Florida Not Best State For Retirees

MIAMI BEACH, FL — If you've been biding your time until retirement with dreams of soaking up the Florida sunshine every day or visiting Disney's famous mouse whenever you want, you may want to reconsider. Contrary to popular wisdom, the Sunshine State is only the fifth best place to retire. You may want to start dreaming about Sioux Falls, Deadwood and Eagle Butte.

"The Mount Rushmore State is the best state to retire," declared personal finance website Bankrate in announcing its top picks for retirees on Thursday.

That leaves three other states after South Dakota that are still better than Florida to spend one's golden years. They are Utah, Idaho and New Hampshire.

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"When it comes to what makes for a happy retirement, conventional wisdom often bumps up against reality," Bankrate explained.

The study focused on seven categories, which propelled South Dakota to the top of the list: cost of living, taxes, healthcare quality, weather, crime, cultural vitality and well-being.

"Florida did particularly well in weather (#2) and taxes (#4)," according to Bankrate's Ted Rossman. "The main drawbacks were crime (#33) and health care quality (#36)."

The worst states to retire: New York, New Mexico and Maryland, according to Bankrate.

If the findings make you want to work another 20 years, take heart: You're happiness may be tied more to who you spend your latter years with than where.

“A married retiree who has a poor-quality spousal relationship is worse off than an unmarried retiree in terms of life satisfaction,” penned researchers Michael Finke of the American College, Nhat Ho of Eastern New Mexico University and Sandra Huston of Texas Tech University. “However, a married retiree with a high-quality spousal relationship is much better off than an unmarried retiree.”

To read more about the Bankrate findings, click here.

Photo by Paul Scicchitano