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What are top 10 states to retire in? Virginia doesn’t make the cut

Crystal Graham
woman at beach
(© olezzo – stock.adobe.com)

Americans deserve to retire in a place that offers both a high quality of life and a wide variety of cultural and entertainment activities. So what are the best states to retire in?

Connecticut, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Texas, South Carolina, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Kentucky and Michigan round out the top 10.

Virginia was just outside the top 10 – ranking #11. The ranking is due to its multiple retirement housing offerings, its number of available nurses as well as its high-quality public hospitals.

The analysis was conducted by market research firm TOP Data.

38 metrics were organized into five key categories:

  • Affordability: Cost of living, inheritance tax, social security income tax, in-home healthcare cost, home value, geriatric care cost, elderly living in poverty, state income taxes
  • Entertainment: Museums, RV parks, theaters, bingo halls, golf courses, restaurants, malls, casinos
  • Healthcare: Available nurses, retirement houses, quality of public hospitals, physically active seniors, life expectancy, hospice care quality, geriatric providers, preventive clinical services, uninsured rate for 65+, Medicaid per capita expenditures
  • Safety: Eldercare organizations and services, deaths from older adult falls, crimes on the elderly, money lost on crimes committed against seniors, violent crimes
  • Wellness: Air quality, weather, access to nature, drinking water violations, non-smoking regulations, food insecurity

Here are the rankings for Virginia by category in the “Best States to Retire” study:

  • #9 Entertainment
  • #14 Healthcare
  • #22 Wellness
  • #23 Affordability
  • #30 Safety

To view the full report, click here.

Crystal Graham

Crystal Graham

Crystal Abbe Graham is the regional editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1999 graduate of Virginia Tech, she has worked for 25 years as a reporter and editor for several Virginia publications, written a book, and garnered more than a dozen Virginia Press Association awards for writing and graphic design. She was the co-host of "Viewpoints," a weekly TV news show, and co-host of Virginia Tonight, a nightly TV news show on PBS. Her work on "Virginia Tonight" earned her a national Telly award for excellence in television.