Georgia's No. 3 ranking was its highest ranking since 2021, when the Peach State ranked first in the annual listing. In 2023, Georgia ranked No. 15 on the Bankrate.com listing of best states to retire.
In rating Georgia as No. 3, Bankrate.com wrote, "The Peach State has become significantly more affordable since last year, pushing it up from 15th place to third place on our ranking. That’s primarily because Georgia’s cost of living in Georgia has come down significantly, and average homeowners insurance premiums have dropped slightly. The quality and cost of health care in Georgia improved slightly, but overall well-being and crime scores remained poor this year."
Overall, Georgia's best scores on the retirement evaluation came in the categories of affordability and weather. It's lowest scores were received in the categories of healthcare and well-being.
Bankrate.com rates states on five weighted criteria to find an overall best ranking. Those criteria and weightings include:
Affordability (40 percent), including property taxes, state and local sales tax, homeowners’ insurance premiums and cost of living index.
Well-being (25 percent), including the number of adults aged 62 and older per capita, community well-being index, diversity index by state, and arts, entertainment and recreation establishments per capita.
Quality/cost of health care (20 percent), which includes the cost of health care per capita, health care establishments per capita and state health system performance.
Weather (10 percent), including the frequency of natural disasters and historic average temperature.
Crime (5 percent), including the crime rate per state.
The top 5 states in Bankrate.com's 2024 rankings included, in order, Delaware, West Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina and Missouri.
The worst states for retirement in the 2024 ranks were, in descending order, North Dakota, California, Washington, New York and Alaska.
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