No matter where you choose to retire, you’ll be able to sleep in late, go for long walks in the afternoon and work on that book you always wanted to write.
But when it comes to your budget, health, safety and overall quality of life, the state you live in really does matter. Sometimes you might need to prioritize two or three aspects of retirement that matter most to you — or find yourself a state that truly does have it all.
Every year, multiple studies claim they can show you which states are best or worst for retirement. They almost never agree, so we’ve averaged three of this year’s state rankings into one master list. We've also included quotes from users on Reddit and Quora on why these states are not as good as the rest.
OUR METHODOLOGY: We added each state's retirement rankings from RetirementLiving1, WalletHub2 and MoneyRates 3 to create scores out of a possible 150. The higher the score, the lower the state ranks as a retirement destination.
Here are the 25 states to write off your list of options, counting down from bad to worst:
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