The United States’ best and worst cities to retire to have been revealed in a new study, leaving Florida’s reputation as the best state for retirees under threat.
Although the Sunshine State did claim three of the top spots on the list of best places to retire, it faced stiff competition from three major cities in Arizona, Wyoming and Georgia.
The analysis, conducted by WalletHub, compared the retirement-friendliness of 182 cities on four key metrics: affordability, activities, quality of life and health care.
Ultimately, Scottsdale in Arizona topped the list for best places for retirees when excluding the three Florida locations. The city was even ranked first for quality of life.
A new study has revealed the best and worst places to retire to in the United States (Getty/iStock)
Following Scottsdale were Casper in Wyoming, and Atlanta in Georgia.
Chip Lupo, an analyst at the personal finance company, explained that there are several factors for retirees to consider when they choose somewhere to live.
”As a result, the best cities for retired people are those that minimize taxes and expenses, as well as have good opportunities for retirees to continue paid work for extra income, if they choose to do so,” Lupo said.
“In addition, the top cities provide high-quality health care and offer plenty of enjoyable activities for retirees.”
Scottsdale, Casper and Atlanta were all the highest ranked cities, outside of Florida (WalletHub)
Forty-five separate measures were used to record each metric, with each being graded on a 100-point scale. Using those numbers, WalletHub worked out an average score for each city out of a possible perfect 100 score.
Scottsdale had an average score of 58.87, just shy of Tampa’s 59.29 and Miami’s 59.40. Orlando had an overall score of 63.38.
Comparatively, Caspar had a score of 58.79 just a little higher than Miami’s 58.73.
Stockton was ranked lowest on WalletHub’s best places to retire in the United States (AFP/Getty)
Florida’s crown as one of the best places to retire in the United States has been slipping in recent years, with an analysis byThe Wall Street Journal in January finding that the state was becoming unaffordable to retirees earning $75,000 or less.
In their study, WalletHub also analyzed the worst places to move to as a retiree, with cities in California accounting for six of the bottom ten.
Stockton, California, was ranked as the worst city out of the 182 analyzed by WalletHub for its study. The city was ranked 182nd, dead last, for activities and 153rd for health care.
Florida occupied the top three spots on the list, with Orlando being ranked first overall (Getty Images/iStock)
Another California city, San Bernardino, occupied the 181st spot overall. Its highest score was for affordability, where it reached 126th place.
Newark, New Jersey, was ranked third-worst overall.
WalletHub’s 10 best places to retire
Charleston, South Carolina
WalletHub’s 10 worst places to retire
San Bernardino, California
Rancho Cucamonga, California