Top 10 States To Retire In: Affordability, Quality Of Life And Health Care Name A Surprising Winner

As people near the age of retirement, one frequent consideration is whether or not to move to a new state that is most friendly for retirees.

A new study uses a variety of factors to determine the best states for retirees.

What Happened: Benzinga recently shared the results of a study that pinpointed the top cities for retirees.

The study from Wallethub highlighted the top states for retirees to consider. It used 47 key indicators across the main topics of affordability, quality of life and health care.

Affordability, which ranked 40% of the weighting, factored in items like cost of living, taxpayer-friendly and affordability of health care and doctors.

Quality of life ranks as 30% of the overall weighting and factored in items such as museums and theaters per capita, crime rates, water and air quality, miles of shoreline, public transportation, golf courses and bingo halls.

The health care score was worth 30% of the overall weighting and factored in items such as physicians, dentists and nurses per capita, quality of public hospitals and the share of population over the age of 65.

Wallethub reported that 25% of non-retired adults have not yet saved money for retirement. Additionally, only 40% of non-retired adults said their savings were on-track for retirement.

Related Link: Best Investments For Retirees 

The Results: A new state topped the 2023 Best States to Retire list from Wallethub, with previous winner Florida dropping to second place.

Here are the top 10 states and their respective scores and rankings among the 50 states:

• 1. Virginia: Overall Score: 57.55, Affordability: 16th, Quality of Life: 11th, Health Care: 11th
• 2. Florida: Overall Score: 57.41, Affordability: 9th, Quality of Life: 4th, Health Care: 28th
• 3. Colorado: Overall Score: 57.41, Affordability: 14th, Quality of Life: 27th, Health Care: 5th
• 4. Wyoming: Overall Score: 55.60, Affordability: 5th, Quality of Life: 9th, Health Care: 38th
• 5. Delaware: Overall Score: 55.49, Affordability: 6th, Quality of Life: 33rd, Health Care: 18th
• 6. New Hampshire: Overall Score: 55.00, Affordability: 31st, Quality of Life: 5th, Health Care: 7th
• 7. South Dakota: Overall Score: 53.61, Affordability: 25th, Quality of Life: 30th, Health Care: 9th
• 8. Minnesota: Overall Score: 53.50, Affordability: 40th, Quality of Life: 2nd, Health Care: 1st
• 9. Idaho: Overall Score: 53.20, Affordability: 15th, Quality of Life: 17th, Health Care: 31st
• 10. North Dakota: Overall Score: 53.03, Affordability: 22nd, Quality of Life: 25th, Health Care: 20th

Outside the top 10, Alabama ranked 22nd and received the best ranking for affordability, but ranked 44th and 50th for quality of life and health care, respectively.

Massachusetts received the best quality of life ranking and finished in 17th place on the list. The state also ranked second for health care. A ranking of 47th for the highest weighted score of affordability knocked the state down the list.

Massachusetts was the only state to rank in the top 10 in two categories and not rank in the top 10 overall.

Florida, Wyoming and Minnesota each had two top 10 rankings across the three major categories.

Ranking last among states for retirees was Kentucky with an overall score of 38.80, the only state below a score of 40. The state ranked 33rd, 41st and 46th, respectively, for affordability, quality of life and health care.

Read Next: States With No Tax On Retirement Income 

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