Illinois City On U.S. News' Best Places To Retire List

One Illinois cities ranked among U.S. News & World Report’s list of best places to retire for 2019. The list released Wednesday evaluates the country’s 100 largest metropolitan areas based on how well they meet Americans’ retirement expectations, according to U.S. News.

While three Florida cities placed in the top 10, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was No. 1 on the 2019 list. According to U.S. News, Lancaster moved to the No. 1 spot after placing No. 2 last year thanks to increases in housing affordability and overall happiness of its residents.

Fort Myers, Florida, moved from No. 15 to No. 2 owing to “increases in desirability and happiness scores.” Last year’s top place to retire — Sarasota, Florida — fell to No. 3 because of a decline in overall happiness and desirability, U.S. News says.

Chicago came in at No. 39 on the list and received an overall score of 6.67. It was the only Illinois city to earn a spot.

U.S. News’ rankings do not include smaller cities or regions. Each city evaluated on the list was given an overall retirement score that was a weighted average of six indexes: housing, affordability, happiness, desirability, retiree taxes, job market and healthcare quality. Both the overall score and each index score was calculated on a 10-point scale. (You can read more about the methodology here.)

Below are the top 10 places to retire, according to U.S. News:

1. Lancaster, Pennsylvania
2. Fort Myers, Florida
3. Sarasota, Florida
4. Austin, Texas
5. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
6. Grand Rapids, Michigan
7. Nashville, Tennessee
8. San Antonio, Texas
9. Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas
10. Lakeland, Florida

You can see the full list here.

AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, File