Florida jumped nine places from 2019 to claim the top spot as best U.S. state for retirement in 2020, according to a new report.
Blacktower Financial Management Group’s new “best and worst U.S. states for retirement” list revealed that the Sunshine State scored well across the board for states to retire to, followed by Minnesota and Iowa. Alaska came in last.
The study used weighted metrics from cost of living, crime rates, life expectancy, property prices and population age. The 2020 ranking is an update from a 2019 report.
One-fifth (21%) of Americans are now aged more than 60 years, according to the report. Improved healthcare, lifestyle and medications have increased life expectancy of U.S. residents to 78.69 years. With a population growing both in number and age, the competition for retirement real estate is fierce, with millions of American retirees looking at where they want to spend their time.
Florida has the second-highest population of older adults over age 60 in the country. Minnesota remained at second place on the 2020 list compared with 2019. The Gopher State sports a low crime rate and a high population of older adults. Rounding out the top 10 states to retire to are Iowa (No. 3), Ohio, Texas, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Idaho (No. 10).
On the flip side, Alaska fell to the bottom of the rankings for the second year, with its remote and colder location. Second to the bottom was the Aloha State, Hawaii, due to its expensive real estate and cost of living. Rounding out the bottom 10 states are Nevada (No. 47), New Mexico, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Maryland, Arkansas and Montana (No. 40).
When looking at specific metrics, Hawaii won out with the highest life expectancy, West Virginia had the lowest average property rates across all 50 states, Mississippi topped the list with the best cost of living, and Maine had the lowest crime rate on average across all 50 states.
