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Vermont 23rd-best state for retirement

Submitted by tim on

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont is the 23rd-best state for retirement, according to a new Bankrate.com report. Vermont scored well in healthcare quality (#10) and low crime (overall #1 in nation). The main drawbacks are arelatively high cost of living (#42), taxes (#41) andthe weather (#35). Regionally, New York was worst overall, while three New England states finished ahead of Vermont: Maine #11 (cheaper, better health care,better weather), New Hampshire #15 (lower taxes, better health care, worse weather); and Rhode Island #22 (better health care, better weather).The study examined six key factors: cost of living, taxes, healthcare, weather, crime and residents’ overall well-being.

Wyoming is the best state for retirement, according to a new Bankrate report. Wyoming’s neighbors South Dakota, Colorado and Utah rank second, third and fourth, respectively. The region boasts strong well-being scores and it also offers a low cost of living and below-average crime.New York is the worst state for retirement, owing mostly to the nation’s highest tax burden and a very high overall cost of living. West Virginia, Oregon, Arkansas and Louisiana comprise the rest of the bottom five. The survey found that 60 percent of people want to move when they retire.

Among traditional retirement hotspots, Arizona fared the best at No. 9. Florida came in 28th (dragged down by a high crime rate and below-average healthcare quality) and Hawaii 45th (largely because it has the nation’s highest cost of living).

While many people think of beaches when they think about retirement, only one of Bankrate’s 10 best states for retirement touches the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico (Virginia, at No. 5). Nine of the 12 worst states are coastal states.

“There are a lot of factors that go into how well retirees will do in a state,” said Claes Bell, CFA, a senior analyst at Bankrate.com. “While features like pleasant weather and nearby amenities are important, nuts-and-bolts considerations like cost of living and the local tax burden may have a bigger impact on your overall quality of life. Many retirees live on a fixed income, and it's hard to have a pleasant retirement if you're constantly under financial pressure.”

Sources:

-- Cost of Living: Council for Community and Economic Research
-- Crime: FBI
-- Well-being: Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index
-- Healthcare: Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research
-- Taxes: Tax Foundation
-- Weather: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Overall rank State Cost of living Crime rate Community well-being Health care quality Tax rate Weather
1 Wyoming 18 5 5 32 3 8
2 South Dakota 26 11 6 9 2 29
3 Colorado 32 25 4 13 16 3
4 Utah 15 22 8 11 30 6
5 Virginia 20 4 17 14 24 10
6 Montana 33 19 3 27 (tied) 13 9
7 Idaho 2 2 36 38 22 7
8 Iowa 13 12 14 6 20 39
9 Arizona 27 41 9 21 15 5
10 Nebraska 14 20 20 15 21 21
11 Maine 38 3 22 3 37 27
12 North Dakota 29 10 15 12 18 43
13 Wisconsin 25 13 13 2 47 46
14 Minnesota 30 15 7 5 42 48
15 New Hampshire 39 7 21 1 7 49
16 North Carolina 21 33 23 16 31 19
17 Kansas 8 32 25 36 28 17
18 South Carolina 24 48 19 23 9 16
19 Tennessee 6 47 37 33 4 24
20 Pennsylvania 31 16 33 24 38 22
21 Texas 17 38 11 48 6 23
22 Rhode Island 41 18 26 7 43 12
23 Vermont 42 1 29 10 41 35
24 Mississippi 1 23 43 43 10 42
25 Delaware 34 42 27 8 35 18
26 Massachusetts 45 21 30 4 39 11
27 Nevada 37 44 38 46 8 4
28 Florida 28 39 12 29 17 28
29 Michigan 9 29 39 20 26 45
30 New Mexico 22 50 16 47 14 1
31 Alabama 7 43 28 27 (tied) 12 41
32 Kentucky 5 9 49 42 29 33
33 Georgia 10 35 41 40 19 20
34 Illinois 23 24 35 26 46 36
35 Washington 36 36 24 17 25 40
36 Ohio 16 27 47 30 32 37
37 Indiana 3 30 46 39 27 34
38 Missouri 12 37 45 35 23 38
39 California 49 31 10 41 45 2
40 New Jersey 43 8 32 18 48 15
41 Maryland 40 34 34 19 44 13
42 Connecticut 46 6 18 25 49 14
43 Alaska 47 46 2 37 1 50
44 Oklahoma 4 40 48 50 11 26
45 Hawaii 50 26 1 22 36 32
46 Louisiana 19 49 42 49 5 44
47 Arkansas 11 45 44 45 34 30
48 Oregon 44 28 31 34 40 31
49 West Virginia 35 14 50 44 33 47
50 New York 48 17 40 31 50 25

Sources: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; Gallup-Healthways; Council for Community and Economic Research; FBI; Tax Foundation; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Bankrate, Inc.

Bankrate is a leading publisher, aggregator and distributor of personal finance content on the Internet. Bankrate provides consumers with proprietary, fully researched, comprehensive, independent and objective personal finance editorial content across multiple vertical categories including mortgages, deposits, credit cards and other categories, such as retirement, automobile loans and taxes. The Bankrate network includes Bankrate.com, CreditCards.com and Caring.com, our flagship websites, and other owned and operated personal finance websites, including Interest.com, Bankaholic.com, Mortgage-calc.com, CreditCardGuide.com and CreditCards.ca. Bankrate aggregates rate information from over 4,800 institutions on more than 300 financial products. With coverage of over 600 local markets, Bankrate generates rate tables in all 50 U.S. states. Bankrate develops and provides web services to over 100 co-branded websites with online partners, including some of the most trusted and frequently visited personal finance sites on the Internet such as Yahoo!, CNBC and Bloomberg. In addition, Bankrate licenses editorial content to over 500 newspapers on a daily basis including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and The Boston Globe.

NEW YORK –March 1, 2016– Bankrate