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These Are the Best and Worst States for Retirement

- Stefan Auth—Getty Images
Stefan Auth—Getty Images

If you've been dreaming of retiring on a beach, you may want to trade in your surfboard and think about taking up horseback riding instead.

That's because Wyoming, for the second year in a row, was named the best state in which to retire, according to an annual survey from Bankrate.com. Western neighbors South Dakota, Colorado, and Utah ranked second, third, and fourth, respectively.

Bankrate calculates its ranking based on six factors: cost of living, taxes, health care, weather, crime, and residents’ overall well-being. The top-ranked states score high on well-being and also offer a modest cost of living (a boon for retirees on fixed incomes) and below-average crime rates, according to the report.

Wyoming's best feature was its low tax burden, ranking third in the nation, while health care was its worst, landing it in 32nd place. New Hampshire, the state with the highest ranked health care services, was ranked as the 15th best place overall to enjoy life after work.

Read More: Money's Best Places to Retire

The worst state in which to retire? New York, owing to its expensive cost of living and high taxes. West Virginia, Oregon, Arkansas, and Louisiana rounded out the bottom five.

"While features like pleasant weather and nearby amenities are important, nuts-and-bolts considerations like cost of living and the local tax burden may have a bigger impact on your overall quality of life," said Bankrate senior analyst Claes Bell.

The survey results might disappoint for those thinking about tropical retirement locales like Florida and Hawaii: Those states ranked 28th and 45th, respectively. Florida suffered from its high crime rate and subpar health care; and as appealing as an island retirement might sound, Hawaii was dragged down by the highest cost of living in the country.

Coastal living in general apparently doesn't coincide with a smart retirement destination. Only one state in the top 10 (Virginia, ranked fifth) touches an ocean, and nine of the 12 worst states to retire lay adjacent to the coast.

Here's the full 50-state ranking.

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

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