Over the years, FLORIDA has been on top of many Best Places to Retire lists. This year, Florida is again No. 1 on WalletHub’s Best States to Retire list. The state ranked second in affordability and third in quality of life.
These are the 20 Best States to Retire in 2016, based on WalletHub’s study.
| Rank | State | Points |
| 1 | Florida | 70.75 |
| 2 | Wyoming | 67.09 |
| 3 | South Dakota | 66.62 |
| 4 | South Carolina | 62.50 |
| 5 | Colorado | 62.23 |
| 6 | Idaho | 62.19 |
| 7 | Texas | 61.85 |
| 8 | Montana | 61.39 |
| 9 | Nevada | 61.19 |
| 10 | Virginia | 61.06 |
| 11 | Arizona | 61.01 |
| 12 | Pennsylvania | 60.41 |
| 13 | Iowa | 59.86 |
| 14 | Missouri | 59.07 |
| 15 | California | 59.01 |
| 16 | Delaware | 58.68 |
| 17 | Michigan | 58.36 |
| 18 | Wisconsin | 58.31 |
| 19 | Oklahoma | 58.00 |
| 20 | Georgia | 57.84 |
All the 50 states and Washington, D.C. were rated based on three factors:
- Affordability
- Quality of Life
- Health Care
To rate affordability, cost of living, pension taxation and in-home services costs were considered.
To rate quality of life, factors like these below were considered:
- Job opportunities for the elderly
- Percentage of residents aged 65 and older
- Number of theaters, museums, music venues, and golf courses per capita
- Air quality
- Quality of drinking water
- Adult Volunteer Opportunities
To rate health care, the following were considered:
- Number of general and family physicians, dentists and nurses per 100,000 residents
- Number of health facilities per 100,000 residents
- Ranking of public-hospitals
- Life expectancy
Why do you think Florida is on many Best Places to Retire lists?
There are lots of reasons, and several of them are the following:
- Florida has good weather for most days of the year. No shoveling of snow in the cold.
- There’s no personal income tax in Florida.
Florida is one of seven states that do not impose personal income tax on their residents. The others are Alaska, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming. - Retirees have lots of opportunities to own condos, single-family homes or other types of homes near the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico in the west or the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean in the east. Florida beaches have been on lists of the most beautiful beaches in the USA and in the world.
- Florida’s laid-back lifestyle and resort-like living fits many retirees’ preferences.
- There are more opportunities to meet friends who are also retirees. More than 19% of Florida’s population are aged 65 or older. Among all US counties, Florida’s counties Sumter and Charlotte have the biggest share of residents aged 65 or older. The Florida counties of Citrus and Sarasota are also in the top ten list of counties with biggest shares of elderly population.
- Florida has lots of activities for retirees: golf, fishing, boating, museums, theme parks, water sports, nature parks, nature trails, historic places