With all the doom and gloom surrounding retirement these days—projections of savings shortfalls in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, particularly for women, and widespread pessimism among workers concerning their own financial stability in retirement—the place one chooses to retire is perhaps becoming more important than ever.

To that end, Bankrate.com took a long hard look at every state in the Union, considering such factors as cost of living, tax rates, well-being, health care, climate and crime rate.

Then, as it does every year, Bankrate.com ranked them from 1 to 50, so that interested parties can pick and choose among them if considering a relocation once they leave the job.