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2 New England States Rank Highest For A Healthy Retirement

When you think of retirement, your first thoughts are typically where is the best place to go for good weather and low cost of living. What people need to think…

Happy middle age couple hugging in winter

Senior couple hugging and laughing in winter forest. Happy man and woman walking outdoors under falling snow by fir tree

When you think of retirement, your first thoughts are typically where is the best place to go for good weather and low cost of living. What people need to think about above all is having a healthy retirement and where to go to make your odds of that happening greater?

Good news for New Englanders, we scored two of our states in the top ten for healthy retirement. Those states are Vermont scoring number 3 and New Hampshire scoring number 9 in the top 10.

Where to go for a healthy retirement

For US states, the score included social isolation risk, healthcare access, available senior living facilities per 100,000 people, and poverty levels among seniors. All these factors were equally weighted to rank locations based on senior well-being.

Wisconsin ranked first, with a well-being score of 8.62, thanks to its low poverty rate, abundant senior living facilities, and relatively low risk of social isolation.

Minnesota followed in second place with a score of 8.21, performing well across most factors, including a low poverty rate and reasonable access to senior living facilities.

Here's the top ranked

Wisconsin - 8.62

Minnesota - 8.21

Vermont - 8.11

Washington - 8.06

Iowa -8.01

Idaho - 7.81

Maryland - 7.40

Oregon - 7.14

New Hampshire - 7.09

Kansas - 7.04

On the other end of the spectrum was Oklahoma, with the lowest well-being score of 0.87. 

The average poverty rate was around 6.5 percent on average in the to 10 states.

After Oklahoma came to Mississippi, it ranked second-lowest in wellness at 0.97, had a 14.9 percent poverty rate, fewer than six retirement communities per capita, a social isolation risk of 100, and was second-last in the nation for access to healthcare.

Then came Alabama, with a wellness score of 1.5, a poverty rate of nearly 14 percent, 4.3 senior living facilities per capita, an isolation risk score of 83, and the 38th-worst healthcare access score.

Louisiana was fourth-worst at 1.79, followed by New Mexico at 1.84 and Arkansas at 2.04. West Virginia was tied with Arkansas.

Texas took spot eight with a score of 2.19, followed by Kentucky at 2.60 and New York with a score of 2.81.

The US’s life expectancy rate was lower than that of the top-performing countries including Switzerland, Iceland, and Norway.

Bob is a native New Englander, growing up (sorta) in Maine where his love for radio started at a young age. While in high school he hosted radio shows on a local radio station, and he has never looked back. Bob joined the US Navy and served onboard the Sixth Fleet Flagship as a radio and TV host. After serving for 3 years, it was off to Emerson College in Boston. Bob hosted shows in Boston on WMEX, WVBF and WSSH in the 80’s and 90’s before heading to radio stations in Raleigh, NC, Manchester, NH, and New York City. Bob has been married for almost 25 years to Carolyn, a Woburn gal and they have 3 daughters, Nicole, Taylor, and Bridget. Bob and Carolyn are proud first-time grandparents to baby Caroline, who they plan to spoil every chance they get! “I started my career in New England and could not be happier to come back to Boston where I can root for all the Boston sports teams and eat lots of lobster rolls and clam chowder (okay not lots)… It is an honor to host the WROR morning show with LBF and wake up the World’s Greatest City!” Bob writes about recipes and restaurants, pop culture and trending topics.