Recalculating the best states to retire.

On July 30th, CNBC gave press to a Bankrate study on the best places to retire. You can see their piece at 

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2024/07/30/worst-states-to-retire-in-the-us.html  

You can find the Bankrate study at 

https://www.bankrate.com/retirement/best-and-worst-states-for-retirement/ 

Bankrate's list is a bit skewed and the results show it. Their rankings were based on:

Affordability (40%): Analyzes factors such as local and state sales taxes, cost of living and average annual property taxes

Overall wellbeing (25%): Includes factors such as the number of adults over 62 per 100,000 residents and access to food and health care

Quality and cost of health care (20%): Looks at factors such as the cost of health care at the state level and the performance of each state's health system

Weather (10%): Evaluates data on factors such as a state's average annual temperature and average number of tornado strikes, earthquakes and hurricane landfalls

Crime (5%): Examines factors such as the amount of property crimes and violent crimes per 100,000 residents

I did not have visibility into their factor data, so I cannot adjust their rankings for each factor, but I can adjust the weights. My weights seem to be born out by where people actually live. My weights are:

• Affordability 30%
• Overall well-being 15%
• Quality and cost of healthcare 20%
• Weather 20%
• Crime 15%

This is how the results compare (click on the table for a more readable image):

When you look at the numbers, you may catch the implicit bias in Bankrate's rankings. Just ask yourself, if you were not an upper middle class white person, how would you feel about ranking South Carolina as #4 and Missouri as #5 - or Delaware as #1?!!! More importantly, Bankrate, given their business model, does not factor in such things as affordable housing programs. Maryland does this very well, but their affordability rankings do not seem to take such things into account. At least we agree on Georgia, however.