Florida No. 1 For Military Retirees: Study

Military veterans looking for a place to lay down permanent roots during their retirement years may want to consider the Sunshine State. According to the folks at WalletHub, Florida is the best state for military retirees.

To arrive at that conclusion, the number crunchers at the website that’s dedicated to all things personal finance looked at “22 key indicators of retirement-friendliness toward veterans,” WalletHub spokeswoman Diana Popa said. Those factors included such things as the number of veterans per capita, veteran job opportunities, the percentage of the population age 40 and older and cost of living, among others.

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When all was said and done, Florida ranked number one out of all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Montana, New Hampshire, Wyoming and South Carolina rounded out the top five in second to fifth places, respectively. New Jersey came in 50th place with Washington, D.C., coming in dead last.

WalletHub’s study was conducted in time for May’s Military Appreciation Month and the upcoming Memorial Day holiday on May 29. It was meant to “help our troops plan their years after service,” Popa explained.

Florida stood out in such individual metrics as:

• Number of VA health facilities per number of veterans – fifth
• Number of VA benefits-administration facilities per number of veterans – sixth
• Percentage of population aged 40 and older – fifth
• Veterans per capita – 21st
• Arts, leisure and recreation establishments per capita – 24th

To check out the full study, visit WalletHub online. To find out more about the methodology behind the rankings, check out WalletHub's explanation.

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