Shocker. People want to retire here.
Credit: Aaron Burden / UnSplash
If your retirement plan involves sunshine, palm trees and zero snow shovels, Broward County apparently deserves consideration.
Fort Lauderdale landed at No. 8 and Pembroke Pines claimed No. 22 in WalletHub’s new ranking of the best places to retire in the United States. The study compared 182 cities across 45 metrics spanning affordability, activities, quality of life and health care.
Fort Lauderdale earned an overall score of 57.92, placing 13th nationally for activities, 41st for health care, 64th for quality of life and 75th for affordability. Pembroke Pines scored 54.65 overall, boosted by a No. 16 quality-of-life ranking. It placed 68th for affordability, 80th for health care and 102nd for activities.
Florida dominated the leaderboard. Orlando ranked No. 1, followed by Miami at No. 2 and Tampa at No. 3. Scottsdale, Arizona, and Casper, Wyoming, completed the national top five. Cape Coral landed at No. 13 and St. Petersburg took No. 16, giving Florida seven cities within the top 25.
There is an eyebrow-raising catch. Miami’s second-place retirement ranking arrives months after a separate WalletHub analysis – as covered by Miami New Times – named it the nation’s least affordable city for renters. That study placed Fort Lauderdale at No. 155 and Pembroke Pines at No. 174 for rental affordability, while no Florida city cracked the top 100. CBS Miami also reported that many area residents spend nearly half their income on housing.
