We love our Hawkeye friends, but Iowa at No. 4 on the list of best states to retire? Come ON. But when you take affordability, quality of life and healthcare into account, it ranks where it should for retirement.
WalletHub is out with its list of the best and worst states for retirement, and while there were some surprises (Delaware, Wisconsin) and some expected (Rhode Island at dead last, thanks to taxes), all were interesting in their own way.
Weather, number of museums, golf courses—there seemed to be some outdated stereotypes in the methodology—were all included in the calculations.
“Even in the most affordable areas of the U.S., most retirees cannot rely on Social Security or pension checks alone to cover all of their living expenses,” according to the site.
“Social Security benefits increase progressively with local inflation, but they replace only about 40 percent of the amount you earned if you were an average worker,” it added, citing the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
With that in mind, here are the results:
Top 10 Best States to Retire
1 Florida
2 Wyoming
3 South Dakota
4 Iowa
5 Colorado
6 Idaho
7 South Carolina
8 Nevada
9 Delaware
10 Wisconsin
Top 10 Worst States to Retire
41 New York
42 Arkansas
43 Kentucky
44 Vermont
45 New Mexico
46 New Jersey
47 Hawaii
48 Connecticut
49 Alaska
50 Rhode Island
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of 401(k) Specialist and Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots. Experienced financial services content executive specializing in creative new media delivery. He joined the American Retirement Association in 2023 as Chief Content Officer, overseeing communications for the organization, as well as its sister organizations.