15 Worst States for Retirement: 2023

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Americans who are approaching the end of their working lives must figure out not only the best time to retire but where to spend their later years.

A new report from the personal finance website WalletHub notes that many people cannot retire when they would like because they do not have enough money saved — not necessarily through their own fault — and Social Security or pension benefits are unlikely to cover all their living expenses.

For those who can retire when they want to, deciding where they will live often comes down to whether to relocate to another state or remain where they are. Though the allure of warm, sunny climes might be strong, there are myriad other factors to consider, and finding the best states to move to may require considerable research.

WalletHub compared the 50 states across the key dimensions of affordability, quality of life and health care, evaluating those dimensions using 47 relevant metrics.

Researchers graded each metric on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for retirement. They then calculate each state’s weighted average across all metrics to determine its overall score.

The states in the study that scored best for retirement were both affordable and had good — or at worst, middling — scores in terms of quality of life and health care, while the worst states for retirement were a study in contrasts. The least affordable ones tended to score relatively well in health care and quality of life, but those there were the most affordable had dismal scores in one or both of the other two factors.

See the gallery for the 15 worst states for retirement, according to WalletHub.

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