A recent study by bankrate.com found Washington is the fifth worst state in the country to spend your retirement years, based on factors including affordability, crime, culture, weather, and wellness, among others. Only Illinois, Alaska, New York, and Maryland fared worse. Not surprisingly, Washington took a hit on the affordability metric, where we ranked 41st. The affordability ranking was calculated based on research from the 2019 Cost of Living Index, the percentages of people who needed to see a doctor but could not because of cost in the past 12 months from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and rankings for income, and property and sales tax rates. Washington also ranked 37th in crime, 25th in culture, 36th in weather (assuming you like the sun), and 37th in wellness, which was based on the availability of places providing services for the elderly and people with disabilities.

What’s the best state to retire in according to the study? That would be Nebraska. Not that many of us would trade the scenery around Seattle on a nice day for Omaha, but there are not enough of those “nice days” to make up for all of the serious problems that are getting worse every day here in Seattle and are threatening our livability as well as our affordability.

Maybe that’s why so many believe this is the year to get meaningful change in our city government. What do you think?