20 Great Places to Retire in Tax-Friendly States

Not to be too grim, but as you're approaching retirement, you need to think seriously about the only two certainties in this world: death and taxes.

A senior couple smile as they go over their expenses
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Not to be too grim, but as you're approaching retirement, you need to think seriously about the only two certainties in this world: death and taxes. On the bright side, you can do a number of things to minimize your tax bill under the new tax law—and one potentially big tax-saving move is to move in retirement. The tax situation in every state varies and can make a big impact on any budget, particularly for people living on a fixed income. To help retirees sort through the differences, Kiplinger has mapped out a state-by-state guide to taxes, classifying each state based on its treatment of retiree finances from least tax-friendly to most tax-friendly.

We also pinpointed 50 great retirement destinations in the U.S.—one in each state—that all offer other attractive advantages for retirees, such as living costs, safety, median incomes and poverty rates for retirement-age residents, as well as residents’ sense of well-being and the availability of recreational and health care facilities. These are the places to retire we picked in each of the 20 states that we've deemed either tax-friendly or most tax-friendly for retirees. They're literally all over the map, so you're bound to find at least one spot to suit your retirement lifestyle.

Disclaimer

The list is ordered alphabetically by state. See "How We Picked the Best Places to Retire" at the end of the list for details on our data sources and methodology.

Stacy Rapacon
Online Editor, Kiplinger.com

Rapacon joined Kiplinger in October 2007 as a reporter with Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine and became an online editor for Kiplinger.com in June 2010. She previously served as editor of the "Starting Out" column, focusing on personal finance advice for people in their twenties and thirties.

Before joining Kiplinger, Rapacon worked as a senior research associate at b2b publishing house Judy Diamond Associates. She holds a B.A. degree in English from the George Washington University.