FL Among Best States To Retire In, New Ranking Says
Community Corner
FL Among Best States To Retire In, New Ranking Says States were ranked according to those five categories including living costs, health care costs, weather and more. See how Florida fared.FLORIDA — If you're looking for a state to live out your golden years, there are few better places in the United States to settle down than Florida, according to a new ranking.
A new analysis by financial advice website Bankrate.com looked at the best and worst places for retirement by analyzing dozens of data points for each U.S. state, such as living costs, health care costs, weather, overall well-being and crime.
States were then ranked according to those five categories, the website states. Read more about the ranking's methodology online .
Maryland ranked No. 8 among the best places to retire, according to the analysis. Areas where the state fared best were overall well-being, weather and quality of health care.
"In our overall ranking, the best and worst states for retirees are split geographically," the analysis states. "The Midwest and the South claim the top five states, while the Northeast and West claim the bottom five states, primarily because of differences in cost of living."
Here are the top 10 best states to retire, according to the ranking:
- West Virginia
- South Carolina
For the second consecutive year, Alaska came in as the worst place to retire, followed by New York, Washington, California, and North Dakota.
If you're looking for something specific like year-round sunshine or if you'd like to avoid extreme weather and housing costs, the ranking allows you to search for the winners in each category.
The most affordable states were West Virginia, Mississippi, Indiana, Alabama and Georgia. The best weather was in Hawaii, Arizona, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi.
See the full ranking online .
