied 55+ market rather than one master-planned mega-community, who value single-level ranch living in an established neighborhood over a resort amenity campus, and who are coming from a state with a comparable or higher overall tax burden — so Ohio’s pension tax and Franklin/Delaware County property taxes are a lateral move rather than a shock. Buyers who want to be close to family in the Midwest, and who do not mind trading warm winters for lower relocation distance, tend to do well here.

Who Should Keep Looking

Buyers who want a true no-income-tax state with no asterisk on pensions and retirement account withdrawals should look at a market that actually delivers that. Buyers who want one large resort-style community with a full amenity campus, rather than a patchwork of smaller Courtyards neighborhoods, may find the current Columbus inventory (outside Del Webb Maygrass) too limited in scale. And buyers who have decided winter is a dealbreaker should be honest with themselves about that before falling in love with a Delaware County listing photo taken in June.