Where Are Retirees Looking to Settle Down?

Baby Boomers are settling down out of state, but not in traditional retirement destinations like Florida. According to a recent report from online insurance platform BizInsure, Wyoming has seen the highest surge in retiree migration. In fact, Wyoming’s growth rate was 76% higher than South Carolina’s and 105% higher than Idaho's—the respective second and third top locations for out-of-state retirees. Meanwhile, traditional retirement states like Florida and Arizona were among the bottom 10 states for out-of-state retirees.

That’s not to say these states no longer offer large communities for would-be retirees — cities in these 3 traditional retirement havens, including Scottsdale, AZ, and Cape Coral, FL, make up the entire top ten in terms of their share of residents over the age of 65. And many of their popular retiree cities still show the strongest move interest — 6 of the top 10 cities making the biggest percentile gains in new retiree residents are within these states.

However, while some individual cities shine, these states, as a whole, aren’t attracting newcomers at the rates they once did. That means that as Boomers give way to Gen X, Millennials, and even Gen Z retirements, these standard choices will be home to fewer older adults.