A poor weather ranking helped push Minnesota to the bottom of Bankrate's 2024 list of best states to retire. (Elizabeth Flores/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Minnesota is one of the worst states to retire, according to an annual ranking from New York-based Bankrate. For those who can afford to move in retirement, the consumer financial services company says the best options are Delaware, West Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina and Missouri.

The annual assessment ranks all 50 states on a combination of affordability, overall well-being, cost and quality of health care, weather and crime. Minnesota came in at No. 41 overall this year, slipping from No. 35 in 2023, thanks to a slight downgrade in the affordability measure.

While the North Star State in both years ranked high on health care (#7), average on well-being (#25) and above average on crime (#17), weather (#49) hasn’t helped its overall ranking. Only Alaska — which is, according to Bankrate, the worst state to retire — ranked lower on that front.

“The areas that we rank lower on, weather kind of takes the cake,” said Kathryn Sutton, deputy director of marketing at Explore Minnesota. “Yeah, we have winter, but our environment is healthy, and I would argue more beautiful and vibrant than many other states.”

Bankrate did note that climate change could make states with high weather rankings and hotter weather — places like Florida, Arizona and South Carolina — less desirable, in part because natural disasters and high temperatures could bump up the cost of electricity and homeowners insurance. In Florida, some companies have stopped insuring homes altogether.

Affordability, which factors in cost of living, property taxes, combined state and local sales tax and homeowners insurance, carries the most weight, and states with higher tax rates, including Minnesota, tended to fare worse. It’s unclear whether the survey took into account that the Minnesota Legislature’s 2023 tax package expanded an exemption for Social Security benefits.

Southern states appeared to do well on the affordability measure and rank high overall, even if they ranked poorly in other areas. West Virginia, for example, had the worst health care standing in the country but the top affordability score, and it landed in the #2 spot overall. Mississippi, where nearly 20% of residents live below the poverty line, was ranked the second-most affordable state and placed sixth overall despite falling near the bottom on health care and overall well-being.

Crime carries the lowest weight of all categories. But for Edina resident Laura Rubin, it’s the reason she and her husband, both in their 50s, are planning to retire in Naples, Fla.

The couple thought they would stay in Minnesota, their home state, and spend winters somewhere warm. But in recent years, Rubin said, the prevalence of crime in Minneapolis, where they own apartment buildings, has made it unattractive to stay.

“I feel like my husband and I are beating our heads against the wall, and nobody cares,” she said. “It used to be we would work harder if there was an issue. Now, it’s so out of our hands that we gave up and are moving.”

Explore Minnesota takes a variety of rankings into account, Sutton said, noting that Minnesota often tops quality of life lists and scores high in areas such as health care, accessibility and natural environment.

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“Taxes do support infrastructure to ensure accessibility programs, to ensure good-quality health of a state and quality of life,” she said.

And depending on whom you consult, Minnesota might not be such a bad place to spend your golden years. WalletHub ranked the state #8 on this year’s “Best and Worst States to Retire” list — a ranking that excluded weather.