Where to spend golden years? Hawkeye State ranks #2 in the USA

Iowa is the second-best state in the nation to grow old, according to a report from a senior care website.

Tim Sullivan, vice president of Caring.com, says the study examined a series of 13 categories, including financial, health care and quality of life.

“We looked at the cost of care across a variety of senior care services,” Sullivan says. “We also looked at self-reported well-beings for older adults in those states as well as consumer reviews of assisted living communities and in-home care services in those states.”

Utah ranks first on the report while Iowa is number-two for the second year in a row. He says Iowa didn’t rank first in any of the categories but was a strong contender in almost every one.  “The Hawkeye State did great on quality,” Sullivan says. “They’re tied for 8th and that quality comes at a very reasonable cost where they came in at 17th.”

For senior care costs, Iowa is hovering around the national median. A private one-bedroom in an assisted living community in Iowa will cost around $42,210 per year on average, more than $1,000 less than the national average.  “They are really great on the cost of their assisted living communities,” Sullivan says. “They also have a lot of high-quality assisted living communities. We looked at the best-ranked assisted living communities, based on consumer reviews on caring.com, and Iowa came in 4th.”

The rankings are meant to be something of a wake-up call, according to Sullivan, as well as a starting point for important conversations between family members.

“We really want folks to think about their retirement in the long term, not just about their 60s but also their 70s and 80s,” Sullivan says. “Your needs change as you age and you really want to make sure that you’re going to be able to have those needs met in the place where you live.”

While Utah and Iowa were one and two, the rest of the top five are: South Carolina, Washington state and Nebraska. The worst states to grow old, according to the survey, are: Wyoming, North Dakota, New York, Indiana and last — West Virginia.

 

 

About Dave Vickers

Dave has been News Director since 1983 and has been Station General Manager since 1999. Dave has also served on the Board of Directors of the Iowa Broadcast News Association and the Iowa Broadcast Association and has served on the Iowa Freedom of Information Council.
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