When it comes to decisions about retirement, one of the biggest questions is where to retire. If you need help deciding, a recent ranking from U.S. News & World Report could help you whittle down your options.
The publication’s Best Places to Retire in the U.S. in 2020-21 list surveyed people from the age of 45 to 59 who are approaching retirement age and those who are 60 or older, which is retirement age, for guidance on their top priorities.
U.S. News analyzed the 150 heavily populated metropolitan areas in the U.S., including Puerto Rico; smaller cities were not included. Overall retirement scores were calculated for each metro area and that’s what the rankings are based on.
To obtain the overall retirement score, the publication took a weighted average of six indexes: happiness, housing affordability, desirability, health care quality, job market and retiree taxes. Weights for each index were determined from an online survey U.S. News conducted in August 2020 of people at or approaching retirement age. Nationwide, 3,052 people 45 and older were asked to choose the aspects of a retirement destination that were their top priority from a predefined list.
The weight of the overall retirement score varies for each index. Happiness is the highest at 22.7% and job market is the lowest at 10.9%.
Florida is among the most popular places to retire and this year’s list features just three cities outside Florida in the top 10.
The top five include Sarasota, Florida, known for its award-winning beaches, Fort Meyers, Florida, which has preserved its small-town culture, Port St. Lucie, Florida, which has a relaxed atmosphere and world-class amenities, longtime preferred retirement spot for the wealthy, Naples, Florida, and Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which offers sprawling farms and well-kept suburbs.
See below for the top 10 best places to retire according to U.S. News.
2020-2021 Top 10 Best Places to Retire
- Sarasota, Florida
- Fort Myers, Florida
- Port St. Lucie, Florida
- Naples, Florida
- Lancaster, Pennsylvania
- Ocala, Florida
- Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Asheville, North Carolina
- Miami, Florida
- Melbourne, Florida
While Georgia didn’t crack the top 40, it did make an appearance at No. 47 with Atlanta and again at Nos. 57 and 84 with Augusta and Savannah respectively. Of the three cities, Atlanta had the highest overall score at 6.7 with Augusta and Savannah trailing at 6.6 and 6.5 respectively.
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