BankRate Best & Worst States to Retire 2019

[ShokWaveRider]

Yet another potentially meaningless report. Nebraska is 1 and Maryland is 50. Florida is 5 .

"For this study, Bankrate looked at affordability, weather and a number of other factors important to retirees. We also created an interactive tool that allows you to see how the results change based on your preferences in retirement."

Based on the fact that the folk that seem to have done the research appear to have an average age of about 13 between them, and are not going to retire for eons to come, it can be taken with a Pinch of salt.

One thing about Florida, we were ranked as 31 out of 50 for healthcare. From experience where we live has had the best, most access, with Top providers and hospitals, all in abundance with no waiting that we have experienced. I suppose if one lives in the boonies then it may not be as good. To us weather and wellness are more important than affordability,

https://www.bankrate.com/retirement/best-and-worst-states-for-retirement/

 

[Bamaman]

I've yet to read a best and worst place to live report that was worth anything.

Reports complain about the healthcare in my state, however we have a beautiful brand new hospital complex in town, and 4 incredible hospital cities within 2 hours. And the quality care of our nurses is the best we've ever experienced.

It's the total quality of life that matters--housing, recreation, great friends, churches. I also like that I'm within a day's drive of many other great cities to visit. And it's all got to fit within one's income.

And having 2 Robert Trent Jones golf courses on my street and a major lake in my front yard is hard find elsewhere.

 

[ziggy29]

From the article:

Weather was calculated using the average daily temperature from 1985 through 2018

That's it? And higher is always better, so 110 degrees in Arizona (or 95 and humid as hell in Houston) is better than, say, 75? And no factoring in precipitation, humidity, wind, hurricanes, tornadoes, driving in and shoveling snow and ice (other than cold temperature)? So 20, clear and calm is worse than 30 with blizzard conditions?

I've yet to read a best and worst place to live report that was worth anything.

To me the problem with them is that everyone has a different situation, everyone has their own ideas about what weather and culture are "better" or "worse", and that everyone has different priorities and personal weightings for all these things.


And even affordability, which seems straightforward, has moving parts. There are housing prices, food and energy prices, property taxes, sales taxes, income taxes... and everyone has their own mix of how much of each they pay depending on lifestyle.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I do not disagree with any of the above comments. I do find it funny that a bunch of millennials can guess what we as retired folk prefer as our ideals.

 

[MRG]

Please use this guide. Nebraska is the place to be.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

please use this guide. Nebraska is the place to be.

rotfl

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

Interesting that they didn't rank Washington DC at all. Not that it is a great place to retire, IMO, but it would do well on some metrics like culture and wellness, two rankings where I think they shortchanged Maryland. (Although they're not far off about affordability in the DC suburbs, but you can go an hour or two west of the I-95 corridor and it's quite affordable.)

 

[MichaelB]

Interesting that they didn't rank Washington DC at all. Not that it is a great place to retire, IMO, but it would do well on some metrics like culture and wellness, two rankings where I think they shortchanged Maryland. (Although they're not far off about affordability in the DC suburbs, but you can go an hour or two west of the I-95 corridor and it's quite affordable.)

I think the article only looked at states, which would exclude DC. A bit silly IMO, as “Florida” encompasses Key West, Tallahassee, Miami and West Palm Beach, and I cannot think of 4 areas with so little in common, except hurricanes, which makes me wonder why it’s so high on the list of recommended states.

 

[REWahoo]

I think the article only looked at states, which would exclude DC. A bit silly IMO, as “Florida” encompasses Key West, Tallahassee, Miami and West Palm Beach, and I cannot think of 4 areas with so little in common, except hurricanes, which makes me wonder why it’s so high on the list or recommended states.

That's another example of why these "best states for retirement" articles are next to worthless unless they focus only on how tax friendly they are to retirees.

 

[LRDave]

I feel dirty for even clicking on the link. That's the silliest d@mned list I've ever seen.....

 

[Big_Hitter]

all you need to know about this survey is that they rated the weather in Texas a 4 and the weather in Idaho a 42. That was the primary reason we left Texas lol.

 

[Big_Hitter]

the "weather" in Alabama is a 7 and a 3 in lousyanna? LMFAO!

 

[ziggy29]

all you need to know about this survey is that they rated the weather in Texas a 4 and the weather in Idaho a 42. That was the primary reason we left Texas lol.

Right. It looks like they only looked at average temperature in the state and decided higher was better. No consideration for *too* hot, or for humidity, hurricanes, wind, rain, snow, ice, et cetera. That is a really ridiculous way to gauge quality of weather. Apparently, if it's infernally hot, sauna-like or with hurricanes, it doesn't matter. Warmer is always better!

I think most of these lists are just clickbait inviting criticisms because, you know, it gets discussion and clicks.

 

[cathy63]

Gotta love that on average California's weather is apparently worse than Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, etc. Who could have predicted that averaging temperatures across a state with enough geographic diversity to include Death Valley and Mount Whitney would give you nonsense?

 

[davebarnes]

Montana is #2 for culture?

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Gotta love that on average California's weather is apparently worse than Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, etc. Who could have predicted that averaging temperatures across a state with enough geographic diversity to include Death Valley and Mount Whitney would give you nonsense?

Agreed, SoCAL has probably the best weather in the country by far. However not so in the North or the Deserts. But affordability may be the kicker there. Healthcare from what I remember is Top Notch Also. Amenities and infrastructure are also top notch, as most Blue states are.

Unfortunately, I think it is a somewhat tongue in cheak study, again how would the young folks who based the info on averages have any idea what actual Retirees really want. It is almost impossible to base the results on generalities. State choices would be applicable based on Taxes and for the smaller less geographic states, weather.

 

[ziggy29]

Montana is #2 for culture?

More strange methodology. In addition to what you would expect (the number of arts, entertainment and recreation establishments per capita), they also include the restaurants per capita (presumably including fast food joints in strip malls), and "adults 65 and older per capita" (why??)

That said, Missoula is pretty famous for its recreational and cultural opportunities, especially relative to its size. Not sure about the rest of Montana, though, unless it heavily weights outdoor activities like fishing, hunting, hiking and the like. Still, I suspect Missoula's cultural stuff alone, even when spread out for the whole population of Montana, remains pretty high.

 

[LiveBelowMeans]

Having moved from Maryland to Florida for retirement, I agree with
their placement of those two states. Jmho

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

These articles come out all the time, ...

Look at where retirees go, instead.

What state has the oldest population?

What state has the highest percentage of retirees?

Maine on both counts.

Unless your health problems are such that you can not do cold weather.

 

[Koolau]

I wish I could find my "Best Places Rated" (I call it the 'Big Book' but forget what it was actually called.) It was perhaps 300 pages long and went into each of maybe 8 or 10 categories in detail. I think it was from early '90s so it would be way out of date.

Each category was fully explained and contained the raw data and explanation(s) of how it was reduced to an individual rating.

I recall that their idea of ideal weather included such things as rain days, winter lows and summer highs. They explained that the(ir) ideal temperature was based on 65 degrees F. So anything above in the summer or below in the winter subtracted 'points' from the ideal.

For crime, they had actual stats on property crimes (burglary, arson, etc.) and violent crime (aggravated assault, forcible rape, murder, robbery, etc.)

For health, they had stats on number of doctors/per resident, number of hospitals, specialists, etc.

While they did go ahead and make final ratings on (IIRC) 300 localities, they strongly suggested that each user of the book make their own ratings, based on what they valued most. For instance, perhaps I could care less about culture (whatever that is, heh, heh) but am passionate about 'good weather' I could 'weight' the ratings (or even ignore some) in coming up with my "best place" to live.

I'm sure you could quibble with their methodology, but at least they exhaustively explained their methodology and told exactly where they extracted their data (mostly gummint resources.)

Frankly, anything less aggressively complete than this approach is just "places rated porn" in my opinion. YMMV

 

[ckelly78z]

Living in Ohio, I tend to agree that is is ranked #5 in affordability, while ranked #47 in wellness...very few bicycles/walkers, with many overweight, video game playing, drug users.