Ranked: The 10 Best U.S. States to Retire In (2024)
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
This chart ranks the 10 best U.S. states to retire in as of 2024. Data was sourced from Bankrate.com.
To create this list, Bankrate analyzed all states across five categories with assigned weights:
Affordability: Cost of living, taxes (40%).
Well-being: Sense of community, entertainment (25%).
Healthcare: Quality, cost, and access to health services (20%).
Weather: Average annual temperatures, natural disasters incidence (10%).
Crime: Property and violent crime rates (5%).
One overall rank for each state was then calculated. The lower the number, the better the ranking.
Which State is the Best for Retirement?
Generally speaking, the best states for retirement are those that are affordable to live in and have warm weather.
RankStateAffordabilityWell-beingHealthcare
1Delaware#20#2#39
2West Virginia#1#27#50
3Georgia#5#42#34
4South Carolina#17#20#33
5Missouri#9#35#18
6Mississippi#2#46#49
7Pennsylvania#25#14#20
8Florida#37#3#19
9Iowa#16#33#12
10Wyoming#8#16#38
Note: This table has been divided in two for legibility. It’s meant to be considered as a whole with the second part below.
Unexpectedly, Delaware tops the list, helped by its well-being and weather scores. Well-being measures the share of the population aged 62 or higher (for a sense of community) as well as the number of arts, entertainment, and recreation centers.
Bankrate also states that the lack of earthquakes, tornados, and hurricanes in the region makes for strong selling points.
On the economics side, the First State has no sales tax and also does not tax social security or retirement benefits up to $12,500. This helps it achieve an above-average affordability ranking.
RankStateWeatherCrime
1Delaware#8#36
2West Virginia#21#16
3Georgia#6#29
4South Carolina#9#46
5Missouri#22#42
6Mississippi#5#22
7Pennsylvania#32#12
8Florida#3#27
9Iowa#38#12
10Wyoming#47#7
Note: This table has been divided in two for legibility. It’s meant to be considered as a whole with the first part above.
Meanwhile, the rest of the list is filled either by states scoring well on cost of living (West Virginia, Missouri, Wyoming) or weather (South Carolina and Florida).
And those that do both well (Georgia and Mississippi) have top 10 ranks despite their below-average performance on well-being, healthcare, and crime.
Learn More on the Voronoi App
Wondering which states should be avoided for retirement? Check out The 10 Worst States to Retire In. There’s an unexpected entry from the south in there.
The post Ranked: The 10 Best U.S. States to Retire In appeared first on Visual Capitalist.