Here's a study that caught us by surprise: a new report gives Florida a pretty poor ranking when it comes to best places to retire.
Bankrate.com ranked the Sunshine State, known as a retirement hotspot, as just the 28th best state in the U.S. to retire.
Most of the states that rank highly in Bankrate's "Best and Worst States to Retire" aren't typically thought of as retirement Mecca's, explains Bankrate's analyst Claes Bell.
Bell tells ABC Action News that he didn't really factor in the palm trees or this perfect winter weather.
Instead, it's mostly about finances, and says that despite Florida's high quality of life, the state's ranking was "dragged down by a high crime rate and below-average healthcare quality."
Here were the indicators Bell used:
- Cost of living
- Crime rate
- Health care quality
- Weather
- Well-being
"It's very congested, very crowded and our insurance has probably gone up three times since when it first started," said Ann Burg, a retired Marine who lives in Tampa with her husband.
Burg, who is originally from Wisconsin, tells ABC Action News that when she and her husband transferred to Tampa, they thought it might be a place they would consider staying. But now, Burg admits she's strongly considering moving away from Florida when her husband retires.
The couple are thinking about moving to North Carolina in a few years instead.
"For a couple reasons," Burg said. "Number one, like Florida they don't tax your military pay. And it has four seasons. Not quite as hot. I love being outdoors and stuff."
"I see it as being harder for especially an older person to move to Florida," said Burg, who talked to ABC Action News while riding her bike on Bayshore Boulevard in Tampa. "But if they love the weather they can come out here maybe some it doesn't bother them as much, the heat and humidity, but when you're always active and moving and doing things it gets hard to breathe."
Not all analysts agree with Bell.
WalletHub.com ranked Florida number one overall as the best state in the nation to retire in 2016.
In 2015, Tampa ranked as the best city in the country for retirees.
Those rankings were based on similar metrics.
WalletHub, for comparison's sake, ranked Florida number one overall, and here was their breakdown:
- Affordability, number two in country
- Quality of life, number three in country
- Health care, number 15 in country
