- By Mary Stroka | The Center Square/February 10th, 2021
(The Center Square) – While older adults can enjoy entertainment and volunteer opportunities in The Empire State, the state is not known for its affordability.
It was the second-least affordable state for retirees, a factor that largely drove its ranking as the second-worst state to retire in, according to WalletHub’s recent analysis. Its overall score was 41.86 across dimensions of affordability, quality of life and health care.
“New York is among the worst states to retire, mostly due to its unaffordability,” WalletHub analyst and communications director Jill Gonzalez told The Center Square via email. “Local authorities could lower the cost of living for retirees by adopting policies to become more tax friendly.”
New York has the third worst “general tax-friendliness” rating, the 10th-lowest retired taxpayer-friendliness, the fourth-highest share of population aged 65 and older in poverty (11.5% in poverty) and the sixth-highest adjusted cost of living (131.66). Retired taxpayer-friendliness measures taxation on retirement income, property and purchases, and special tax breaks for seniors.
The state suffered in the health care category as well, coming in 27th, with the third-worst quality of public hospitals (according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ ranking of public hospitals), the seventh-highest risk of social isolation and the least family medicine physicians per capita. Social isolation takes the following risk factors into account: divorced, separated or widowed; never married; poverty; disability; independent living difficulty; and living alone.
“Additionally, the state has a large share of elderly residents who cannot afford a visit to the doctor,” Gonzalez continued. “Financing clinics for those aged 65+ would improve their quality of life. Lowering the risk of social isolation for retirees could be done by encouraging volunteering through different support groups created by the state. These could also help those who are living in poverty. The state would also need to attract more family medicine physicians, build more healthcare facilities, and increase the quality of existing public hospitals.”
Still, the state has above average quality of life, stacking up as 17th best in the nation. The state is ranked third for highest life expectancy, following only Hawaii and California. It has the best access to adult volunteer activities (0.23 rated charity organizations per capita) and the eighth-highest number of golf courses per capita (0.23), according to the report.
“New York is definitely the state for retirees who have no financial problems,” Gonzalez said. “The state best serves those who can and want to spend their retirement being active, as it offers a lot of opportunities for entertainment and volunteering, among others.”
WalletHub’s September 2020 analysis of 182 best and worst places to retire, based on affordability, activities, quality of life and health care, ranked Rochester as 127th, Buffalo as 146th, New York City as 166th, and Yonkers as 172nd. New York City received the highest subscores among the state’s municipalities, coming in at 24th best in terms of activities and 33rd best in quality of life.
New Jersey was the worst state to retire in and the least affordable, according to the analysis. The Garden State had the 35th best quality of life and 33rd best healthcare compared with other states.
Latest from the Roosevelt Island Daily News
- Julie Menin takes the helm of the New York City Council’s Committee on Small Business
The Roosevelt Island Daily News “I ran for City Council on a platform to help support our struggling small businesses with a detailed plan of action focused on reducing onerous fines, implementing legacy small business legislation, reducing the commercial rent tax and creating a one stop portal for licenses and permits,” Menin said in a - Nobody beats the Wiz, but fortunately Roosevelt Island did…Nobody beats the Wiz? What’s that got to do with Roosevelt Island? Nothing now, and that’s the good news. Here’s why… by David Stone The Roosevelt Island Daily News Carhartt Men’s Knit Cuffed Beanie Here’s how it looked in 2000 – when RIOC agreed to let Nobody beats the Wiz founder Stephen S. Jemal build
- Robert K. Hughes, After 35 Years, Ends His Service on Roosevelt IslandRob Hughes started work on Roosevelt Island in 1982 as a hospital care investigator at Goldwater Hospital, now the site of Cornell Tech. He leaves as Coler-Goldwater’s executive director after nearly 13 years in the post. by David Stone The Roosevelt Island Daily News Hughes service on Roosevelt Island was interrupted in 1997 when he
- Slow Job Growth Reflects Omicron’s Economic TollGreg David, THE CITY This article was originally publishedon Jan 20 at 7:55pm ESTby THE CITY/Sign up here to get the latest stories from THE CITY delivered to you each morning. Even with the city filled with tourists and office workers coming back to their desks, New York gained only 26,000 jobs in December, a pace that would put
- Who killed the Tram Plaza Reindeer?Property destruction comes in all flavors, but some land in a whole new category of stupid – like what happened to the Tram Plaza Reindeer… by David Stone The Roosevelt Island Daily News More from the Roosevelt Island Daily davidstone1313 See author's posts
