Why Minnesota is One of the Least Affordable States to Retire

Everyone wants to retire one day, but sometimes you wonder if that's even going to be possible. It can feel so out of reach, but there are some states that have been revealed, thanks to a new survey, as being some of the most affordable places to retire. Sadly, Minnesota is not one of them.

The study was done by Seniorly Resource Center. They looked at "eight financial metrics using the most recent federal data spanning the cost of healthcare, cost of living, retirement income, taxes, and senior poverty rates". Using this data they figured out the states that are the most affordable and least affordable for retirees.

Like I said earlier, unfortunately, Minnesota is not one of the most affordable places to retire. Actually, we're one of the most expensive places to retire. I'll talk more about that in a moment.

Least Expensive Places to Retire in the US

First, let's see which states are the most affordable according to this study.

10. Tennessee

9. West Virginia

8. Delaware

7. New Mexico

6. Colorado

5. Virginia

4. Idaho

3. Montana

2. Utah

1. Wyoming

Yeah, none of them are our directly neighboring states. North Dakota came in at number 14, Iowa at number 20, and Wisconsin at number 33. And South Dakota is down at the bottom with us.

Most Expensive Places to Retire in the US

Here are the most expensive states to retire, from least to most expensive.

15. Minnesota

14. Pennsylvania

13. New Hampshire

12. Louisiana

11. South Dakota

10. DC

9. Florida

8. Hawaii

7. Texas

6. Rhode Island

5. California

4. New Jersey

3. Connecticut

2. New York

1. Massachusetts

So Minnesota comes in as the 15th most expensive state to retire in and South Dakota is number 11. Not great.

Why Minnesota is an Expensive Place to Retire

Let's look at a few of the metrics the survey used to determine the rankings. Minnesota's average retirement income is $28,019. Wyoming's, the most affordable place to retire, is $34,287. The average annual Medicare spending per beneficiary is $10,899 in Minnesota compared to Wyoming, which is $10,274.

Minnesota's average annual cost for a home health aide is $82,940 and Wyoming's is $66,352. And finally, the senior poverty rate in Minnesota is 8.5% and in Wyoming, it's 6.7%.