
NJ ranking among 2025’s best and worst states to retire
⚫ From January 2025
⚫ Not pretty for New Jersey
⚫ Neighboring states did better
Do you think you could one day live out your retirement in New Jersey? Of course, a good portion of the population would prefer to stay where family roots are, but is that a sustainable decision with that future income?
If you’re about to retire, WalletHub’s January study is taking some of the guesswork out regarding where to settle down.
The retirement study recently looked at all 50 states, using three dimensions and 46 metrics, to rank the best to worst states for retirement. Among the dimensions: health care, affordability and quality of life. All the metrics, ranging from tax-friendliness to nurses per capita, have points associated with them creating total points for each dimension.
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“Retirement is supposed to be relaxing, but it can also be incredibly stressful given that it typically puts people on a fixed income, which may not be enough for them to live comfortably. As a result, the best states for retirees are those that have low taxes and a low cost of living to help retirees’ budgets stretch as far as possible,” WalletHub Analyst Chip Lupo said on the study’s page.
The top five states to retire this year are the following:
—Florida
—Minnesota
—Colorado
—Wyoming
—South Dakota
The five worst states to retire this year are the following:
—New Mexico
—Washington
—Mississippi
—Louisiana
—Kentucky
What about New Jersey
WalletHub ranked New Jersey almost at the bottom of the rankings, coming in overall at No. 45. Looking specifically at the study’s three dimensions, the state ranked 46th for affordability, 36th for quality of life and shined in health care with coming in 12th place.
New Jersey’s neighbor’s rankings fared better in the study — Pennsylvania came in 6th and 35th for New York.
Honestly, New Jersey has a long way to go before seeing better results. “There’s a reason Florida is known as a retirement paradise – it ranks as the best state to retire due to its relatively low taxes for retired people, including no estate, inheritance or income taxes. Plus, Florida receives more funding per senior from the Older Americans Act than all but two other states,” according to the study.
Go Banking Rates looked into data about how much is needed to have a secure retirement over 25 years. For New Jerseyans, $1,055,162 is the magic number to reach the life milestone, according to New Jersey 101.5’s reporting from less than a year ago.
Advice from the study’s panel of experts
—Budget into categories
—Don’t rule out a part-time job
—Consider cost of living, activities and location before moving
—Strive for long-term affordability
—Keep impact of inflation in mind
The WalletHub ranking was made possible by taking data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Council for Community and Economic Research, among a handful of other sources.
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