U.S. News & World Report seems like it always has a thing for Pennsylvania when it comes to its annual rankings of the “Best Places to Retire,” but this is getting ridiculous.
UPDATE: Big Changes in U.S. News 2025 ‘Best Places to Retire’ List
Pennsylvania locked up the top five spots in the new list unveiled today of the 2024 Best Places to Retire in the United States—and secured seven of the top 10 spots. Harrisburg rose one spot to take the No. 1 rank due to its scores on health care for seniors, retiree tax rates and overall happiness of its residents. It replaced Lancaster, which dropped down to No. 3.
While the rankings released today features three new cities in the top five, they’re all in Pennsylvania. Reading moved up six positions to the No. 2 spot this year. Scranton saw the sole double-digit jump into the top five, rising 13 positions to No. 4, and Allentown climbed four positions to No. 5.
This year’s list evaluated the country’s 150 most populous metropolitan areas based on how well they meet Americans’ expectations for retirement, with measures including Affordability, Health Care, Desirability, Retiree Taxes, Job Market and Overall Happiness.
According to the U.S. News 2024 Best Places to Retire methodology, the western part of the country just doesn’t compare. In the 2022 rankings, nearly three quarters (72%) of metro areas in the U.S. News top 25 were located in Florida or Pennsylvania, and not a single city west of the Mississippi River cracked the top 30. For 2023, cities in Pennsylvania claimed five of the top 10 spots, including No. 1 and 2 and only city west of the Mississippi made the top 25.
2024 U.S. News Best Places to Retire – Top 10
- Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
- Reading, Pennsylvania
- Lancaster, Pennsylvania
- Scranton, Pennsylvania
- Allentown, Pennsylvania
- New York City, New York
- York, Pennsylvania
- Daytona Beach, Florida
- Youngstown, Ohio
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
2024 U.S. News Best Places to Retire – Bottom 10
141. Bakersfield, California
142. Salinas, California
143. Santa Rosa, California
144. Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota
145. Vallejo-Fairfield, California
146. Denver, Colorado
147. San Juan, Puerto Rico
148. Albuquerque, New Mexico
149. Stockton, California
150. San Jose, California
*See the full rankings here.
Why Pennsylvania?
Pennsylvania’s domination at the top of the rankings was attributed mainly to affordability—the most heavily weighted of the six factors in the 2024 Best Places to Retire methodology—with favorable health care, retiree taxes and happiness scores also chipping in.
“Over the last year, Americans have observed record-high interest rates in the housing market, steadily increasing cost of goods and extreme weather patterns impacting the living conditions of our nation,” said Beverly Harzog, personal finance expert at U.S. News. “As retirees consider where to spend their golden years, they want areas that not only give them the best bang for their buck, but places where they can live a happy, healthy life. This is why Pennsylvania dominated the Best Places to Retire ranking’s top positions, taking seven of the top 10 spots on the list.”
New York City managed to interrupt Pennsylvania’s stranglehold at the top of the list, claiming the sixth spot (up from 14 last year). Despite its low Affordability score that usually keeps it near the bottom of other “best places to retire” lists, New York City scored extremely well on Health Care Quality and Happiness. The metro area also scored well on Retiree Taxes.
For spot No. 7, we’re back in the Keystone State with York. Daytona Beach, Fla., came in at No. 8 and Youngstown, Ohio No. 9. Pittsburgh rounded out the top 10. As for Youngstown, it saw another year-over-year, double-digit jump in its rank. The city’s strong Happiness, Affordability and Retiree Taxes scores resulted in a 12-spot climb.
While apparently not as desirable a retirement location as Pennsylvania, Florida still scored highly in the new rankings, with six places appearing in the top 25. The 2024 ranking’s adjustments made for affordability and retiree taxes allowed Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to soar 19 spots to No. 17. Other notable top 25 increases include Trenton, New Jersey, which moved up 25 positions to No. 20, and Rochester, New York, which rose 29 positions to No. 21.
As for anything west of the Mississippi River, you have to drop all the way to No. 77 in the U.S. News rankings before Portland, Ore., shows up. Boise, Idaho comes in at 80. As for Eugene, Ore., which was the top-ranked western “best place to retire” at No. 25 in last year’s rankings? It took a freefall all the way to No. 93 this year.
The western U.S.—and more specifically California—did dominate the bottom of the rankings, with the Golden State claiming 10 of the final 15 spots on the list of the 150 largest metro areas in the country. San Jose gets the dubious distinction of being 150 and last on the list.
A tour of Pennsylvania’s top 5 retirement ‘hot spots’
Here’s a closer look at the Pennsylvania cities that made up the top 5.
1. Harrisburg
Harrisburg, the state capital, sits on the Susquehanna River and had a population of 50,135 as of 2021. It rose to the top spot this year despite its average Desirability and Job Market scores. Harrisburg has a cheaper cost of living than many other parts of the country due to its lower-than-average prices for food and other necessities.
2. Reading
Reading, in southern Pennsylvania, is known as “The Pretzel City” for its numerous pretzel bakeries. Founded in 1748, Reading grew as a result of the nearby iron and steel industries, which gave rise to the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, an important spoke in the wheel that drove the Industrial Revolution. The city had a population of 95,112 at the 2020 census and is the fourth-largest city in the state after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Allentown.
3. Lancaster
Lancaster, the county seat of Lancaster County in southern Pennsylvania, finished at the top of last year’s U.S. News rankings based its scores on health care for seniors, retiree tax rates and overall happiness of residents.
4. Scranton
If some of the folks at Dunder Mifflin—the fictional paper and office supplies wholesale company featured in The Office—have retired since the show left the air, they probably stayed put in the fourth-best place to retire in the U.S. With a population of population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, the cost of living in Scranton is 5% lower than the state average and 7% lower than the national average, according to RentCafe. Housing is 24% cheaper than the U.S average.
5. Allentown
The eastern Pennsylvania city Billy Joel famously sings about living in back in 1982 had a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 census. Allentown moved up three spots in the rankings from last year despite the cost of living being 8% higher than the state average and 6% higher than the national average, again per RentCafe.
Methodology
Based on the survey scoring, U.S. News assigned the following weights to the indexes when compiling the overall retirement score for each metro area: Affordability Index (25%), Happiness Index (22%), Health Care Quality Index (16%), Retiree Taxes Index (16%), Desirability Index (13%) and Job Market Index (8%).
U.S. News said it expanded its data points in this edition to better encapsulate a place’s strengths and weaknesses, according to a press release. In addition to a survey to determine whether people want to retire in a given metro area, the Desirability Index now includes weather temperateness, which evaluates the number of days annually with moderate temperatures and minimal precipitation.
It also includes an establishment-to-population ratio, which assesses the number of restaurants, bars and activities per 1,000 residents. The Affordability Index—which previously focused solely on housing affordability—now factors in price parity, a Bureau of Economic Analysis data point on the general cost of goods within an area.
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, FEMA National Risk Index, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Sharecare and U.S. News’ Best Hospitals rankings.
Best Places to Retire is part of U.S. News’ expanding Real Estate section, which provides rankings, tools and advice to help individuals navigate the housing market, from finding the right neighborhood and home value estimate to working with an agent and buying and selling a home.
SEE ALSO:
• Retire Here, Not There: WalletHub’s 2023 Best & Worst Places to Retire
• 2023 Rankings: There’s a New ‘Best Place to Retire’ – And It’s Not in Florida
• 2022 Rankings: ‘Best Places to Retire’ Rankings Dominated by Two States