WASHINGTON — As people approach retirement, one of the biggest decisions they make is where to live.
Will they be snowbirds, living part of the year in a warm climate? Will they be able to do what many retirees these days are doing — working part-time or starting new careers?
Will they have enough money to do all of the things they want? And will they have enough money to just make ends meet?
WalletHub analyzed the 150 largest cities in the U.S. using 25 key metrics. The metrics included everything from the cost of living to fishing facilities to the costs of in-home care.
Looking at affordability, jobs, activities, quality of life and health care, WalletHub came up with the best and worst places to retire.
D.C. ranked 128th on the list. Baltimore ranked in the bottom 10 places, at No. 142. At the very bottom of the list are Providence, Rhode Island; Newark, New Jersey; and Philadelphia.
Cities in warmer climates are at the top of the list.
Tampa ranked No. 1. Grand Prairie, Texas, came in second. Orlando, Florida, is No. 3.
Tampa came in ninth in affordability and third in the number of activities.
Grand Prairie ranked second in health care, while Plano, Texas, topped the health care ranking category.
Henderson, Nevada, holds the title for best quality of life, but overall it was 37th on the list.
Top 10 best cities
- Tampa
- Grand Prairie, Texas
- Orlando
- St. Petersburg, Florida
- Scottsdale, Arizona
- Overland Park, Kansas
- Port St. Lucie, Florida
- Cape Coral, Florida
- Plano, Texas
- Peoria, Arizona
When it comes to the lowest adjusted cost of living, Nashville and Memphis are No. 1 and No. 2 respectively. The highest adjusted cost of living is in Jersey City, New Jersey, followed by Yonkers, New York, and San Francisco.
Four Texas cities — Brownsville, El Paso, Laredo and Corpus Christ — are in the top five for the lowest annual cost of in-home services. San Jose, California, and San Francisco had the highest annual cost for in-home services.
The cities with the lowest percentage of people over 65 working are Modesto, California, and Cleveland. The cities with the highest percentage of working seniors: Plano, Texas; Anchorage, Alaska; Irvine, California; and D.C.
While D.C. has a lot of seniors working, it ranks third in terms of the most recreation and senior centers per capita. Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Minneapolis are No. 1 and No. 2.
Weather is often a key factor in retirement decisions. Glendale, California, gets the mildest weather ranking, while Buffalo, New York, takes the worst weather ranking.
Top 10 worst cities
- Providence, Rhode Island
- Newark, New Jersey
- Philadelphia
- New York
- Chicago
- Stockton, California
- Worcester, Massachusetts
- Fresno, California
- Baltimore
- Jersey City, New Jersey
Click on the cities in the map below to see their rankings:
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