Sarasota, Tampa, Miami Among Most Popular Places To Retire

LAKELAND, FL — Maybe it's the beaches or the fishing, shopping or attractions, but nearly half of the 25 most popular places to retire in the United States just happen to be in Florida, according to a new study by MagnifyMoney, a LendingTree brand.

The study looked at the number of residents over 65 who were out of the labor force and who moved into a particular metro area compared to the number who moved out.

Here are the Florida findings:

• Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater ranked second with 20,734 people moving in compared to 14856 moving out for a net gain of 5,878.
• The Sarasota metropolitan area, including North Port, Sarasota and Bradenton, ranked third in the country. It attracted 9,987 new seniors. Only about 4,237 opted to leave. That left a net influx of 5,750 retired seniors.
• Cape Coral-Fort Myers area ranked fifth with 6,465 new seniors. Only about 2,807 left for a net influx of 3,658.
• Naples-Immokalee-Marco Island, ranked sixth with 5,477 new seniors compared to 2,120 who left for a net increase of 3,357.
• Lakeland-Winter Haven came in seventh with 6,346 new seniors and 3,063 seniors who left for a total net increase of 3,283.
• Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach finished eighth with 6,009 new seniors and 2,734 who left for a net increase of 3,275.
• Port St. Lucie came in 13th with 5,734 new seniors compared to 3,150 who left for a net increase of 2,584.
• Jacksonville finished 14th with 6,824 new seniors compared to 4,299 who left for a net increase of 2,525.
• Ocala finished 15th with 4,012 new seniors and 1,537 who left for a net increase of 2,475.
• Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach came in 16th with 17,829 new seniors compared to 15,367 who left for a net increase of 2,462.
• Punta Gorda finished 21st with 3,431 new seniors compared to 1,493 who left for a net increase of 1,938.
• Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville came in 22nd with 4,851 new seniors compared with 2,916 who left for a net increase of 1,935.

"Weather and a sense of 'affordability' aren’t the only factors attracting retirees," the study found. "Florida and Tennessee in particular, and Arizona to a lesser degree, have extremely retiree-friendly tax laws. Florida does not tax any kind of retirement income and has relatively low property and sales taxes."

Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Arizona topped the list while Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wisconsin came in fourth.

Lake Havasu City-Kingman, Arizona finished ninth and Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tennessee finished 10th to round out the top 10.

"The New York metro area ranked number one in our list of the least popular retirement destinations for seniors," according to the study. "Chicago, Philadelphia and Los Angeles didn’t fare too well either."

Honolulu and Orlando were also noticeably absent from the top 25 rankings.

Click here to read the full study.