New Hampshire is the best state for retirement
Bankrate’s study, published on Monday, surveyed 2,260 U.S. adults in May 2025 to identify the top retirement relocation priorities. The top three were affordability (28%), weather (18%) and safety (17%), followed by health care (16%), taxes (9%), arts and entertainment (7%), age demographics (3%) and other factors like walkability (2%).
Three of the top five best states for retirees are located in New England, while four of the five worst states are in the Sun Belt.
Survey respondents prioritized qualities such as affordability, health care quality and neighborhood safety nearly as much — or sometimes more — than weather, Bankrate found.
Altogether, Bankrate ranked each state according to 15 different factors, weighting them according to the priorities set in the survey.
New Hampshire scored well in nearly every category. It ranked first in neighborhood safety and highly in other categories, including low local taxes (6), health care (5), people of a similar age (7), affordability (14) and arts and entertainment (15).
The only category that New Hampshire did not rank highly in was weather, where it came in at No. 40 on the list.
Of the remaining five best states to retire after New Hampshire, Maine scored highest in people of a similar age, Wyoming scored the best when it came to low local taxes, and Vermont was first in arts, entertainment, and recreational establishments per 100,000 residents.
Rounding out the top five best states is Idaho, which ranked No. 3 in neighborhood safety.
“Our survey results may be shocking to any retirees who only considered warm weather and income taxes in their relocation plans,” said Stephen Kates, Bankrate’s financial analyst.
“This year, we asked Americans about quality of life factors that are vital to their satisfaction in retirement, such as entertainment, safety, and walkability. By incorporating Americans’ own retirement priorities with our analysis of 15 different data points, we are able to give a comprehensive perspective on the true costs of retirement across different states.”
Louisiana ranked poorly in neighborhood safety (48), affordability (43), arts and entertainment (42), taxes (40), weather (39), health care (37) and people of a similar age (36).
Of the remaining worst states to retire after Louisiana, Texas is at the bottom of the list in health care (50). Oklahoma followed as it ranked poorly for the density of seniors in the state (44) as well as arts and entertainment establishments (46).
Arkansas ranked among the bottom in terms of crime rate (46) and density of arts and entertainment establishments (48). And Nebraska performed poorly in affordability (49), rounding out the bottom five worst states to retire.
Among the states that ranked No. 1 in individual categories, West Virginia was first for affordability, Wyoming for low local taxes, California for weather, and New Hampshire for safety/lack of crime.
Vermont was No. 1 for both health care and arts and entertainment, Maine for people of a similar age, and New Jersey for miscellaneous/other (including measures of community well-being and walkability).
“Retirees and pre-retirees should take notice of these rankings because we looked beyond the typical categories to look closely at important lifestyle and risk factors for residents of various states,” Kates added.
“There is more to being a resident than just the number of sunny days and taxes. Categories like public safety, walkability, access to healthcare, air quality, and recreational opportunities add up to the daily quality of life retirees want.”
