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3 best and 3 worst US states to retire to: new ranking

James Julian
Dwelling News
Published in
4 min readJan 7, 2025

If I were to retire today, I’d make a beeline straight to my favorite area of Canada.

The Okanagan Valley is hot in the summer, reasonably mild in the winter, filled with big, beautiful lakes, and surrounded by three breathtaking mountain ranges.

Of course, there are many factors outside of weather and scenery that go into selecting a retirement location.

And as a new power ranking of the best places to retire to shows, the place you pick can have a lot to do with how happy you and your wallet are.

What are the 3 best and 3 worst states to retire to according to a new ranking?
What are the 3 best and 3 worst states to retire to according to a new ranking? (Licensed by the author under the Unsplash+ License)

Ranking the best U.S. states to retire to

The personal finance and lending site Bankrate recently analyzed dozens of data points to come up with a list of the best U.S. states to retire to — from worst to first.

Some of these will probably leave you scratching your head, but keep in mind the following category weights when you go through the list and it’ll make more sense:

  1. Affordability (40 percent)
  2. Overall wellbeing (25 percent)
  3. Cost and quality of healthcare (20 percent)
  4. Weather (10 percent)
  5. Crime (5 percent)

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James Julian
James Julian

Written by James Julian

James is a journalist, author, entrepreneur, and investor. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JamesJulianWealth

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