New Hampshire jumps to No. 1 this year amid concerns about housing affordability and high taxes.

“For one, Florida doesn’t even make the top ten — a state known for attracting snowbirds to its sprawling retirement communities fell to 22 this year. Our Florida-based readers tell us...”— Jeff Smith, Sr. Content Manager

UNITED STATES, January 4, 2023/ EINPresswire.com / -- Retirement Living, a leading resource for retirement planning, consumer protection, and senior health and wellness, announced the 2023 Best and Worst States to Retire in the United States. Rising concerns about economic uncertainty and the overall cost of living resulted in a few new entries to the list.

“Some of the states that made our list are recurring winners (and losers) from years prior, but this year, we noticed a shift in sentiment from our surveyed readers,” says Jeff Smith, senior content manager at Retirement Living. “For one, Florida doesn’t even make the top ten — a state known for attracting snowbirds to its sprawling retirement communities fell to 22 this year. Our Florida-based readers tell us that the rising costs of food, transportation, and housing are starting to affect their ability to afford to live in the state. While inflation is a known pain point felt across the country, our Florida respondents seem to be the most vocal and concerned about the changes, much more so than last year. For this reason, they fell significantly in our retirement rankings.”

Overall, retirees consider the housing market, high inflation, access to great healthcare, and the ability to pursue an active lifestyle in retirement. This year’s list evaluated 15 data points across four categories: cost of living, quality of life, healthcare, and resident satisfaction, which we calculated based on survey responses from more than 300 people.

Few states offer the best of all worlds, so retirees must prioritize what’s most important to them. Housing affordability or a lack of state income tax isn’t always the deciding factor. For example, Texas and Tennessee both fell to the bottom 10 for best states to retire, despite being one of eight states with no personal income tax. A lack of healthcare availability and high crime rates were the culprits. In contrast, Maine state taxes are sky-high, but it also boasts the lowest crime ratings of the top ten states — which cemented its place in the top five.

The 10 Best States to Retire:
1. New Hampshire
2. Maine
3. Idaho
4. Iowa
5. Virginia
6. Vermont
7. Arizona
8. Washington
9. Colorado
10. Wyoming

The 10 Worst States to Retire:
1. Louisiana
2. New Mexico
3. West Virginia
4. Arkansas
5. Delaware
6. Texas
7. Mississippi
8. California
9. Tennessee
10. Alabama

See the full story here.

The 15 data points used to create this list include state taxes, average home prices, median household income, assisted living costs, the percentage of the population over 65, the percentage of people in poverty, violent and property crime rates, population density, the number of hospitals per state, the number of primary care doctors, dentists, and mental health professionals per capita, and Retirement Living survey responses.

Data sources include the U.S. Census Bureau, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), The Tax Foundation, the United Health Foundation, and Genworth, as well as responses from our Retirement Living survey about retirement satisfaction.

Jeff Smith
Retirement Living
jeff@retirementliving.com
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