Big Changes in U.S. News 2025 ‘Best Places to Retire’ List
New methodology shakes up U.S. News & World Report ’s rankings released today, catapulting Florida towns up the list while Pennsylvania towns plummet
Thanks to a change in methodology that now emphasizes “happiness” over “affordability,” cities in Pennsylvania have lost their stranglehold on the top of U.S. News & World Report’s annual “Best Places to Retire” rankings.
The change allowed Naples, Florida to take over the top spot, joined by two other Florida cities among the top seven in the 2025 rankings, released today.
And while last year Pennsylvania claimed all of the top five spots in the U.S. News 2024 Best Places to Retire rankings and seven of the top 10, the change in methodology kept Pennsylvania cities out of the top 10 completely in 2025 (out of the top 30 actually, as Pittsburgh is the Keystone State’s top-ranked city at 33 in the new rankings while last year’s No. 1 Harrisburg fell all the way to 84th). Back in 2023, cities in Pennsylvania also dominated the rankings, claiming five of the top 10 spots, including No. 1 and 2.
This year’s rankings evaluated 150 top U.S. cities based on how well they meet American retirees’ expectations, with measures including happiness, affordability, health care, desirability, retiree taxes and job market.
Retirees noted overall happiness of a place’s residents as the top consideration when determining a place to retire this year, helping Naples secure the No. 1 rank. Naples also scored high in desirability, retiree taxes and job market.
“The 2025 Best Places to Retire rankings reflect top cities across the country that best meet retiree needs and desires,” said Dawn Bradbury, assistant managing editor for real estate at U.S. News. “What we found this year is retirees seek a destination that will not only stretch their dollar, but is also a place for enjoyment. This is why the Midwest and South dominate the top 25.”
Indeed, one thing that didn’t change in the U.S. News rankings is a heavy concentration on cities in the eastern half of the country, as only four of the top 25 cities are located west of the Mississippi River.
While affordability remains a high-level concern for many Americans, happiness emerged as the top consideration when choosing a place to live out their golden years. As a result, happiness received the heaviest weight for the 2025 rankings, dethroning affordability for the first time in three years.
In addition to U.S. News adjusting its scoring to make happiness the most heavily weighted of the six factors in the 2025 Best Places to Retire methodology, U.S. News transitioned from using Metro Statistical Area (MSA) data to city-based data to further localize metrics that have a direct impact on retirees.
These changes resulted in top 10 appearances from Virginia Beach, Virginia (No. 2), Boise, Idaho (No. 5), Raleigh, North Carolina (No. 6), Jacksonville, Florida (No. 7), Huntsville, Alabama (No. 8), Charlotte, North Carolina (No. 9), and Fort Wayne, Indiana (No. 10).
“This year’s shift from Metro Statistical Area data to city-based data enables the consumer to consider factors that will directly impact the livability and overall experiences associated with a city on a more local level,” Bradbury added.
The six measures factored into this year’s rankings were weighted based on a public survey of individuals across the U.S. who are at or approaching retirement age (45 and older) to find out what matters most to people when they’re considering where to retire. Data sources include the U.S. Census Bureau, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Risk Index, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Sharecare and U.S. News’ Best Hospitals rankings.
The pages that follow offer a closer look at some of the cities making the list, with information from the 2025 U.S. News rankings.
Next Page: 2025 Best Places to Retire Top 10
