Retirement location decisions are among the most consequential financial choices Americans make. The right county can stretch a fixed income dramatically, while the wrong one can erode savings through high costs, poor healthcare access, or natural disaster risk. We built a retirement index that prioritizes the three factors retirees care about most: health outcomes (35%), cost of living (35%), and low disaster risk (30%).
The top county for retirees is Wheeler County, Nebraska, with a retirement score of 92.4. These counties offer affordable housing, strong healthcare infrastructure, and minimal exposure to floods, hurricanes, wildfires, and earthquakes.
The 50 Best Counties for Retirement (2026)
Our retirement score combines health, cost of living, and disaster risk into a single metric. Higher scores mean lower risk, lower costs, and better health access.
| Rank | County | State | Retire Score | Health | Cost | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wheeler County | NE | 92.4 | 88.5 | 94.3 | 94.6 |
| 2 | Griggs County | ND | 91.8 | 89.5 | 91.5 | 94.9 |
| 3 | Slope County | ND | 91.6 | 83.3 | 93.2 | 99.4 |
| 4 | Keweenaw County | MI | 91 | 93 | 81.7 | 99.4 |
| 5 | Loup County | NE | 90 | 93.3 | 78.3 | 99.8 |
| 6 | Burke County | ND | 88.6 | 87 | 81.3 | 99 |
| 7 | Rock County | NE | 88.2 | 76.8 | 90 | 99.3 |
| 8 | Thomas County | NE | 88 | 74.3 | 91.6 | 99.9 |
| 9 | Wells County | ND | 87.8 | 86.6 | 86 | 91.4 |
| 10 | McPherson County | SD | 87.7 | 83.3 | 91 | 88.9 |
| 11 | Golden Valley County | ND | 87.2 | 81.1 | 93.6 | 87 |
| 12 | Steele County | ND | 86.4 | 90.7 | 76.2 | 93.4 |
| 13 | Red Lake County | MN | 86.3 | 88.9 | 73.7 | 97.9 |
| 14 | Nelson County | ND | 86.1 | 79.2 | 87.8 | 92.1 |
| 15 | Hooker County | NE | 85.9 | 66.6 | 93.5 | 99.7 |
| 16 | McPherson County | NE | 85.6 | 77.5 | 81.3 | 99.9 |
| 17 | McCone County | MT | 85.4 | 77.1 | 85.7 | 94.8 |
| 18 | Scott County | IL | 84.9 | 78.2 | 81.1 | 97.3 |
| 19 | Sheridan County | ND | 84.9 | 66.3 | 94.8 | 95 |
| 20 | Oliver County | ND | 84.3 | 91.4 | 65.1 | 98.3 |
| 21 | Iron County | WI | 84 | 85.2 | 79 | 88.5 |
| 22 | Garfield County | NE | 83.8 | 82.6 | 72.2 | 98.8 |
| 23 | Petroleum County | MT | 83.7 | 81.8 | 72.8 | 98.7 |
| 24 | Jerauld County | SD | 83.7 | 80.7 | 80.8 | 90.5 |
| 25 | Trego County | KS | 83.6 | 74.5 | 80.9 | 97.3 |
| 26 | Judith Basin County | MT | 83.6 | 72.4 | 85.5 | 94.5 |
| 27 | Bland County | VA | 83.6 | 67.7 | 96.5 | 87 |
| 28 | Billings County | ND | 83 | 78.3 | 73.7 | 99.2 |
| 29 | Adams County | ND | 82.5 | 65.5 | 88.3 | 95.5 |
| 30 | Borden County | TX | 82.5 | 59.4 | 95.6 | 94.3 |
| 31 | Wallace County | KS | 82.4 | 68.8 | 81.8 | 98.9 |
| 32 | Ida County | IA | 82.3 | 83.4 | 81.8 | 81.7 |
| 33 | Traverse County | MN | 82.3 | 77.3 | 77.3 | 93.9 |
| 34 | Logan County | NE | 82.2 | 85.5 | 63.8 | 99.8 |
| 35 | Dundy County | NE | 82.1 | 61.9 | 88.9 | 97.8 |
| 36 | Johnson County | NE | 82.1 | 79.3 | 73.5 | 95.5 |
| 37 | Perkins County | SD | 82.1 | 72.7 | 78.3 | 97.4 |
| 38 | Palo Alto County | IA | 82 | 82 | 79.9 | 84.6 |
| 39 | Kidder County | ND | 81.7 | 77.1 | 73.3 | 96.9 |
| 40 | Jones County | SD | 81.6 | 75.8 | 72.6 | 98.7 |
| 41 | Fillmore County | NE | 81.4 | 84.9 | 79.3 | 79.9 |
| 42 | Greeley County | NE | 81.4 | 78.6 | 79.2 | 87.3 |
| 43 | Miner County | SD | 81.4 | 70.4 | 79.5 | 96.6 |
| 44 | Deuel County | NE | 81.3 | 84.2 | 65.7 | 96 |
| 45 | McHenry County | ND | 81.3 | 78.9 | 77.6 | 88.3 |
| 46 | Hand County | SD | 81.3 | 74.4 | 77.7 | 93.6 |
| 47 | Luce County | MI | 81.2 | 64.3 | 84.2 | 97.5 |
| 48 | Hayes County | NE | 81.1 | 61.4 | 85.5 | 98.8 |
| 49 | Cavalier County | ND | 81.1 | 91 | 65.1 | 88.2 |
| 50 | Haakon County | SD | 81.1 | 73.9 | 80.3 | 90.3 |
The Nebraska-Michigan Retirement Corridor
Retiree-friendly counties cluster in the upper Midwest and northern Plains. Nebraska (14 counties), North Dakota (14 counties), South Dakota (7 counties), Montana (3 counties), Michigan (2 counties) lead the rankings. These regions share a common profile: low housing costs, strong Medicare Advantage networks, minimal natural disaster exposure, and calm, community-oriented lifestyles.
Nebraska stands out with multiple counties scoring above 85. The combination of affordable homes, low property taxes, excellent safety, and virtually zero hurricane or earthquake risk makes the Cornhusker State a hidden gem for retirees.
Healthcare Access in Rural Retirement Counties
A common concern about retiring to rural counties is healthcare access. While it is true that the top retirement counties lack major trauma centers, many have strong primary care networks and are within reasonable driving distance of regional hospitals.
For retirees with chronic conditions requiring specialist care, proximity to a mid-sized city may be more important than the county's exact ranking. For healthy, active retirees, the tradeoff of lower costs and safer environments often outweighs the occasional drive to a specialist.
Methodology
The retirement score is a weighted composite of three CountyScore dimensions: Health (35%), Cost of Living (35%), and Disaster Risk (30%). Each component uses percentile-rank scoring on a 0-100 scale. Health data comes from CDC County Health Rankings (2024). Cost data comes from Census ACS (2019-2023). Risk data comes from the FEMA National Risk Index (2020).
Data sources: U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year Estimates (2019-2023), FBI Uniform Crime Reports (2022), CDC County Health Rankings (2024), FEMA National Risk Index, NCES school data, and EPA Safe Drinking Water Information System. All figures are estimates and may differ from other published analyses due to methodology differences.