Thinking about retiring in Washington state?
If that’s your plan, you’ll want to have a solid retirement savings plan in place. Washington is one of the top 10 most expensive states to retire in, according to WalletHub. Its overall ranking on the list of the best states to retire in was number 43. WalletHub’s 2023 analysis of the best and worst states for retirement suggests “relocating to a state that lets you keep more money in your pocket without requiring a drastic lifestyle change.” If moving out of Washington state isn’t a reality for you, keep reading for some helpful retirement tips.
Read on for all the details!
WalletHub compared all 50 states based on 47 “key indicators of retirement-friendliness.” Each state was then given a score across three main categories:
- Affordability
- Quality of life
- Health care
Washington was ranked at number 45 out of all states for affordability. This category includes factors such as cost of living, taxes, and the cost of care.
For quality of life, Washington was ranked much higher at number 13. This category weighs factors such as weather, access to entertainment and public transportation, risk of social isolation, and crime rates.
Finally, Washington was ranked at number 23 for health care. For this category they considered factors such as life expectancy, the quantity and quality of healthcare facilities and hospitals, and the amount of family medicine physicians per capita.
The states that were scored worse than Washington for retirement overall were Illinois, Louisiana, New York, Oklahoma, Mississippi, New Jersey, and finally Kentucky in last place. There were only five states that had a worse score for affordability than Washington. New York was the least affordable state to retire in, while Alabama was the most affordable.
If you will be retiring in Washington state, try not to stress too much. WalletHub asked a panel of experts for tips that you can utilize for retirement in any state. These include budgeting, using retirement savings accounts, renting out a spare room, downsizing, and delaying the start of your Social Security retirement payments as long as possible up to age 70.
Many of the experts also emphasized the importance of choosing your retirement location based on many factors and not just one, such as the cost of living. Other factors that may make Washington state the right retirement location for you include connection to community, proximity to family and friends, access to outdoor exercise, and opportunities for recreation.
You can read the entire article and see how other states were ranked over at WalletHub.