Idaho may not be where the majority of Americans envision spending their retirement, but the state may offer friendlier conditions to retirees than any other state in the union, according to a new analysis that ranks U.S. states in accordance with their performance on retirement-related factors.
South Dakota is No. 4 on the list.
Conversely, retirees who are considering Louisiana for their home may want to take a second look at their options, as it ranks last of the 50 states in the analysis.
The 2013 MoneyRates.com Best States to Retire and Worst States to Retire features ranked each of the 50 states by examining a variety of factors in each state, including senior population; economic factors including cost of living, taxes and unemployment; violent and property crime rates; climate; and life expectancies at age 65.
While the analysis favored some traditional retirement havens, such as Florida (No. 6) and Arizona (No. 7), it also captured strong performances from some less-obvious retirement destinations, such as No. 1 finisher Idaho, Iowa (No. 2) and South Dakota.
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MoneyRates.com, which conducted the analysis, is a source of information on bank rates, personal finance, savings accounts and investing.
