15 Best States for Retirement: 2023

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The timing and location of retirement are major considerations for most Americans as they prepare for an end to their careers, according to a new report from WalletHub, a personal finance website.

Although retirement generally coincides with the age at which people become old enough to receive Social Security or pension benefits, many older adults find themselves having to work longer. A quarter of non-retired adults do not have enough money saved to retire when they would like — not necessarily through their own fault — and only 40% of non-retirees think their retirement savings are on track, according to the Federal Reserve.

When the time does eventually come, retirees also have to decide whether to stay put or move to another state. Finding the best states may require a lot of research.

WalletHub noted that even in the most affordable states, most people cannot rely on pension checks or Social Security to cover all their living expenses. True, Social Security benefits increase with inflation, but they replace only about 37% of the average worker’s earnings.

To identify the most retirement-friendly states, 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 calculated each state’s weighted average across all metrics to determine its overall score.

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

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