Florida Named Best State To Retire

MIAMI, FL — With its glorious sunsets and sunrises, year-round warm weather and access to beaches, Florida has been named the best state to retire in a new study released on Tuesday. Personal finance website WalletHub compared all 50 U.S. states across 41 key metrics. The website considered adjusted cost of living, weather and quality of public hospitals among other factors.

"Retirement might be the end of your career, but it doesn’t have to be the end of financial security or life satisfaction," according to WalletHub. "Timing is often a primary concern with retirement, as it generally coincides with the age at which we may receive Social Security or pension benefits."

Florida scored 27th in adusted cost of living, 10th in annual cost of in-home services, 21st in life expectancy and first in percentage of the population aged 65 and older.

"Almost 30 percent of non-retired adults haven’t saved any money for retirement, though not necessarily through any fault of their own," WalletHub reported. "But in addition to when you want to retire, a good question to ask is where. That can be difficult to decide without doing lots of research. Even in the most affordable areas of the U.S., most retirees cannot rely on Social Security or pension checks alone to cover all of their living expenses. Social Security benefits increase with local inflation, but they replace only about 40 percent of the average worker’s earnings."

In choosing a place to live out their golden years, WalletHub said retirees should consider various factors such as finances, health and how they plan to spend their days.

Florida also ranked 20th in health care, fifth in quality of life and first in affordability.

Colorado was named the second best state to retire followed by South Dakota, Iowa and Virginia. The worst states to retire included Kentucky, New Jersey and Rhode Island, according to WalletHub.

Click here to read more about the study.

Photo by Paul Scicchitano