Violent crime against seniors in the United States has surged by 331% over the last decade, prompting those looking to retire to consider safety a top priority, according to Seniorly’s analysis of FBI data.
The study examined seven key safety categories including public safety, healthcare, falls, road safety, money lost to scams, violent crimes and property crimes.
According to Arthur Bretschneider, CEO and co-founder of Seniorly, the research was based on a comprehensive evaluation of FBI data and other federal statistics from 2023 to identify the safest states for older adults to spend their golden years.
The study also included public services that keep people safe, such as police officers and robust hospitals. In the United States, there are almost 65,000 police and sheriff’s patrol officers. Additionally, for every 1,000 seniors enrolled in Medicare, there are an average of 15.4 hospital beds.
Seniorly’s report indicates a notable shift in retirement planning, as older adults prioritize security instead of solely relying on proximity to family for safety.
Top 10 safest states to retire
- New Jersey
- New York
- Mississippi
- Louisiana
- Nebraska
- Rhode Island
- Pennsylvania
- Illinois
- Connecticut
- Alabama
East Coast states dominated the top 10. In these states, seniors faced fewer scams, lower rates of violent crime against older adults and fewer fatal falls, according to Seniorly.
Best states to retire
New Jersey takes the top spot as the safest state to retire, thanks to its low rates of property and violent crimes against seniors (523.2 and 33.9 per 100,000, respectively), fewer fall-related deaths among older adults (35.4 per 100,000), and minimal senior involvement in fatal traffic accidents (11.5 per 100,000 drivers), Seniorly states.
Following closely are New York, Mississippi, Louisiana and Nebraska. Despite their cultural and lifestyle differences, these states rank among the top five safest due to strong police presence, low elder fraud and good availability of hospital beds, according to Seniorly.
For example, Mississippi and Louisiana, ranked third and fourth respectively, boast the lowest elder fraud rates in the U.S., with 60.9 and 67.2 complaints per 100,000 seniors aged 60 and above. They also have a high ratio of police officers to the elderly population, Seniorly states.
Meanwhile, Nebraska, ranked fifth, has one of the lowest rates of violent crime against seniors, with only 35.5 incidents per 100,000. New York, ranked second, stands out as more accident-resistant than most, with 49.4 fall-related deaths per 100,000 and just 8.1 seniors involved in fatal car accidents per 100,000 drivers.
Worst states to retire
There’s a clear geographic trend among the most dangerous states for seniors to retire. Colorado ranks as the least safe, with high elder fraud rates (223.1 cases per 100k), senior-targeted property crime (1,724.5 per 100k) and violent crime (133.8 per 100k), according to Seniorly.
The bottom five are completed by Western states Nevada, Washington, Oregon and New Mexico, rankings show. These states, especially Washington, exhibit very high property crime rates against older adults, with Washington leading at 1,875.6 crimes per 100k seniors, Seniorly states.
In Nevada, ranked 50th, seniors face a high likelihood of being scammed, with 240.8 complaints per 100k adults aged 60 and over, Seniorly states. Oregon, at 48th, has fewer police officers per capita for seniors (581 per 100k older adults) than any other state.
Additionally, Oregon, Washington and New Mexico rank low in healthcare access for seniors, with only 8.9, 9.4, and 11.2 hospital beds per 1,000 Medicare patients, respectively, according to Seniorly.
