Worst States to Retire

When it comes to the worst state for retirement, Kentucky gets the dubious honor for 2023, thanks to ranking in the bottom-half in each of the three metrics: 46^th in health care, 41^st in quality of life, and surprisingly 33^rd in affordability. Kentucky dropped from 47^th in the 2022 rankings to the bottom of 2023 with a total score of 38.80, while last year’s No. 50 New Jersey moved up a single spot to No. 49 (40.23) in 2023. An affordability ranking of 49 continues to be an albatross for the Garden State in this survey.

Mississippi (48^th at 40.80), Oklahoma (47^th at 43.61) and New York (46^th at 43.69) rounded out the bottom five. Despite cracking the top 10 for affordability, Mississippi ranked 48^th for health care and dead last for quality of life. While New York cracked the top 10 for quality of life, it ranked 50^th for affordability and 16^th for health care.

The rest of the bottom 10 consist of Louisiana (45^th at 43.90), Illinois (44^th at 44.30), Washington (43^rd at 44.46), Maryland (42^nd at 44.35) and Arkansas (41^st at 44.73).

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