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When you think about the best states for aging in place, the choice retirement destinations likely spring to the top of the list. After all, with high and growing populations of older residents, wouldn’t these states be an ideal place to call home in later life?
Not according to a new report from Seniorly Resource Center.
The senior living information outlet took a closer look at data from various government agencies — including the U.S. Census Bureau, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) — to determine the best and worst states for aging in place.
They arrived at the rankings based on factors including “seniors’ risk of isolation, home health care quality, home health aide availability, emergency care timeliness, smart home adoption, housing costs, road safety, local walkability, food delivery access and weather hazards.”
After taking all factors and sources into account, the best state for aging in place was judged to be Utah.
“Seniors in Utah face some of the lowest risks of social isolation, with only 35.7% living alone — ranking 3rd nationally,” the report explained. “The state also enjoys minimal precipitation, averaging just 10.1 inches of rain and snowfall per year (No. 3), and leads the nation in smart technology use, with 37% of residents interacting with household equipment via the internet.”
The worst state on the list is Florida. This is “due to limited access to home health aides (50 seniors per aide) along with a high housing cost burden, as 30.7% of older homeowners spend more than 30% of their income on housing,” Seniorly explained. “Florida’s 53 inches of annual precipitation also contributes to its low score in weather safety.”
But the report also makes clear that no state is “perfect,” since outliers exist at both the top and bottom of the spectrum.
“North Dakota ranks No. 2 overall, even though 46.4% of its seniors live alone — one of the highest rates in the country (No. 50),” according to the report. “At the other end of the list, No. 45 Mississippi ranks 3rd for quality of home health agencies, with 33.3% earning a 4.5 or 5-star CMS rating.
“And in No. 7 California, older adults face long emergency room wait times, averaging 184 minutes and ranking 42nd nationwide.”
Utah and North Dakota are followed by New Jersey, Idaho and Texas to round out the top five. New Jersey earned its spot largely from high ratings tied to its home health care providers and generally high walkability in its communities. Idaho has low isolation risk, while Texas has high availability of home health workers.
