Robert Brokamp

Crime and safety, 12%.

Weather and climate, 12%.

State and local taxes, 11%.

And non-housing affordability, 6%.

So that biggest weighted factor was quality of life being more than twice as important as any other factor.

But what did the study find were important components of quality of life?

Well, based on the survey results, we considered features such as restaurant options, walkability, access to outdoor recreation, proximity to airports, and availability of arts and entertainment.

So that's what's behind the study.

Matt, what's your take on what the report found as being important about a location when it comes to retirement happiness?

When you lump all the financial factors together, which were housing affordability, non-housing affordability, and taxes,

They add up to 30%.

So put together, they're close to the same weighting as quality of life.

And, you know, for some people that might be more important, especially if they retired, but they don't have, you know, a huge margin of error in terms of their net worth and their income.

Or if they're just want financial peace of mind in retirement, like that affordability issue is going to be one of the more bigger aspects for them.

And I'll say, as someone who takes a walk every day, I love that walkability was number two on the quality of life factor.

So that's great.

Okay, so based on the survey results, we determined the factors that indicated locations would be a good place to retire.

We then used various sources of info to see which counties had those factors.

But first they had to meet certain criteria.

So for example, we excluded counties with less than 40,000 people and those that rated poorly on factors such as affordability.