As more Americans take the plunge into early retirement, a new ranking has lined up which states offer the best quality of life for those seeking a home for their Golden Years.
The ranking by WalletHub comes as the Covid and economic disruptions have caused great upheaval in the labor and retirement markets. In the fall, the St. Louis Federal Reserve reported that about three million Americans have retired early because of the pandemic.
WalletHub noted that does not take into account people who are unable to end their working years, even if they want to.
"Not everyone can retire when they want to," the WalletHub report said. "In fact, 27% of non-retired adults haven’t saved any money for retirement, though not necessarily through any fault of their own."
To rank the best places for retirement, WalletHub compared the 50 states across three key categories–affordability, quality of life and healthcare.
WalletHub used 47 key metrics relevant to retirement-friendliness, including taxes, annual cost of healthcare, share of population aged 65 and older, access to public transportation, museums, theaters, golf courses and Bingo halls per capita, family medicine physicians per capita, home health aides per capita, healthcare facilities per capita and violent crime and property crime rates.
The following states, in ascending order, are WalletHub’s best places to retire:
15. Wisconsin
The Badger State ranked 32nd in affordability, 10th for quality of life and 17th for healthcare.
14. South Dakota
Mount Rushmore State ranked 22nd for affordability, 33rd for quality of life and 11th for healthcare. The state has the highest percentage (23%) of people aged 65 and older still working.
13. Wyoming
The Cowboy State ranked 18th for affordability, 13th for quality of life and 37th for healthcare.
12. South Carolina
The Palmetto State ranked third for affordability but was dragged down by quality of life (38th) and healthcare (35th).
11. Idaho
The Gem State ranked 13th in affordability, 19th for quality of life and 36th in healthcare.
9. Arizona (tie)
The Grand Canyon State ranked 15th in the affordability category, 32nd for quality of life and 24th for healthcare.
9. New Hampshire (tie)
The Granite State ranked second for quality of life and eighth for healthcare. It, however, ranked 32nd in the affordability category.
8. Utah
The Beehive State ranked 19th in affordability, 20th in quality of life and 26th in healthcare.
7. Montana
The Treasure State ranked 14th in affordability, 18th in quality of life and 31st in healthcare.
6. North Dakota
The Peace Garden State ranked 25th in affordability, 16th in quality of life and 16th in healthcare.
5. Minnesota
The North Star State took the top rank in the healthcare category and third place for quality of life. But it ranked 36th in affordability.
4. Delaware
The First State ranked sixth in affordability, 35th for quality of life and 15th for healthcare.
3. Colorado
The Centennial State ranked fourth in healthcare, 11th in affordability and 21st in quality of life.
2. Virginia
The Old Dominion State ranked ninth in affordability, seventh in quality of life and 13th in healthcare.
1. Florida
The Sunshine State ranked fourth for affordability, fifth for quality of life, but 27th for healthcare. The state has the highest percentage (20.10%) of people aged 65 and older.
The full report can be viewed here.