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These Are the 12 Worst States for Baby Boomers and Their Retirement Money

March 13, 2024

3 min Read

Written by David Nadelle

Edited by Nicholas Morine

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Although retirement brings a new sense of freedom and a different lifestyle, there’s a lot of income and expense uncertainty involved. While many Americans worry about retirement, lack a sound savings plan and are not even sure if they’ll have enough money to ever retire, some baby boomers are at a disadvantage depending on where they live.

Tallying 46 metrics (everything from adjusted cost of living to healthcare facilities per capita as well as violent crime rate to mildness of weather) across three primary dimensions (affordability, quality of life and health care), WalletHub found that the worst state for retiring boomers in 2024 is Kentucky, which ranked low in all three dimensions.

Many states — such as West Virginia (No. 5), Tennessee (6) Mississippi (12), Arkansas (13), Louisiana (16) and Oklahoma (17) — had comparatively positive affordability rankings, but were punished by poor quality of life and health care dimension scores.

Conversely, New York had strong quality of life and health care ratings (Nos. 10 and 12, respectively), but it costs so much to live there, its affordability score brought it down to 44th overall — or the seventh worst state in which to retire. Not surprisingly, many states in and around the Northeast region of the country shared a similar fate and saw their rankings hurt by factors such as cost of living and tax-friendliness.

The best place for boomers to live is Florida, bar none. While its 29th ranking for health care is surprising given its population’s age, as detailed by Consumer Affairs, maybe Floridians are healthier and live longer due to not having to pay estate, inheritance or income taxes and getting to bask in year-round ideal weather. Living by the ocean and participating in a wealth of senior-centric activities may also be a factor here.

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WalletHub’s report found the top five best states to retire were Florida, Colorado, Virginia, Delaware and Wyoming. However, the following 12 states the worst for retiring baby boomers and their money.