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  1. Retirement
  2. Places to Retire

This Is the Best State for Retirement

Originally Published: Mar 23, 2015
Originally Published: Mar 23, 2015 Last Updated: Mar 01, 2016 6 min read
Historic buildings on Lincoln Highway, West 16th Street in downtown Cheyenne, Wyoming
Historic buildings on Lincoln Highway, West 16th Street in downtown Cheyenne, Wyoming
Ian Dagnall—Alamy

If you could choose any place in America to retire, which locale would be best? Florida perhaps? Or somewhere with a lot of culture, like New York or San Francisco? Not according to one new report, which finds the best U.S. state for retirees is...Wyoming.

According to Bankrate's annual "Best and Worst States to Retire" ranking, released on March 23, the "Equality State" state is the best place for seniors to settle down. The ranking is based on six different factors—cost of living, crime rate, community well-being, health care quality, tax rate, and weather—and weights the importance of each using a national survey on what Americans value in retirement.

UPDATE: 2016's Best and Worst States for Retirement

Arkansas comes in last, with poor marks in everything but living expenses, while Wyoming gets the crown for its top-10 low crime and good weather, low tax burden, and a cost of living and well-being scores in the top 20.

Wyoming's biggest weak spot? Health care, where the state comes in a humble 37. Minnesota, the state ranked as has having the best healthcare in the country, is listed number 11 overall.

That might make some readers balk, but Chris Kahn, who has spearheaded the report for years, has become accustomed to criticism.

"I get a lot of letters saying this should be most important, that should be most important, there isn't consensus there," says Kahn. "I guess the one thing I've learned from all this is I'm never going to make a ranking that's going to please everyone."

Related: Money's Best Places to Retire

If critics don't like the list, they have only their fellow Americans to blame. Respondents to Bankrate's survey ranked health care third on the list of retirement location priorities, behind crime and cost of living. In another surprise, more people (40%) said they would rather live near mountains, rivers, and other outdoor recreation than said they wanted access to a beach (25%), and only a quarter of respondents said being close to family was the most important factor in deciding where to retire.

"I consider this ranking a conversation starter," says Kahn. "Don't just go where you think you ought to go or where you had a good vacation. You should really be thinking about things like the cost of living, the health care system, the taxes—all that data is out there."

Here's the full list:

State Overall rank Cost of living Crime rate Community well-being Health care quality Tax rate Weather
Wyoming 1 19 5 20 37 1 8
Colorado 2 30 25 6 14 19 3
Utah 3 7 22 19 7 23 6
Idaho 4 3 2 27 21 27 7
Virginia 5 22 4 15 13 21 10
Iowa 6 11 12 4 5 22 39
Montana 7 27 19 8 24 13 9
South Dakota 8 26 11 31 15 3 29
Arizona 9 32 41 2 22 17 5
Nebraska 10 9 20 16 11 26 21
Minnesota 11 33 15 5 1 45 48
Maine 12 38 3 28 4 37 27
North Dakota 13 29 10 23 16 15 43
Kansas 14 10 32 13 25 25 17
Vermont 15 41 1 3 10 42 35
New Hampshire 16 39 7 17 6 7 49
Wisconsin 17 25 13 21 3 46 46
Massachusetts 18 43 21 22 2 40 11
Delaware 19 37 42 7 8 36 18
Michigan 20 18 29 14 17 30 45
Pennsylvania 21 34 16 36 23 41 22
Washington 22 36 36 9 19 24 40
Texas 23 14 38 37 41 4 23
North Carolina 24 28 33 30 30 34 19
South Carolina 25 24 48 26 35 (tie) 9 16
Illinois 26 21 24 32 32 38 36
Nevada 27 35 44 45 43 8 4
Florida 28 31 39 18 35 (tie) 20 28
Indiana 29 5 30 34 40 29 34
Tennessee 30 2 47 40 38 (tie) 6 24
California 31 46 31 10 34 47 2
Maryland 32 40 34 11 27 44 13
Georgia 33 15 35 33 42 16 20
Ohio 34 17 27 41 31 33 37
Alabama 35 12 43 35 33 10 41
Mississippi 36 1 23 44 47 11 42
New Mexico 37 13 50 38 48 14 1
Rhode Island 38 42 18 46 9 43 12
Connecticut 39 48 6 24 12 48 14
Oklahoma 40 4 40 29 49 12 26
Oregon 41 44 28 12 29 35 31
Missouri 42 16 37 39 38 (tie) 18 38
Kentucky 43 6 9 49 45 (tie) 28 33
Hawaii 44 50 26 1 20 31 32
New Jersey 45 45 8 43 18 49 15
Louisiana 46 20 49 48 45 (tie) 5 44
West Virginia 47 23 14 50 50 32 47
Alaska 48 49 46 25 28 2 50
New York 49 47 17 42 26 50 25
Arkansas 50 8 45 47 44 39 30

 

Read next: The Complete Guide to Retiring Abroad