Retire to North Dakota, eh? I'll have to think about that.According to a report this year from Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate, 57 percent of baby boomers say they plan to move to a new home in retirement. When asked which type of community they were likely to choose, 39 percent said a small town, like Chapel Hill, or a rural community. The next choice was a 55-and-older community (27 percent), followed by a metropolitan city (26 percent); 8 percent picked “lifestyle” communities (such as ones for active retirees, planned around golf courses).
Almost one-third of those canvassed plan to spend retirement in a different state from the one in which they currently live.
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A recent report by Bankrate.com looked at several factors in determining which states offer the best quality of life for retirees, including local weather, cost of living, crime rate, health care quality, tax burden and well-being (a measurement from the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index that quantifies how satisfied residents are with their surroundings).
The five best states for retirement were South Dakota, Colorado, Utah, North Dakota and Wyoming. Popular retiree spots like Florida and Arizona don’t even make the top 10. The five worst states for retirement, according to the report, were New York, West Virginia, Alaska, Arkansas and Hawaii.
George