2020's Best and Worst Places To Retire, According to WalletHub
Retirement is supposed to be a time of relaxation and focusing on the joys of life that make it worth living. That’s difficult to do if your area doesn’t offer many interesting opportunities or the taxes are particularly high.
To that end, WalletHub has compiled a 2020 list ranking 182 U.S. cities based on things to do, elderly friendliness, taxes and property crime rates. The top five probably won’t surprise you.
1. Orlando, Florida
It’s no surprise that a city in Florida has been ranked as one of the top places to retire, as it has long been heralded as a mecca for retirees.
2. Tampa, Florida
This city ranked right after Orlando in the category of “activities” is slightly less affordable, but boasts a higher quality of life according to WalletHub metrics.
3. Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston ranks higher in “health care” than Tampa, with only a slightly lower activities rating.
4. Miami, Florida
Perhaps no surprise, Miami offers the most activities of all top five cities.
5. Fort Lauderdale, Florida
This Florida city has the highest health care ranking of the five, but is also the least affordable.
Scroll over the cities below to see where they ranked on the list.
It’s all well and good to know where you might consider heading in a perfect world, but if you currently reside in one of the following — the five worst places to retire out of 182 cities — you might want to consider making a move, too.
178. San Bernardino, California
Obviously, many cities in California will fail in the “affordability” ranking, but San Bernardino comes in at 175 out of 182 for both activities and quality of life.
179. Warwick, Rhode Island
Even more expensive than San Bernardino, and still not offering much in the way of activities or healthcare.
180. Bridgeport, Connecticut
While Bridgeport doesn’t have much going for it retirement-wise (especially coming in at number 180 out of 182 for affordability), it has better health care options than the other bottom five.
181. Stockton, California
This California city falls 179 out of 182 in activities.
182. Newark, New Jersey
While offering a good number of activities, Newark fails in the affordability and quality of life categories, ranking in the 170s.
Not everyone has the luxury of moving to a new place for retirement, and there are plenty of other factors that come into play — like proximity to immediate family and life-long friends — but this is valuable information based on general concerns.
A full ranking and more information can be found on WalletHub’s website.
Do you live in any of these cities? Do you agree or disagree with their assessment?
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