Here Are the Best And Worst Places to Retire in U.S. — See Where the Tri-State Ranked

Thinking of retiring anytime soon? You may want to at least consider looking outside of the tri-state.

According to the website WalletHub, which on Monday put out its list of best and worst states to retire in, none of the tri-state fared particularly well in the study. Connecticut had the highest ranking, finished 29th overall.

New Jersey finished dead last in the rankings, while New York was just slightly ahead, listed in 48th.

personal finance Jan 14, 2022

Here Are 4 Ways to Get Your Retirement Savings Plan Back on Track

investing Jan 15, 2022

Anyone at Age 65 Should Evaluate How — Or If — Medicare Will Fit Into Their Health-Care Coverage. Here's Why

Get Tri-state area news and weather forecasts to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York newsletters.

The website ranked states based on three categories: Affordability, Quality of Life and Health Care. Affordability was determined by cost of living, tax-friendliness and cost of adult care. Quality of life measured many different variables, from public transportation, to amount of shoreline, to museums, theaters, golf courses and bingo halls per capita, and more.

Connecticut was rated as having the fifth-best health care in the nation, and rated as middle of the pack in quality of life (27th). But was rated as just 42nd in affordability, WalletHub found.

For obvious reasons, that final measure hurt New York and New Jersey even more so, ranking them last and second to last, respectively. But aside from being the least affordable place in the country, New York fared fairly well in the other two categories. It was rated 12th in quality of life and 7th in healthcare, according to WalletHub, aided by having the most museums and theaters per capita in the country, as well as the third-highest life expectancy.

In addition to its 49th ranking in affordability, New Jersey also finished poorly in quality of life (34th) and just average in health care (28th). The one thing that was in the Garden State's favor: property crime rate, which was the 5th best in the country.

Florida topped WalletHub's list, rated as 4th in affordability, 5th in quality of life and 27th in health care.

Martha Mae Adams is a retired postal police officer who lives in New York City. After leaving that career for health reasons, she continued to support herself with the help of some income she made working with children. But COVID-19 ended that. She talked to NBCLX about overcoming her shame to accept donations from a food pantry during the pandemic. “There comes a time when everybody needs some kind of help.”

Here's a look at the rest of the top 10:

Florida
Virginia
Colorado
Delaware
Minnesota
North Dakota
Montana
Utah
(tie) Arizona and New Hampshire

And here are the states that finished in the bottom 10:

40. Washington
41. Louisiana
42. West Virginia
43. Arkansas
44. Rhode Island
45. Illinois
46. Oklahoma
47. Kentucky
48. New York
49. Mississippi
50. New Jersey

For a full list and a breakdown of how each category was measured, click here.