CHICAGO (NewsNation Now) — Looking to settle down and retire? You may want to keep your eyes on Georgia and Florida after a recent study from Bankrate.
Bankrate crunched statistics on costs of living, public health and other metrics to determine the best spots to relax and retire.
Here’s what they found.
The top five places to retire are:
- Georgia
- Florida
- Tennessee
- Missouri
- Massachusetts
Bankrate said in terms of affordability, wellness, weather and a low crime rate, the Peach State reigned supreme. Notable mentions included the well-known retiree havens of Florida and Tennessee.
The worst places (ranked 46 to 50) to retire as calculated by Bankrate are:
- Alaska
- Montana
- Kansas
- Minnesota
- Maryland
To construct the list, Bankrate weighed the following categories: affordability, wellness, culture, weather and crime. However, experts suggest to always go visit a place in person before deciding to settle there.
“Spend some time in places where you want to live before you commit to moving there. Go to a variety of different places that you seem to be attracted to — places that have a lower cost of living and lower property taxes — and test them out for a while,” said Laura Kovacs, director of education at the Scottsdale Area Association of Realtors in Arizona. “If you’re interested in Florida or Arizona or California, stay there for a while and see if you like the climate at the time of year you’re going to be living there. Make sure it’s really as affordable as you thought.”
To see where your state ranks, go to Bankrate’s website.