Where to Grow Older

Success in most things in life often can be accomplished largely on our own. But successful aging requires some help and a proper environment. You’ll find a lot of surveys of best places to retire. But the Milken Institute offers a unique approach with its Best Cities for Successful Aging. The institute set five goals or qualities of a successful retirement, such as being healthy and happy and living in a place that’s safe, affordable, and comfortable.

With those goals in mind it cranked through a lot of data to develop an index of 359 metro areas. It also has separate discussions of the top 20 large metro areas and top 20 small metro areas. The top-ranked area is Provo, Utah.

The top 20 small best cities for successful Aging are a

geographically diverse bunch. Few people think of chilly

South Dakota, Montana, or Alaska as ideal places to spend

their golden years. But these states compensated for their

weather woes with outstanding performances in key categories

like hospitals affiliated with medical schools, economic

environment, job opportunities for seniors, and cost of living.

As with the large metros, all of these cities performed well in

most of the eight categories—general indicators, health care,

wellness, living arrangements, transportation and convenience,

financial, education and employment, and community

engagement—or they wouldn’t have made the Top 20.