The number of houses in foreclosure and the crime rate were part of the quality-of-life ranking, as well as the number of days it’s cold enough you have to use heat.
The employment and education category considered a number of factors such as the percentage of a state’s population between 45 and 64 years of age with a college degree and the percentage of private sector employers who offer health insurance.
The obesity level, the percentage of smokers and the level of physical activity were parts of the wellness category.
In addition to Virginia and South Dakota, the other top five attractive states for pre-retirees, in order, were Minnesota, Wyoming and Wisconsin.
The bottom five were Arkansas, California, New Mexico, New Jersey and New York at the bottom. However, those poor scores for New Jersey and New York are somewhat offset by the fact that the region as a whole gets some of the best health care, wellness and education scores.
Florida and Arizona, which are popular retirement states, ranked 37th and 43rd, respectively.
Virginia gained the top spot for the South, but only two other southern states, Tennessee at number 10 and Georgia at number 16, made the top 20.
LPL says it hopes the ranking will open up discussions between advisors and pre-retiree clients about the quality of life they want in retirement and then plan accordingly financially to reach those goals.