I was surprised to see WalletHub’s 2025 ranking of almost 200 markets for “best area to retire”.

Link: Best Places to Retire

It caught my attention because Orlando – where we are hanging out at our vacation place right now – was ranked #1 in the country. It was 1 of 4 Florida cities ranked in the Top 10 with Miami, Tampa, and Fort Lauderdale. I think everyone is used to seeing Florida cities as key destinations for retirees.

What I was shocked to see was that WalletHub ranked our home city of Minneapolis as #3 in the nation. Wait, what?!? Minneapolis?

Looking at the data, they had Minneapolis #96 for “Affordability”. Anyone paying attention to the news this week has learned what a high-tax, high-fraud state Minnesota is. Orlando, by contrast was an impressive #5 in the nation for affordability. Florida’s no income tax and low sales tax helps with that.

Neither city scored particularly high on “Quality of Life”. Orlando was #76 and Minneapolis was #70. Weather is supposed to be an important part of this measure and I can tell you it was 11° in Minneapolis today and Orlando was 81°. Apparently they use “new math” on this one. I know it can get hot in FL, but 11° isn’t just uncomfortable … it’s downright dangerous for older people: bitter cold/exposure and snow/ice safety issues.

Both cities were side-by-side near the top for “Healthcare” at #13 & #14. I was pleased to see Orlando rank so highly. Minnesota is better known for good healthcare with the Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN. Mayo is also in Florida – with a big presence in Jacksonville – but not Orlando proper.

The two cities also rank comparably high for “Activities”. Minneapolis somehow leads the scoring here at #7, while Orlando is #18. This is the dimension that makes no sense to me at all. Orlando is indisputably one of the recreation & entertainment capitals of the country. Minneapolis is like a frigid version of Indianapolis (which ranked #110 for Activities)!

Clearly I was missing something else, so I looked at the detailed write-up on both cities. Orlando was pretty straight forward, but Minneapolis … was odd. It turns out Minneapolis ranks high for retirees who want to WORK!

That’s right, the author thinks that seniors finding WORK is critical for being ranked highly on this list. He notes that the metro has “one of the nation’s most elderly-friendly labor markets” and “22% of [Minneapolis’] working population is over the age of 65”. Of course they are, genius – they need to pay for the high taxes and low affordability!

As you can see, I’ve spent too much time in this silly ranking than it is worth. I also noted that one of the study authors is from the University of Minnesota. I’m sure she was paid with state tax dollars.

Here’s Orlando for comparison:

Images: WalletHub