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Retirement 2024: These Are the 10 Worst Places To Retire in Wyoming

May 13, 2024

3 min Read

Written by Vance Cariaga

Edited by Daria Uhlig

Panoramic aerial view of Jackson Hole homes and beautiful mountains on a summer morning, Wyoming.

Paola Giannoni / Getty Images/iStockphoto

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If your idea of the ideal retirement is to be surrounded by lots of empty space and not many people, then Wyoming is the place to go. The Equality State is the least populated state in America, with an estimated 584,057 residents in 2023, according to Britannica. Census data reveals that it’s also one of the biggest in land area, with 97,093 square miles.

There are numerous reasons to consider Wyoming as a retirement destination — as long as you don’t mind long, cold winters and a certain amount of isolation. The state has some of the most stunning natural beauty in the U.S., thanks to a diverse geography that includes the Black Hills, Great Plains, Rocky Mountains and Wyoming Basin.

Crime tends to be low in Wyoming. It ranks No. 5 in the nation in terms of a low violent crime rate and No. 11 in public safety, U.S. News reported. It also has a moderate cost of living, ranking as the 18th most affordable state in the country, according to the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center.

As GOBankingRates reported, Wyoming ranked No. 20 out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia in terms of the amount you need to save for retirement there, meaning 19 states required less savings and the rest required more savings. Here’s a breakdown for Wyoming:

Annual cost of living: $53,886.38
Cost of living after using Social Security income: $31,749.26
How much you need in savings to retire: $793,731.40

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A separate GBR analysis looked at the average retirement income you would need to live comfortably throughout the United States based on five spending categories: groceries, healthcare, housing, utilities and transportation. Next, the annual retirement income needed to cover these living expenses was calculated, with an additional 20% to account for the “comfortable” aspect of retirement. Here are the results for Wyoming:

Total annual expenditures: $53,250
20% comfort buffer: $13,313
Cost of a comfortable retirement annually: $66,563

Despite Wyoming’s advantages — or maybe because of them — not every place in the state makes an ideal retirement destination. The very things that make Wyoming attractive have made it an increasingly popular destination for new residents, which has pushed prices up. Although you don’t have to worry about urban congestion or high crime in Wyoming, you will face increasingly high living costs.

Using that criteria, here are the 10 worst places to retire in Wyoming, based on data from HomeSnacks. HomeSnacks’ cost-of-living index baseline is 100, meaning anything above 100 is more expensive than the U.S. average, and anything below 100 is less expensive than average.