NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) – New York City is the sixth-best place to retire in the U.S. after five cities in Pennsylvania, according to a new report out Tuesday.
The "2024 Best Places to Retire" list by U.S. News & World Report ranks 150 cities nationwide, and there are surprisingly few Sun Belt cities in the top spots.
The top 10 cities—including seven in Pennsylvania—are: Pittsburgh (10); Youngstown (9); Daytona Beach (8); York (7); New York City (6); Allentown (5); Scranton (4); Lancaster (3); Reading (2); and Harrisburg (1).
While New York and Pennsylvania may not come to mind as ideal places for retirement, Beverly Harzog, a personal finance expert with U.S. News & World Report, told WCBS 880's Newsline with Brigitte Quinn that there are multiple factors at play.
The outlet surveys people at retirement or near retirement to find out what's important to them. They then take the responses and weigh them against six different indexes: affordability, happiness, desirability, retiree taxes, job market, and health care quality.
So why was New York—a city known for being very unaffordable—number six on the list?
Harzog admitted it's surprising, but she said the city "came in number one for quality health care."
"That was so important for retirees," she said. "It also scored very high for happiness and for the job market. You know, many retirees want to keep on working at least some or more during retirement. So New York City came in really strong for those issues."
"And think about what there is to do," Harzog continued. "The restaurants, the museums—a sports town as well. There's so much to do there. So if you can afford it financially, if you’ve got the resources, it is a great place to retire. Unfortunately, for many people that's not an option."
As for Harrisburg—a rust belt city in central Pennsylvania that's unlikely to come to mind as a hot retirement spot—Harzog said health care played a major role in its ranking as well.
"You have access to such great health care, some really topflight health facilities," Harzog said. "They also scored well for happiness; you know, it's just a very community feel there. And they did pretty well with retiree taxes. And since affordability was a big deal this year, scoring well with retiree taxes was really, really important."
Other Tri-State area cities that made the list include: Trenton (20); New Haven (43); and Hartford (56).