PROVIDENCE – Providence Rhode Island ranked No. 149 of 150 on WalletHub’s 2017 list of the Best & Worst Places to Retire, released Tuesday. Only Newark, N.J., ranked lower in the study. Orlando, Fla., was at the top of the list, performing well in retiree’s affordability, activities and health care rankings.
WalletHub measured 40 metrics on retirement in the categories of affordability, activities, quality of life and health care.
Affordability:
Providence ranked No. 133 for affordability, based on metrics such as adjusted cost of living (ranked No. 121), retired taxpayer-friendliness (Ranked No. 148), and annual cost of in-home services, which was estimated as $52,052, No. 120 of the ranked cities.
Activities:
Providence ranked No. 87 for retired activities, which measured museums, music venues and theaters per capita, as well as golf courses per capita (No. 102 in the study).
Quality of life:
Providence ranked No. 146 in the survey for retiree quality of life, a metric it ascribed to metrics such as the share of population aged 65 and older (9.3 percent, which ranked No. 123 in the study – the higher the percentage of older people living there, the higher the rank is), the elderly labor market (ranked No. 94 in the study), mild weather (ranked No. 148), and walk score (ranked No. 6 in the study).
Health care rank:
Rhode Island’s capital city ranked No. 143 for retiree health care, scoring poorly for the death rate of population aged 65 and older per 100,000 residents (No. 134 in the nation), the number of home care facilities per 1000,000 residents (No. 146 in the study) and emotional health (ranked No. 144 in the study. Providence did however, rank well for top-rated geriatrics hospitals (No. 23), health care facilities per 100,000 residents (No. 13) and air quality (No. 49).
