Amid concerns about inflation cutting into fixed incomes, rising interest rates, banks closures and Social Security solvency, a new”¯study”¯finds New York and Connecticut are the No. 2 and No. 3 most expensive states to retire to, respectively. (Massachusetts is No. 1.)
Seniorly”¯released the study on the”¯Most Affordable States for Retirees, using the most recent data from the Census Bureau, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center. Overall, Seniorly analyzed eight financial metrics in the 50 states and Washington, D.C., including retirement income, tax rates, cost of living, health-care costs and senior poverty rates.
Among the key findings:
- ”¯”¯”¯”¯”¯”¯”¯New York”¯has an average retirement income of $32,563, with an average annual Medicare spending of $13,379, while 68.4% of seniors spend less than 30% of their income on housing. In Connecticut, the average retirement income is $35,067 with an average annual Medicare expenditure of $12,905 and 66.80% of seniors spending less than 30% of their income on housing. (Contrast this to the No. 1 state for retirees, Wyoming, in which the average retirement income is $34,287, the average yearly Medicare expenditure is $10,274 and 80.20% of seniors spend less than 30% of their income on housing.)
- ”¯”¯”¯”¯”¯”¯”¯Lead by Wyoming, five of the 10 most affordable states”¯are Mountain States. Rounding out the top 10 in affordability are Utah, Montana, Idaho, Virginia, Colorado, New Mexico, Delaware, West Virginia and Tennessee.”¯
- ”¯”¯”¯”¯”¯”¯”¯Seven of the 10 most expensive states”¯are on the East Coast, including (after Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut), New Jersey, California, Rhode Island, Texas, Hawaii, Florida and Washington, D.C. (Despite having a great lifestyle for seniors, Florida ranked as the ninth most expensive state due to high Medicare spending, utility bills and senior poverty rates.)
