Each year, studies attempt to rank the best and worst states for retirement by comparing affordability, lifestyle, and healthcare access across the country. One of the more comprehensive analyses comes from WalletHub’s 2026 study evaluating how well each state supports retirees.[1]
For many retirees, these rankings help determine where retirement may be most financially practical. For high net worth families, however, the decision is usually less constrained. Most can afford to live wherever they prefer, and the planning discussion shifts from affordability alone to understanding how location choices interact with taxes, long term income planning, healthcare access, and legacy objectives.
WalletHub’s study evaluates retirement friendliness using 46 metrics grouped into three primary categories. Below is a practical explanation of what those metrics mean before we review the rankings themselves.
What the Metrics Mean
- Total Score
A composite score combining affordability, quality of life, and healthcare metrics into a single ranking. Higher scores indicate better overall retirement conditions. - Affordability Rank
Measures how far retirement dollars stretch. It incorporates state and local tax burden, housing costs, cost of living, and essential services such as home care. A lower rank number means better affordability. - Quality of Life Rank
Captures safety, recreation, climate, community engagement, and overall lifestyle satisfaction. It reflects how enjoyable daily life is likely to be. - Health Care Rank
Measures healthcare quality and accessibility, including availability of doctors, hospital systems, and outcomes. This becomes increasingly important as retirees age.
No single metric determines the best location. Strong retirement states typically balance affordability with strong healthcare and livability.
Top 10 States for Retirement in 2026
| State | Total Score | Affordability Rank | Quality of Life Rank | Health Care Rank | What It Suggests |
| Wyoming | 61.6 | 1 | 6 | 33 | Extremely affordable with reasonable lifestyle factors. |
| Florida | 61.5 | 2 | 1 | 27 | Excellent lifestyle and tax environment with moderate healthcare ranking. |
| South Dakota | 58.7 | 15 | 25 | 4 | Healthcare access is a major strength. |
| Colorado | 58.4 | 19 | 19 | 3 | Excellent healthcare offsets higher living costs. |
| Minnesota | 58.3 | 33 | 7 | 1 | Best healthcare access nationally. |
| Alaska | 57.9 | 13 | 34 | 5 | Healthcare and moderate affordability stand out. |
| Delaware | 57.4 | 3 | 36 | 15 | Highly tax friendly with mixed lifestyle rankings. |
| Pennsylvania | 56.9 | 26 | 5 | 13 | Strong quality of life with balanced affordability. |
| New Hampshire | 56.4 | 23 | 8 | 20 | Good lifestyle with reasonable healthcare access. |
| Iowa | 56.3 | 17 | 11 | 28 | Balanced across categories without extremes. |
A pattern emerges. Top states do not necessarily win on every dimension. Instead, they combine reasonable costs with strong healthcare and acceptable lifestyle conditions.
Bottom 10 States for Retirement in 2026
| State | Total Score | Affordability Rank | Quality of Life Rank | Health Care Rank | Primary Weakness |
| New Mexico | 46.2 | 30 | 44 | 36 | Weak quality of life metrics. |
| Rhode Island | 46.0 | 40 | 39 | 21 | Higher costs reduce retirement appeal. |
| Washington | 45.6 | 46 | 17 | 17 | Poor affordability despite lifestyle advantages. |
| Arkansas | 45.3 | 11 | 50 | 45 | Lowest quality of life scores. |
| New York | 45.3 | 50 | 12 | 12 | Highest affordability burden. |
| Hawaii | 45.3 | 49 | 21 | 11 | Very high living costs dominate rankings. |
| West Virginia | 45.2 | 18 | 41 | 50 | Weak healthcare access. |
| Mississippi | 44.6 | 9 | 49 | 49 | Healthcare and lifestyle weaknesses. |
| Oklahoma | 42.6 | 31 | 48 | 43 | Struggles across multiple categories. |
| Kentucky | 41.8 | 34 | 42 | 47 | Weak performance across all categories. |
These states typically struggle with healthcare access or quality of life, and affordability alone does not compensate.
Practical Takeaways for Retirees
- Taxes are only one part of the equation. Healthcare quality and lifestyle drive long term satisfaction.
- Higher cost states may still make sense if proximity to family or lifestyle preferences outweigh financial differences.
- Healthcare access should become more important as retirement progresses.
- Retirement location decisions should be integrated with income planning and estate strategies.
Conclusion
Rankings like these are helpful starting points, but for many high net worth families, retirement location is ultimately driven more by lifestyle, family, and personal preference than by rankings or tax tables. The real question is not simply where to live, but how your spending needs, tax exposure, healthcare expectations, and legacy goals fit together within a comprehensive financial plan.
Many affluent retirees choose to live wherever they want, often splitting time among multiple homes. In those situations, planning shifts from choosing a single retirement destination to thoughtfully structuring where legal residence is established versus where time is spent, since residency decisions can materially affect taxes, estate planning, and long term financial efficiency even when lifestyle choices remain unchanged.
Retirement planning itself is far more complex than selecting a low tax state. Decisions about when to claim Social Security, how to draw from taxable, tax deferred, and tax free assets, how to manage concentrated stock positions, and how to structure income to manage taxes and Medicare premiums can add millions of dollars of value over a lifetime. Likewise, thoughtful estate and gifting strategies can preserve family wealth while transferring both assets and values to the next generation.
At EsqWealth, we help clients not only determine their retirement number, but also build coordinated strategies to minimize lifetime taxes, optimize asset location, and create reliable income streams designed to last for life. Investment management, tax aware withdrawal planning, risk management, and estate planning work together so each financial decision supports the broader picture.
Location decisions are simply one piece of a larger financial architecture that supports both lifestyle freedom today and long term security for your family.
In the end, the best retirement state is not simply where taxes are lowest. It is where your overall financial plan works best for the life you want to live, with the confidence that your wealth is working efficiently for you and for the people you care about most.
[1] Best and Worst States to Retire (2026), https://wallethub.com/edu/best-and-worst-states-to-retire/18592.
