Category Archives: Economy

Best States for Retirement

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best states for retirement

Perhaps the beaches of Florida aren’t the best place to retire after all?

There are a LOT of rankings out there related to the best states for retirement. And yet none of them produce the same list. Because of different criteria used, websites produce vastly different rankings. Some lists prioritize climate, others tax rates, others still healthcare costs. Some others having a long criteria list. No two are exactly alike. Further complicating the matter is that while there are hundreds of websites that list rankings, the vast majority of them just reprint a half-dozen or so studies from other websites, but with slightly different framing.
What I haven’t seen, however, is an average of all those rankings. That is what I attempted here. I tried to find as many rankings using original criteria and that ranked all 50 states and DC, and then averaged all those rankings into a new number. This helped to smooth out the varying criteria that can offer wildly opposing results into a more consistent ranking.

Average State Ranking Position Across All Studies Reviewed
1. North Dakota: 9.0
2. Delaware: 12.2
3. New Hampshire: 12.8
4. Virginia: 13.0
5. Iowa: 13.8
6. Florida: 14.4
7. Maine: 14.8
8. South Dakota: 15.0
9. Idaho: 15.4
10. Wyoming: 16.4
11. South Carolina: 19.2
12. Montana: 19.6
13. Pennsylvania: 19.8
14. Nebraska: 21.2
15. Alabama: 21.8
16. Colorado: 22.2
17. North Carolina, Ohio: 23.8
18. Vermont: 24.0
19. Missouri: 24.2
20. Georgia, Minnesota: 24.6
21. Wisconsin: 24.8
22. Tennessee, Utah: 26.0
23. Arizona: 26.6
24. Kansas, Michigan: 27.0
25. Mississippi: 28.0
26. Hawaii, Indiana, West Virginia: 28.4
27. Kentucky: 28.6
28. Oregon: 28.8
29. Arkansas: 29.0
30. Nevada: 29.2
31. Connecticut: 30.6
32. Alaska, Rhode Island: 31.2
33. Massachusetts, Oklahoma: 33.2
34. Washington: 34.6
35. Louisiana: 34.8
36. Maryland: 35.0
37. Texas: 35.6
38. New Mexico: 36.2
39. Illinois: 36.4
40. California: 37.6
41. New Jersey: 38.4
42. New York: 38.6
43. Washington, DC: 42.5

I definitely went into this thinking that Florida, Arizona, Texas and other warm-weather states would all come out near or at the very top, but it didn’t quite work out that way. Instead, the top 25 positions were much more mixed, and the Sunbelt region did not have the most states. Instead, the Midwest led the way with 10, followed by the Southeast with 8, the West with 6 and the Northeast with 5.
If going purely by average score, here is the breakdown of states by region with a score of under 25 versus those with an average score over 25, indicating the line between top and bottom-ranking states.
Score Below 25
Midwest: 9
Southeast: 6
Northeast: 5
West: 4
Score Above 25
West: 9
Southeast: 8
Northeast: 7
Midwest: 4

This all suggests that the Midwest is the best overall region to retire. The cold winters may not be everyone’s favorite, but favorable tax rates, quality of life metrics, low healthcare costs, low housing costs and other metrics make it otherwise a very attractive region. Ohio, too, comes in fairly favorable in the overall rankings, though it seems many retirees don’t consider Ohio or the greater Midwest as a retirement destination, and that’s to their detriment. It all comes down to what individuals prefer and prioritize, of course. The US Census does “Reason for Move” estimates of those people who move from one state or region to another, and they support that most people move for family, employment, education or health reasons. Contrary to popular belief, change of climate is way down at the bottom of the list. Cold-weather states, then, are perhaps just not capitalizing on their own net positives to attract more people.



Weekly Update 5/27-6/2

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On April 22nd of this year, All Columbus Data suffered a major hack. Several attempts were made to restore the website in full and to save the content through backups. At least twice, the site was restored only for it to fall back into the hacked configuration- some kind of jewelry website. Eventually, it was determined that there was corruption within the core files themselves, and since it could not be safely determined which ones, the host refused to restore any of the original content, as the attack was malicious enough to threaten the hosting servers themselves. So, the site was completely scrubbed and at least some of the original content that was not otherwise saved on archived websites was lost. After 7 years of work, it was a sickening result. Now, the rebuilding process has begun.
Fortunately, a lot of the core lost data much of the site was built upon still existed in my own personal files, so for many of the pages, it’s simply a matter of putting that information back up on new pages. That is what I’ve been working on this week. Here is what I’ve done so far this week:

-2 new articles were added.
-Monthly weather pages for April and May have been restored, complete with updated data for 2019.
-Several pages within the Historic Building Database have had at least a few buildings added.
-Partially restored the Completed page for Columbus Development .
-Added several population graphs to the Columbus city, county and metro area demographics pages.
-Partially restored- and expanded- the Columbus Tornado History page, one of All Columbus Data’s most popular.

I will continue to work to restore more pages and posts over time, but it will be an extended process.

2014 State GDP

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New 2014 state GDP figures were recently released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Where does Ohio stand in comparison to other states?

First, let’s look at the top 20 states for total GDP in 2014.

2014 Total, in Millions
1. California: 2,311,616
2. Texas: 1,648,036
3. New York: 1,404,518
4. Florida: 839,944
5. Illinois: 745,875
6. Pennsylvania: 662,890
7. Ohio: 583,261
8. New Jersey: 549,099
9. North Carolina: 483,126
10. Georgia: 476,483
11. Virginia: 463,613
12. Massachusetts: 459,937
13. Michigan: 451,516
14. Washington: 427,052
15. Maryland: 348,631
16. Indiana: 317,840
17. Minnesota: 316,204
18. Colorado: 306,663
19. Tennessee: 300,604
20. Wisconsin: 292,891

Ohio maintained its 7th-place position through 2014.
Now let’s look at the 20 states that had the biggest increases.

Total GDP Growth in Millions 2013-2014
1. California: +98,625
2. Texas: +90,843
3. New York: +62,927
4. Florida: +39,247
5. Pennsylvania: +22,596
6. Illinois: +21,080
7. Ohio: +20,416
8. Georgia: +20,000
9. Washington: +19,892
10. Massachusetts: +18,470
11. Colorado: +18,325
12. Michigan: +16,842
13. North Carolina: +16,051
14. New Jersey: +11,703
15. Oregon: +10,810
16. Tennessee: +10,479
17. Arizona: +9,422
18. Maryland: +9,222
19. Minnesota: +8,934
20. Virginia: +8,629

So Ohio is growing at the same position as its overall ranking. No states below it are set to pass it anytime in the near future. In fact, the gap is widening from its nearest threats.

What about per-capita GDP, which is a measure of the state’s total GDP divided by its population?

Per-Capita GDP, in Dollars 2014
1. Alaska: 66,160
2. North Dakota: 65,225
3. New York: 64,818
4. Connecticut: 64,676
5. Wyoming: 64,309
6. Massachusetts: 63,005
7. Delaware: 60,551
8. New Jersey: 56,405
9. Washington: 55,298
10. California: 54,462
11. Texas: 54,433
12. Maryland: 53,759
13. Illinois: 52,827
14. Minnesota: 52,801
15. Nebraska: 52,724
16. Colorado: 52,214
17. Virginia: 51,338
18. Oregon: 51,329
19. New Hampshire: 49,951
20. Hawaii: 49,686

27. Ohio: 45,887

Ohio is in the bottom half. Not great, as it indicates that it’s actually underperforming in GDP given its population.

So there you have it, a quick 2014 GDP update. Other Ohio data can be found at the Ohio Demographics and Population page.

Midwest GDP and Income Comparison

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Midwest GDP and income comparison

The Bureau of Economic Analysis recently issued GDP numbers for 2012, along with revised data for previous years, so I thought it would be interesting to make a Midwest GDP and income comparison.

First, let’s look at how Ohio is doing in relation to the other Midwest states.

2012 Gross Domestic Product By State in Millions, Highest to Lowest
1. Illinois: $695,238
2. Ohio: $509,393
3. Michigan: $400,504
4. Indiana: $298,625
5. Minnesota: $294,729
6. Wisconsin: $261,548
7. Missouri: $258,832
8. Iowa: $152,436
9. Kansas: $138,953
10. Nebraska: $99,557
11. North Dakota: $46,016
12. South Dakota: $42,464

Total Midwest GDP in 2012 in Millions: $3,198,295

So Ohio has the 2nd largest economy in the Midwest, only behind Illinois and its Chicago powerhouse. Ohio has also reclaimed its spot as the 7th largest state economy after catching up to and surpassing New Jersey, which passed Ohio in 2006.

Ohio’s more than half-trillion economy is also growing faster than almost every state in the Midwest, as shown below.

Total GDP Change 2000-2012 in Millions, Highest to Lowest
1. Illinois: +$220,718
2. Ohio: +$128,498
3. Minnesota: +$105,911
4. Indiana: +$100,387
5. Wisconsin: +$84,193
6. Missouri: +$77,865
7. Michigan: +$63,045
8. Iowa: +$59,124
9. Kansas: +$53,231
10. Nebraska: +$42,224
11. North Dakota: +$27,750
12. South Dakota: +$18,426

Difference in Millions Between Ohio’s GDP and that of Other States 2000 and 2012
Ohio vs. Illinois
2000: -$93,865
2010: -$185,845
Ohio vs. Indiana
2000: $182,657
2010: $210,768
Ohio vs. Iowa
2000: $287,583
2010: $356,957
Ohio vs. Kansas
2000: $295,173
2010: $370,440
Ohio vs. Michigan
2000: $43,436
2010: $108,889
Ohio vs. Minnesota
2000: $192,077
2010: $214,664
Ohio vs. Missouri
2000: $199,928
2010: $250,561
Ohio vs. Nebraska
2000: $323,562
2010: $409,836
Ohio vs. North Dakota
2000: $362,629
2010: $463,377
Ohio vs. South Dakota
2000: $356,857
2010: $466,929
Ohio vs. Wisconsin
2000: $203,540
2010: $247,845

So Ohio has increased its GDP lead over every Midwest state except for Illinois.

Per-Capita GDP, however, is not Ohio’s strong point.

2012 Per-Capita GDP in Dollars, Highest to Lowest
1. North Dakota: $55,250
2. Minnesota: $47,028
3. Illinois: $46,161
4. Nebraska: $44,943
5. South Dakota: $43,181
6. Iowa: $42,222
7. Kansas: $41,070
8. Wisconsin: $39,308
9. Indiana: $39,065
10. Ohio: $37,690
11. Missouri: $36,815
12. Michigan: $35,298

Per-Capita GDP, does not tell us income, however.

2012 Per-Capita Income By State, Highest to Lowest
1. North Dakota: $51,893
2. Minnesota: $46,227
3. Illinois: $44,815
4. South Dakota: $43,659
5. Nebraska: $43,143
6. Iowa: $42,126
7. Kansas: $41,835
8. Wisconsin: $40,537
9. Ohio: $39,289
10. Missouri: $39,049
11. Michigan: $37,497
12. Indiana: $36,902

Ohio does slightly better here. The question would be, why is Ohio’s so low in comparison? It may have a bit to do with the overall cost of living, at least according to this cost of living index.m

Cost of Living Rank by State (out of 50), 2nd Quarter 2013
Nebraska: 2
Indiana: 5
Iowa: 9
Kansas: 11
Ohio: 13
Missouri: 16
Michigan: 19
Illinois: 20
Wisconsin: 23
North Dakota: 30
South Dakota: 31
Minnesota: 34

Ohio is less expensive to live in than 7 of the other Midwest states and is cheaper than 37 states in total. This almost certainly plays a role in wages. All in all, perhaps the state is far better off economically than the perception may indicate, at least by these metrics.