In overall rankings, New Hampshire comes in as #1, Colorado #2, and with Maine #3. The three worst states are Arkansas, West Virginia and Alaska in declining order
Maine is rated #1 in health care quality with Wisconsin #2. Vermont is the best state on crime with Maine #2. Mississippi is rated to have the best cost of living (but overall rates #42 among all states) with Arkansas #2. California is rated #1 on weather with Arizona #2. New York is the best on taxes with California #2 (really?). Florida is rated the best for seniors with Maine #2. The best state for well being is Hawaii and Maine is #2. the best state for culture is said to be New York followed by California.
Nevada gets the worst raking for health care quality followed by Mississippi. New Mexico is ranked the worst on crime followed by Alaska. The worst state for cost of living is Hawaii with California #2. Alaska has the worst weather followed by Vermont. The worst states for culture are Mississippi followed by West Virginia. Alaska is the worst state for seniors followed by Utah. West Virginia ranks worst for well being with Kentucky as #2.
In the rankings of what is important in making a decision on where to retire, cost of living was mentioned by 70% of respondents, this was followed by health care- 68%, crime rate - 67%, culture and social by 54%, weather 49%, and the least important, taxes by 47%.
There are some surprises for me iin the overall list. For example, South Dakota ranks #8 in the top 10. My thesis adviser describe the Black Hills as an "oasis in a sea of despair." California ranked #41 overall, even though it ranked first in weather and second in culture.
A surprise in North Carolina was that the conservative politicians in power eliminated the medical deduction for people living in continuing care facilities in order to give the top 100 families in the state a tax deduction. This created quite a row and the medical deduction was restored after a couple of years. NC taxpayers who itemize will also once again be allowed to take a deduction for medical expenses beginning with the current 2015 tax year. The medical deduction limits will follow the same rules in place for medical deductions medical deductions by the IRS.**
* http://www.bankrate.com/retirement/states-ranked-from-first-to-worst-on-retirement-2/
** http://trpcpa.com/2015-nc-tax-changes-you-need-to-know/
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