12 Best States for Retirement: 2024

Many Americans are deeply concerned about their retirement prospects, according to survey results released Monday by WalletHub, a personal finance website. Thirty-one percent of 220 survey participants said they think about retirement almost obsessively, and another 31% said they feel anxious when they think about their post-career lives. It's easy to understand why. Nearly half of respondents said they were not sure they would have enough resources to retire, and 39% said they expect to work until they die. Research by the Federal Reserve found that 28% of non-retired adults have not saved any money for retirement. And a study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities showed that Social Security benefits replace only about 37% of the average American worker's earnings. Pre-retirees' angst can be explained in part by WalletHub's finding that 35% of respondents do not have a retirement plan. A plan can provide a pathway toward meeting one's retirement goals and avoiding the grim reality that too many Americans will face.

Location Matters

A separate study by WalletHub, also released Monday, showed that where retirees choose to live can make their money go further. To determine which states are best and worst for retirement, researchers compared the 50 states across these key dimensions:

• Affordability, including adjusted cost of living, retired taxpayer friendliness and annual cost of in-home services and adult day health care
• Quality of life, including share of 65-and-older population; risk of social isolation; and availability of museums, theaters, golf courses and bingo halls per capita
• Health care, including family medicine physicians per capita, geriatrician shortfall and top-rated geriatric hospitals

They evaluated those dimensions using 46 relevant metrics and graded each one on a 100-point scale, with a score of 100 representing the most favorable conditions for retirement. See the accompanying gallery for the 12 best places to retire in 2024, according to WalletHub.