Retiring early: Nevada among top 10 best states, report shows

Nevada, on the strength of being one of a handful of states with no state income tax, is again among the top 10 states in the nation for early retirement.

The Silver State ranked 8th best in the 2017 Best States for an Early Retirement, up from 10th best in 2016, as measured in SmartAsset’s annual report released last week on smartasset.com.

“Nevada does not tax retirement income and has relatively low property taxes, making it a great place for early retirees to stretch their dollars,” said AJ Smith, vice president of financial education at New York-based SmartAsset.

“Additionally, the state offers good access to health care, with the seventh-most doctors’ offices per 10,000 residents nationwide,” he said.

The report summarized the advantages of each state. What it said about Nevada:

“A number of factors make Nevada a great state for an early retirement. First the state has an average effective income tax of 0 percent. It also has the 11th-lowest property tax rate in the country.”

The report added, “Furthermore, there’s good access to health care in Nevada. The state has the seventh-most doctors’ offices relative to population in the country.”

On the downside, SmartAsset cited Nevada’s relatively high cost of living, notably the state’s 44th highest non-housing cost of living score in the nation.

Among the top 10 states, Nevada ranked third-lowest in annual health insurance costs at $8,429 but third-highest for state and local sales tax rates.

Among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, Minnesota ranked last ahead of Connecticut, North Carolina, Maryland, Oregon, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Kansas and Washington, D.C., among the bottom 10.

Eight of the top 10 states in the 2017 rankings are returnees from 2016’s rankings, the report said. Only Texas and Pennsylvania fell out of the top 10, replaced by Delaware, No. 7, and North Dakota, No. 10.

In its report, SmartAsset analyzed data on eight factors: effective income tax rate, sales tax rates, effective property tax rates, median annual housing costs, non-housing costs of living, health-care costs and the number of entertainment establishments and doctors’ offices.

Of top-ranked Wyoming, SmartAsset said, “The biggest plus to retiring in Wyoming is that you can expect to pay a 0 percent tax on your income. In fact, taxes in Wyoming are very low in general.”