America's Best Places for Retirement

Top American Cities to Retire

First Published Date: June 17, 2015

If you are thinking beach paradise California or mega metropolis New York City are on the best places to retire list, think again. Financial website Bankrate recently published its first ranking on America’s best and worst cities to retire and many famous cities are not on the list.

Bankrate looked at various factors such as cost of living, walkability, weather, crime rate, health care quality, tax rates, a specialized wellness score for seniors, etc. among 172 American cities and came with its lists of best and worst places to retire in America.

Here are the ten best cities:

1. Metro Phoenix, AZ
2. Arlington, VA
3. Prescott, AZ
4. Tucson, AZ
5. Des Moines, IA
6. Denver, CO
7. Austin, TX
8. Cape Coral, FL
9. Colorado Springs, CO
10. Franklin, TN

And here are the worst 10 cities:

1. New York, NY
2. Little Rock, AR
3. New Haven, CT (and surrounding area)
4. Buffalo, NY (and surrounding area)
5. Newark, NJ
6. Albany, NY (and surrounding area)
7. Hartford, CT (and surrounding area)
8. Oakland, CA
9. Indianapolis, IN
10. Cleveland, OH

Some highlights from this report:

– Only one city in Florida made it to the best list
– Cities in Arizona, including the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, swept through the list. No wonder so many Canadians are flocking to Arizona and buying properties.
– The Big Apple is not so big on the list and made it to the worst city to retire, due to its high cost of living.
– No city in California is on the list.
– Las Vegas was not represented.

If you are interested in finding out Canada’s best places or the world’s best places to retire, visit the A Dawn Journal Retirement Section.