Where’s the best state to retire? Head north, ranking says

Some people fantasize about retiring from work and moving to a state with a warmer climate and a beach, such as Florida or Hawaii.

A new ranking of the best states to retire by Bankrate shows popular retirement meccas such as Florida, Arizona or Hawaii are actually not the best choices. The five best states for retirement are actually New Hampshire, Colorado, Maine, Iowa and Minnesota, states that run colder relative to most of the U.S.

“There’s absolutely no doubt that warmer climates do attract” seniors, Karen Holden, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin’s La Follette School of Public Affairs, told Bankrate. But there’s much more retirees should consider, she added.

Bankrate, a website that aggregates financial advice, gathered information on cost of living, health care quality, crime rate, cultural vitality (if senior residents can find fun activities to do nearby), weather, tax rates, the well-being of seniors and the prevalence of other seniors. Each quality was then weighted based on a poll that asked what was most important to Americans when considering retirement. About 70 percent chose cost of living, health care quality and crime rate as either the most or very important.

All states in the top 10 tended to score well on health care quality and well-being, but tended to have lower scores on cost of living and weather.

“Our top pick, New Hampshire, probably won’t be the best place to work on your tan, but it will provide many of the necessities for a comfortable and sustainable retirement,” the authors wrote.

Florida was ranked No. 1 in prevalence of other seniors, a quality only 10 percent of people said was very important to them. Florida is ranked 17 overall.

The five worst states for retirement, according to Bankrate, are Alaska, West Virginia, Arkansas, New Mexico and Louisiana. Those ranked poorly in the quality of health care. Alaska is ranked the lowest overall despite having the No. 1 spot on low taxes.

This story was originally published March 29, 2017 at 11:11 AM with the headline "Where’s the best state to retire? Head north, ranking says."