The Best and Worst States for Retirement 2015

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."

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

This Is the Best State for Retirement

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