For years, Florida and Arizona were prime retirement locations for seniors. A few years back, a movement began in communities across the nation to create senior-friendly cities. People started to think about how aging-friendly their cities were (or weren’t, in many cases). They considered transportation, services, housing, business education and more. They made their communities more accessible. They rallied businesses around being senior-friendly and gave them a stake in the success. They encouraged new ways of thinking, funding and assistance.
Now here we are in 2012. Florida and Arizona have slid in their ranking as the best places for aging in place. (According to the Milken Institute… link below.)
10 years ago, not many would have thought of Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y., Des Moines, Iowa or Provo, Utah when thinking about cities to spend their retirement in. And yet, today they have reshaped themselves to harbor booming senior populations, with the services and attitudes to match.
The Institute has ranked large and small metros across the nation on general indicators, health care, wellness, living arrangements, transportation/convenience, financial well-being, employment/education, and community engagement. Each component has a host of sub-components, with a total of 78 individual indicators for each location. (In other words, they were very thorough.)
I’ve included a video below that is an introduction to their findings. ( See Best Cities for Successful Aging at YouTube if you can’t see it.)
Read more at : The Milken Institute / Best Cities for Successful Aging
Mark Hager
