News flash! Florida is the best state to retire in!
Ok, that one was a little obvious, but did you know Minnesota is No. 2?
Wallethub recently released its annual rankings of best and worst states to retire in for the year 2025, and other than the obvious frontrunner, the rest of the results are quite interesting.
In order to identify the most retirement-friendly states, WalletHub compared them across three key dimensions: 1) affordability, 2) quality of life and 3) health care, using 46 relevant weighted metrics. They calculated each state’s weighted average across all metrics to determine its overall score.
Florida topped the list (again), racking up big scores in both overall affordability (a high cost of living is offset by robust government-funded programs—Florida receives more funding per senior from the Older Americans Act than all but two other states) and quality of life, which were more than strong enough to overcome its middle-of-the-pack healthcare ranking.
The big surprise at No. 2 is Minnesota, which was carried by a No. 1 ranking in healthcare—Minnesota has the most health care facilities, the second-most nursing homes and the third-most home health care aids per capita. Its No. 6 ranking in quality of life was none-too shabby either and, like Florida, the combination of two strong scores were able to overcome one middling one—in this case overall affordability.
Colorado, Wyoming and South Dakota round out the top five, with some western flair.
On the other end of the spectrum, Kentucky brings up the rear. The Bluegrass State scored poorly in all metrics, with the double whammy of a 45 ranking in health care and 41in quality of life.
Here are the rest of the 10 best and 10 worst states to retire in in 2025:
