SOURCE:
INVESTORS BUSINESS DAILYURL:
http://www.investors.com/etfs-and-funds/retirement/best-states-to-retire-a-list-and-how-to-find-more-lists/by: PAUL KATZEFF
Where should you retire in the U.S.? It depends on your priorities. If being near to family and friends is what matters most to you, you will likely choose a state where they live. If hot weather tops your wish list, you'll choose somewhere in the Sun Belt or Hawaii. Likewise, you can choose states based on everything from low taxes to low crime rates and lots of health care facilities and golf courses.
And you can research all of those factors online. You can even find lists of best states to retire in. Many mix and weigh several key factors for you. All you need to do is decide which factors reflect your own priorities. It can be a key part of your own overall retirement planning.
WalletHub ranks all of the states plus the District of Columbia from 1 to 51. Each state and D.C.'s rank and overall score are based on three broad categories: affordability, quality of life and health care. And each of those categories gets a score, state by state.
The top 10 states are Florida, Wyoming, South Dakota, South Carolina, Colorado, Idaho, Texas, Montana, Nevada and Virginia.
The 10 lowest ranked are Maryland, Alaska, New York, West Virginia, New Jersey, Vermont, Connecticut, Hawaii and D.C., with Rhode Island at the bottom.
Within the three categories of attractiveness, each state is scored on 24 factors. Many of them have different maximum potential scores.
For instance, adjusted cost of living is a factor in determining affordability. The highest score that a state can receive is about 18 points. Impact of taxes on pensions and Social Security income is another affordability factor. It's maximum score is about 9 points.
All of the affordability factors have top scores adding up to 40 points.
Some of the factors in the quality-of-life category are weather, the percentage of the population that is age 65 and older, number of golf courses per capita, violent crime rate, property crime rate and availability of adult volunteer activities.
Quality-of-life factors have a combined potential top score of 30 points.
In the health care category are factors such as number of doctors per 100,000 residents, number of dentists per 100,000 residents and number of health-care facilities per 100,000 residents. Life expectancy and emotional health also have scores.
The category's highest potential score is 30 points.
If you want more information about each state's financial factors, check out other lists at the website. WalletHub offers a separate table, listing such factors as each state's combined state and local tax rate as a percent of the median U.S. household income.
GOBankingRates lists factors such as each state's average monthly Social Security benefits, health insurance premium, interest rate paid on savings accounts and two-year CD interest rate.
The site also shows each state's cost-of-living index, which gives you an idea of how expensive each state is relative to the others.
Bankrate.com has a more touchy-feely list of the 10 best states. It is more of a 10-part story than a list. Each state's segment describes the state's main attractions. It also cites highlights, such as "low crime" or "great weather."
