How Do You Pick the Best State to Retire In?
Bankrate.com used its own formula to determine the top states for retirement. For starters, they ranked each of the 50 states on eight critical retirement criteria. These include the cost of living, healthcare quality, crime rate, cultural vitality, weather, taxes, senior citizens’ overall well being, and the prevalence of other seniors. All the factors were weighed by the importance seniors gave them in a survey. Cost of living, health care, and crime were the top three factors for seniors considering a retirement destination. Below we take a hard look at Bankrate’s top 10 states to retire in, and we break down what retirees can expect from a move to each state on the list.The Best Retirement States: Bankrate’s Top 10
1. New Hampshire scores tremendously well on a number of attributes like health care quality (4) and crime (3). The Granite State has the No. 2 ranking for general well-being. Unfortunately, it has a high cost of living (40), and the weather is pretty dismal at No. 45. Still, it sure beats Alaska, which earned the last place on weather and prevalence of seniors.
Another Ranking: The Happiest States for Seniors
Of course, polls and surveys are just opinions turned into data. Not surprisingly then, different rankings place different states in their top 10 lists. For instance, a 2016 ranking of the happiest states for seniors, from the Gallup-Healthways State of American Well-Being Series, came up with this top 10 list:- Hawaii
- Arizona
- New Hampshire
- North Dakota
- Colorado
- Alaska
- Minnesota
- Wisconsin
- Iowa
- South Dakota
States on Both Lists, or Where to Retire Happy
What states do these rankings – retirement readiness vs. senior happiness – have in common? Featured on both top 10 lists are:- New Hampshire
- Colorado
- Minnesota
- Wisconsin
- Iowa
- South Dakota
