Tri-state area ranks among the worst places to retire in 2024, study says

Retirement is meant to be a time of enjoyment and relaxation after years of hard work.

However, the years leading up to retirement, according to financial experts, should be marked with saving as much as possible to cover your costs when you no longer work.

Retirement can be a stressful time for some with 28% of adults not saving money for it, and Social Security benefits only replaces about 37% of the average workers earnings, according to WalletHub.

Additionally, part of stretching your savings is living in the right place.

With this in mind, Wallethub looked into the best and worst states to retire in 2024. The study compared the 50 states across 46 key indicators including tax rates, cost of living, access to quality medical care and fun activities. It turns out, the tri-state area is not the most retire-friendly region.

New Jersey is the second worst state to retire in, according to the study. The overall ranking was based upon how the Garden State did in individual categories. Turns out that when it comes to the affordability rank, New Jersey came in as the second least affordable state (No. 49). It ranked a bit better when it came to quality of life (No. 35) and health care (No. 20).

Overall, New York fared a bit better than New Jersey, although it is also among the top 10 worst states to retire in, according to WalletHub. New York ranked as the 7th worst state to retire overall (No. 44 out of 50). It's ranking is due to how it scored in the affordability rank (coming in last place). Although, New York did score among the top 20 for quality of life (No. 10) and health care (No. 12) categories.

New York also made a few appearances in key metrics. WalletHub determined that it has the fifth highest adjusted cost of living and the third worst taxpayer ranking. The good news? New York has the fourth highest life expectancy among all the states, and it is also No. 1 when it comes to museums per capita and theaters per capita, allowing for fun activities that retirees may want to participate in.

Out of the tri-state area, Connecticut was the state that ranked the best, coming in as the 17th worst state for retirees. In individual categories it ranked as the state with the sixth worst affordability (coming in at No. 45). It also came in at No. 26 for quality of life, and among the top 5 as having among the best health care (No. 4).

Connecticut also found its way into key metrics, placing as the second worst state for taxpayers.

Now that we know that the tri-state area is among the worst places to retire to, according to WalletHub, which state is the best? That would be Florida, followed by Colorado, Virginia, Delaware and Wyoming.

On the other end of the spectrum Kentucky beat out New Jersey to become the worst state to retire, according to the study.

For more information, or the methodology used, click here.