Weather or not, retirees want to live on the West Coast of Florida, with Naples, Fla., topping the U.S. News & World Report’s 2025 list of 150 best places to retire.
Despite punishing hurricanes, most recently Helene and Milton, respondents to the publication’s latest Best Places to Retire survey chose coastal Naples as the best place to live in the second half of life.
Also on Florida’s west coast, Sarasota, about 120 miles north of Naples, placed fourth on the list; Tampa came in 18th, and Fort Myers placed 24th.
And on Florida’s east coast, also vulnerable to damaging storms, Jacksonville was rated 7th, and Port St. Lucie and Melbourne placed 19th and 20th, respectively.
Placing 17th is Pensacola, located in the so-called Emerald Coast panhandle of northwestern Florida.
With flying colors, these locations met the report’s benchmarks of a satisfying retirement locale, providing happiness, desirability, low taxes, accessibility to health care and a good job market.
Beyond having eight cities rank in the top 25 this year, the Sunshine State nabbed 14 places overall in the list of 150 — more than all other states. Orlando, home of Disney World, placed 55th, despite its relative proximity to The Villages, the burgeoning age-restricted development about 60 miles north.
Happiness Matters
Trends drawn from the report show that retirees are looking not only for affordability so they can stretch their dollars, but also a place for enjoyment. Hence the good showing of locations in the South and the Midwest, and also, the high ranking of expensive cities New York City (#3), Washington, D.C. (#12), and San Francisco (#14).
Enjoyment in retirement comes from happiness, the report says — now as important a factor in choosing where to live as low taxes and climate.
Still, retirees seem noticeably more interested in escaping long, cold winters. Last year, chilly Pennsylvania cities captured the top 5 and no. 7 slots in the U.S. News Best Places to Retire ranking.
Behind the Scenes
From its query about what attributes of retirement life were most important, the publication assigned weights to six indexes to compile the overall retirement score for each city: Happiness (27%), Affordability (25%), Health-Care Quality (15%), Retiree Taxes (13%), Desirability (12%) and Job Market (8%).
Desirability of a locale was gleaned from asking roughly 3,500 respondents age 45 and older how interested they were in retiring to a randomized subset of cities. Also, how temperate a city was (days over 32F but under 90F) and its number of restaurants, attractions and drinking establishments per 100,000 people were factors in the survey.
To determine the health-care quality index, the survey used U.S. News Best Hospitals rankings, which measures the availability — within 50, 100 and 250 miles — of top-rated health care in each city. Children’s hospitals were excluded in the evaluations.
The job market Index used ease of finding employment and earning potential in each city. Each area’s unemployment rate (50% of the index score) and average salary (50% of index score) are based on data from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Deep South and Midwest Favored, Too
In the latest U.S. News Best Places to Retire report, eight southern states besides Florida placed in the top 50, with five of those locations in North Carolina and South Carolina. The Carolinas are known for relatively temperate weather, although both states have been vulnerable to extensive storm damage in recent years.
Virginia Beach, known for its coastal attractions and being the site of colonial settlers stopping in the area before establishing Jamestown, placed no. 2 on the publication’s list.
Entrenched Midwestern locations such as Fort Wayne, Ind. (#10), Green Bay, Wisc. (#11); South Bend, Ind. (#15), and Omaha, Neb. (#25) were also favored by respondents.
Placing 29th on the list, Boston, a hub of learning, historical, cultural and nearby natural attractions, filled the enjoyment/happiness niche. The Massachusetts city is also known for its world-class health-care network of teaching hospitals and medical centers — an important element of choosing where to retire.
Data Shift Provides Clearer Picture
For its Best Places to Retire 2025 report, U.S. News switched from using Metro Statistical Area (MSA) data to city-based data.
“U.S. News’ rankings are consistently evolving to meet consumer needs,” Dawn Bradbury, assistant managing editor of U.S. News & World Report, said in the release. “This year’s shift from Metro Statistical Area data to city-based data enables the consumer to consider factors that will directly impact the livability and overall experiences associated with a city on a more local level.”
“The six measures factored into this year’s rankings were weighted based on a public survey of individuals across the U.S. who are at or approaching retirement age (45 and older) to find out what matters most to people when they’re considering where to retire,’’ she said.
In addition to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, data sources include the U.S. Census Bureau, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) National Risk Index, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s crime reports, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Sharecare, the Tax Foundation, Wolters Kluwer, Sharecare’s Community Well-Being Index, the Bureau of Economic Analysis and U.S. News’ internal resources.
After first publishing the report in 2007, U.S. News & World Report followed with two additional releases in 2008 and 2011, and has published the rankings on an annual basis since 2017. To see the 2025 Best Places to Retire report, click here.
