While the best state to retire in the U.S. is also one of the smallest in the country, the worst state to retire is the largest.<\/p>\n
Alaska ranks as the worst state in the U.S. to retire for the third year in a row, according to Bankrate\u2019s study of the best states to retire in 2024.<\/p>\n
To compile its list of the best and worst places to retire in the U.S., Bankrate ranked all 50 states across five weighted categories:<\/p>\n
Bankrate analyzed datasets from a number of sources, including the Council for Community and Economic Research, the U.S. Census Bureau, the Tax Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.<\/p>\n
Here are the 10 worst states to retire, according to Bankrate.<\/p>\n
Notably, Alaska ranks last in the weather category. Although temperatures in Alaska can range from 45 degrees to 75 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer, they can sink as low as negative 10 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter.<\/p>\n
Alaska can be an expensive place to live, especially for retirees with a fixed income. On average, the cost of living in Alaska is about 30% higher than the rest of the country, <\/strong>according to RentCafe. Housing costs are about 17% higher than the national average, and utilities and health-care expenses are both nearly 50% higher.<\/p>\n On the upside, Alaska can be a very tax-friendly location for retirees. The state doesn\u2019t have income tax, estate taxes or inheritance taxes and doesn\u2019t tax pension payments or retirement benefits from Social Security.<\/p>\n Lack of affordability appears to be a common thread among the other low-ranking states on the list, which include New York, Washington and California \u2014 all known for being relatively pricey.<\/p>\n However, just because a state has a higher cost of living doesn\u2019t necessarily mean you should write it off as a potential retirement destination. You may just need to plan to set aside more money for retirement than you would if you were planning to retire somewhere less expensive.<\/p>\n CNBC Make It\u2019s retirement calculator can help you estimate how much you\u2019ll need to save for retirement based on factors like your current age, savings, income and when you\u2019d like to stop working.<\/p>\n And while living costs can be a key determinant in deciding where you may want to retire in the future, it\u2019s also good to keep other non-financial aspects in mind. For example, access to social and community-building activities is an important, but often overlooked, consideration for retirees, according to Bankrate.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving that sense of community and human connection is huge to healthy aging,\u201d Kerry Hannon, a retirement expert and Author of \u201cIn Control at 50+: How to Succeed in the New World of Work,\u201d says in Bankrate\u2019s study.<\/p>\n \u201cIsolation and loneliness are not something you want to move toward, so look for your community,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While the best state to retire in the U.S. is also one of the smallest in the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6045,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}