Wilmington, North Carolina vs Charleston, South Carolina for retirement

Evidence: Hybrid

Reason: Model Limited

Basis: Estimated

Source: U.S. Census Bureau; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Data period: 2024 ACS 5-year; 2024 Consumer Expenditure Survey; 2023-2024 Consumer Expenditure Survey

How measured: Model-limited couple budget: ACS 2BR gross rent plus disclosed food, transportation, and age-65-plus healthcare factors. Added utilities are $0 in the budget breakdown to avoid double-counting because ACS gross rent already includes tenant-paid utilities. Property tax is not applicable to this renter budget; no model buffer is included.

Evidence: Hybrid

Reason: Model Limited

Basis: Estimated

Source: U.S. Census Bureau; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Data period: 2024 ACS 5-year; 2024 Consumer Expenditure Survey; 2023-2024 Consumer Expenditure Survey

How measured: Model-limited couple budget: ACS 2BR gross rent plus disclosed food, transportation, and age-65-plus healthcare factors. Added utilities are $0 in the budget breakdown to avoid double-counting because ACS gross rent already includes tenant-paid utilities. Property tax is not applicable to this renter budget; no model buffer is included.

Use: Planning estimate; not used to determine comparison winners.

Evidence: Modeled

Basis: City-level

Source: OpenStreetMap healthcare amenities static probe

How measured: OpenStreetMap healthcare amenities within the city radius are mapped to fixed access bands. Sparse mapped amenities should be read as limited local evidence, not a clinical quality rating.

Use: Planning estimate; not used to determine comparison winners.

Evidence: Modeled

Basis: City-level

Source: OpenStreetMap healthcare amenities static probe

How measured: OpenStreetMap healthcare amenities within the city radius are mapped to fixed access bands. Sparse mapped amenities should be read as limited local evidence, not a clinical quality rating.

Use: Planning estimate; not used to determine comparison winners.

Evidence: Modeled

Reason: Modeled Requires Reviewed Decision

Basis: Modeled

Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services NPPES NPI Registry

Observed: 2026-07-19T06:51:38.851Z

How measured: Count of unique active location addresses among organization NPIs with Community/Retail Pharmacy taxonomy matching Wilmington, NC in the CMS/NPPES NPI Registry. Multi-page results are unioned by NPI until stable. This is exact city/state registry coverage, not a drive-time or radius-weighted count.

Use: Planning estimate; not used to determine comparison winners.

Evidence: Modeled

Reason: Modeled Requires Reviewed Decision

Basis: Modeled

Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services NPPES NPI Registry

Observed: 2026-07-19T06:51:38.851Z

How measured: Count of unique active location addresses among organization NPIs with Community/Retail Pharmacy taxonomy matching Charleston, SC in the CMS/NPPES NPI Registry. Multi-page results are unioned by NPI until stable. This is exact city/state registry coverage, not a drive-time or radius-weighted count.

Evidence: Derived

Basis: Estimated

Source: NOAA/NASA source-backed climate component formula

How measured: Derived climate score formula v1: Summer Feel is scored from annual days above 90F; Winter Feel is scored from annual days below freezing; Climate Comfort averages Summer Feel, Winter Feel, and source-backed comfortable-months score.

Evidence: Derived

Basis: Estimated

Source: NOAA/NASA source-backed climate component formula

How measured: Derived climate score formula v1: Summer Feel is scored from annual days above 90F; Winter Feel is scored from annual days below freezing; Climate Comfort averages Summer Feel, Winter Feel, and source-backed comfortable-months score.

Evidence: Derived

Basis: Estimated

Source: NOAA/NASA source-backed climate component formula

How measured: Derived climate score formula v1: Summer Feel is scored from annual days above 90F; Winter Feel is scored from annual days below freezing; Climate Comfort averages Summer Feel, Winter Feel, and source-backed comfortable-months score.

Evidence: Derived

Basis: Estimated

Source: NOAA/NASA source-backed climate component formula

How measured: Derived climate score formula v1: Summer Feel is scored from annual days above 90F; Winter Feel is scored from annual days below freezing; Climate Comfort averages Summer Feel, Winter Feel, and source-backed comfortable-months score.

Use: Planning estimate; not used to determine comparison winners.

Evidence: Modeled

Reason: Modeled Requires Reviewed Decision

Basis: Modeled

Source: Open-Meteo / Copernicus CAMS, checked against U.S. EPA AirData

Observed: 2026-05-18T18:10:58.633Z

How measured: Air Quality is scored from the 2021-2025 average of 43824 hourly Copernicus CAMS PM2.5 model values at the city coordinate. The modeled baseline aligns with the nearest qualifying EPA 2021-2025 monitor mean within the accepted tolerance.

Use: Planning estimate; not used to determine comparison winners.

Evidence: Modeled

Reason: Modeled Requires Reviewed Decision

Basis: Modeled

Source: Open-Meteo / Copernicus CAMS

Observed: 2026-05-18T17:35:06.466Z

How measured: Air Quality is scored from the 2021-2025 average of 43824 hourly Copernicus CAMS PM2.5 model values at the city coordinate. No nearby qualifying EPA multiyear monitor is available, so this remains explicitly modeled.

Use: Planning estimate; not used to determine comparison winners.

Evidence: Modeled

Reason: Model Limited

Basis: Estimated

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency National Walkability Index

Observed: 2026-07-10T06:36:05.983Z

How measured: Population-weighted mean of EPA National Walkability Index block groups whose calculated polygon centroid falls inside the Census city-geography boundary; normalized from EPA 1-20 to 0-100 after aggregation. EPA NWI is a historical built-environment screen, not a current pedestrian audit. It does not measure every street, disability access, terrain, weather, or current transit frequency.

Use: Planning estimate; not used to determine comparison winners.

Evidence: Modeled

Reason: Model Limited

Basis: Estimated

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency National Walkability Index

Observed: 2026-07-10T06:36:05.983Z

How measured: Population-weighted mean of EPA National Walkability Index block groups whose calculated polygon centroid falls inside the Census city-geography boundary; normalized from EPA 1-20 to 0-100 after aggregation. EPA NWI is a historical built-environment screen, not a current pedestrian audit. It does not measure every street, disability access, terrain, weather, or current transit frequency.