A survey recently came out asking the question which states are the best and the worst for retirees? Arkansas was listed as one of the worst. Why? Let's find out.

The question was judged on three basic criteria:

  1. Affordability
  2. Quality of Life
  3. Health Care

Affordability is fairly easy to figure out, how far will your dollar spend in any given state is pretty straightforward. The questions come into play when you try to figure out "Quality of Life" and "Health Care."

Source: WalletHub

First of all, "Quality of Life" is very subjective. My perception of quality of life may be far different from yours, or anyone else for that matter. For example, I don't care how many museums and theaters are available per capita. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy going to them, but if your state has more than mine, I don't care. I'll come and see yours. I care more about camping spots, State Parks, and hiking trails, the beauty of nature is far more important to this semi-aging radio guy.

Retirement Couples - Canva
Retirement Couples - Canva
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"Health Care" is another subject that may have changed quite a bit since the "experts" convened back in January of this year to rank the metrics of this survey. Questions and attitudes about vaccines and their effectiveness have changed quite a bit, and treatments for those who do get sick have been more and more successful in recent months.

Something tells me that if they reworked some of the weightings in this survey done early this year, the outcomes might improve a great deal for the state of Arkansas.

For now, all we have is what we have.

Happy Retirement - Canva
Happy Retirement - Canva
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The Top 5 States for Retirement:

  1. Florida
  2. Virginia
  3. Colorado
  4. Delaware
  5. Minnesota

According to this study, #1 was no surprise, Florida has been very accommodating to retirees for decades. Virginia and Colorado were a little surprising to me, beautiful states but I figured they would be a little harder on the wallet.

My state, Texas, came in low-middle of the road on this survey at #34 overall, scoring middle of the pack in all three parameters. Not surprising considering the size and population of the state. Good in some places, not so good in others.

Retirement Couples 2 - Canva
Retirement Couples 2 - Canva
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As for Arkansas?

Arkansas came in at #43 overall.

#16 in Affordability - Not Bad
#48 in Quality of Life - Subjective
#43 in Health Care - Vaccine-related?

Bottom line:

I think they're wrong, of course. I think Arkansas is a pretty great place to retire, I will admit to being a little biased, I live right next to it and play in it regularly. If you want more theaters and museums, maybe you should search elsewhere. But if you love the great outdoors, there's a reason Arkansas is called the Natural State.

For more information and a full explanation of how this survey was done, full source information, and more, check out the original article on Wallethub.com.

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