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- [Briggs] What is going on, everyone?
Welcome back to The World According to Briggs
and a look at the worst states to retire
in the United States for 2021.
If you're looking at retiring soon,
these are states you might wanna scratch off your list.
They have all the things retirees aren't looking for:
high cost living, violent crime, high taxes on retirement,
poor healthcare, crowds, bad weather.
All the states on this list have some
or all of those things.
We aren't ranking them by any one stat,
so this list is sort of loosely ranked.
You might find one state you think is the worst
early on in the list
and then, you know, you might find another one later on
in the list that you think is a lot better
than some of the other ones.
It's really up to you and what you think is important.
This list is just showing the states
that have more suckage for retirees
than the rest of the states.
All right, let's take a look at what we got.
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Number 10: New Jersey.
Not sure if anyone has ever thought
about retiring to New Jersey,
but I think most experts, most residents, most visitors,
most psychics, and all of the fifth graders
in Miss Herman's remedial math class will tell you
this is a bad idea.
On the plus side, New Jersey is called the Garden State
for a reason.
It has some beautiful land,
but the nickname isn't in reference
to having good gardens in your backyard.
In 1876, Abraham Browning of Camden,
a prominent New Jersey politician,
referred to the state as the Garden State
during a speech at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition
on New Jersey Day on August 24th.
He used the phrase as he railed against neighboring states
for taking New Jersey's resources.
Browning compared New Jersey to an immense barrel
filled with good things to eat and open on both ends,
with Pennsylvania grabbing from one end
and New York grabbing from the other.
Now, some people say Benjamin Franklin
first used the reference
of immense barrel filled with good things.
Who knows?
Anyway, New Jersey residents experience
among the highest cost of living in the country
with retiree health costs ranking the third highest
in the nation.
On the bright side of finances,
social security is not taxed
at the state level in New Jersey.
Crime rates are relatively low statewide,
but they do have pockets of very dangerous places
that would rank amongst the most dangerous places
in the nation.
People retiring to New Jersey get to experience
overcrowding, heavy traffic, and harsh winters.
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Number nine: Rhode Island.
Retirees in the Ocean State will get to experience
a high cost of living and some high taxes.
They have above-average housing costs,
both purchasing and renting.
On the bright side, they have great seafood
that tends to be reasonably priced.
So if you retire in Rhode Island, you can afford crab legs,
lobster, and pretty much nothing else.
Rhode Island's not in the best financial shape,
so expect to never see them not...
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take some of your social security check.
And it's not gonna change anytime soon
because the situation they're in.
I was reading an article about how they keep talking about
how they're gonna stop taxing retirement
and all this other stuff.
It'll never happen.
They're just not in good enough shape financially
to get rid of any taxes.
Healthcare in Rhode Island is ranked about average,
maybe a little less,
so, you know, that's kind of okay.
Rhode Islanders get hot, humid summers, cold winters,
and the rare hurricane.
So buckle up. It might be fun place to live.
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Number eight: New York.
New York is one of those states people are flooding out of.
About five years now, both young and old have put
the Empire State in their rear view mirror.
Besides the brutal winters
that this part of the country is sort of known for,
you could expect to get hosed on taxes as well.
New Yorkers have some of the highest state
and local taxes in the country,
along with outrageously high housing costs
which, again, they're kind of known for that too.
Those are some of the reasons that so many New Yorkers
flee to Florida or become a halfback in the Carolinas.
A halfback is a retiree that moves to Florida,
they realized that the state sucks,
and they move halfway back to New York,
end up in the Carolinas.
It's not technically halfway point.
That would be closer to Virginia, I'd say.
Maybe not.
Maybe North Carolina is about the halfway point.
But you get the idea.
But New York, just financially and everything else,
it just kind of sucks for anyone.
It doesn't matter if you're retiring or not,
but especially for retirees.
They got a violent crime rate that's pretty high.
Just their crime in general is pretty high.
Most of that comes from places like Buffalo, Rochester,
and New York City.
But still, the whole state has some crime.
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Number seven: Illinois.
Illinois is another state
that has serious financial trouble.
This state has significant long-term debt problems,
unfunded pension liabilities, and an insane budget imbalance
that keeps people up at night.
This may not seem like it's your problem,
but it is if you're living in the state.
If a state has money problems, taxes continue to go up
and services continue to go down.
This normally leads to higher crime.
So when you go down to pay your property tax
and protest with pennies and you get robbed,
don't expect the police to hunt down the man
that stole your pennies and your chance at revenge
against the state for raising your property taxes
on your two-bedroom love shack.
The Prairie State has high taxes on property,
along with steep state and local taxes.
Illinois is seen as to be an unfavorable
and unfriendly place to retirees.
Put the cold weather on top of that
and you've got a perfect cocktail
for not wanting to live in Illinois as a retiree.
And then just take a look at the murder rate in Chicago.
That should scare you into moving to, I don't know,
Oregon or something.
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Number six: New Mexico.
Most of New Mexico stays hot and warm most of the year,
like any respectable desert state should.
They have plenty of dry heat,
very alluring Southwestern culture, and great tacos.
The downside is almost 20% of the overall population
lives in poverty.
Their violent crime rate is almost double
that the national average.
New Mexico has a low cost of living,
but you can also expect to pay retirement income tax.
New Mexico also ranks in the bottom third
of state public health.
This, of course, is a major concern for retirees.
Few retirees that I know have gotten healthier
since they were 25.
It's just how life is.
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Number five: Alaska.
Alaska, in my opinion, is the worst state to retire,
and that's for a few reasons, but it is my opinion.
I know more than a few people
that have either taken the leap to move to Alaska
or are planning on it.
One thing they all have in common is they like to fish.
I don't know if that's with everyone,
but almost everyone I know that wants to move there
it's 'cause they like to fish.
My friend Will from the YouTube channel Hermens Outdoors,
he's one of them.
He plans on retiring there someday
and just fishing his days away.
The last frontier holds the smallest population of seniors
in the United States.
A cold climate, long, dark winter nights and days,
Alaska ranks as the worst climate in the country
for people over the age of 60.
Cold weather and old bones is not a good feeling.
I know I'm getting there.
My bones are older 'cause I was in the military.
Did a lot of damage to them.
Anyway, moving on.
Taxes and real estate aren't bad at all,
but the cost of living is kind of high
because everything other than crab, salmon,
and whale blubber has to be shipped to the state.
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Number four: Connecticut.
If you haven't noticed, most of the states on this list
are going to be in cold climates.
Connecticut is one of them.
It's New England.
That tells you it's gonna have some rough winters.
It does have some history and some nice little towns
scattered throughout the state.
It's just not for people that wanna retire
'cause it's kind of expensive.
Connecticut is known as one
of the most unfriendly states for retirees.
It's got high real estate taxes.
You have taxation on your retirement income.
When you combine the sales and income tax,
Connecticut ranks as one of the most expensive states
in the nation.
Social security income is partially taxed.
The only real places worth living in Connecticut
tend to be very expensive.
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Number three: West Virginia.
Again, cold weather, but this state leads this list
in natural beauty for most people.
West Virginia is a beautiful state.
Like Illinois, West Virginia isn't doing great financially,
so you'll get more taxes and fewer services.
Your retirement income will be taxed,
and I wouldn't be surprised if in the future
they don't start adding more taxes.
West Virginia has seen a drop in crime in recent years,
so that's good news,
but they still have certain pockets
where the violent crime is still on the rise.
Pretty much that's the same in most states.
The Mountain State is the fourth worst state we have
when it comes to poverty,
and that really doesn't look like
it's gonna get any better anytime soon.
But like New Jersey, I've never really heard of anyone
wanting to move to West Virginia for retirement.
It just doesn't make sense in a lot of ways.
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Number two: Louisiana.
If you've been watching this channel for a while,
you know I don't dig Louisiana.
It is crippled by poverty, crime, and corruption.
If this was new, it would be a different story,
but it's not.
The Pelican State has been a leader
when it comes to crime and poverty since like the 1950s.
And prior to that, it wasn't great either.
Social security retirement benefits
and income from retirement pensions are not taxed
at a state level here, which is good.
But Louisiana has a high rate of violent crime
and it's always in the top 10 for the most violent states
or dangerous states.
They have a really high rate of people that get injured
at work and die.
This is not a healthy state.
The health of the population ranks as one of the worst
in the United States,
with high rates of obesity, smoking, and addiction.
But the good news is they got decent weather.
Sure, their summers get a little too hot
and a little too muggy, but they don't have crazy winters.
So that's a plus.
All right, before we get to number one, don't forget
there's another channel we have called On This Day.
There is a link below.
We would love it if you check it out, maybe subscribe.
All right on to number one.
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And number one: California.
California has a lot to offer retirees,
if you're wearing rose-colored glasses.
The weather is perfect most of the year,
so you can garden, golf, or go for walks,
even get a tan just about whenever you want.
Take off those glasses
and you see an expensive desert wasteland
with a nice ocean to the left-side of the state
and urban campers everywhere.
Any place in this state that doesn't suck
has sky-high home and rent prices,
an always-climbing cost of living, political turmoil,
and air quality that should jumpstart your emphysema.
Retirement income is fully taxed
with the exception only for social security benefits.
And the Golden State has one of the highest income tax
in the fricking country.
1 in 10 seniors are living in poverty in California.
California has the 14th highest violent crime rate
per capita in the United States.
Most people think it's like number one or two.
It's really not terrible,
even though it does have some scary towns and neighborhoods.
It's a big place.
If you can get past all the bad,
they have plenty of entertainment
and a solid healthcare system, so that's good.
The health care is important.
But can you afford it? Probably not.
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All right, that's today's video.
Hope you guys enjoyed it.
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Everybody have a great day.
Be nice to each other.