Missouri

Why is this state on our list of the best retirement destinations in the Midwest?

Kansas City

This metro area offers various attractions for all ages, including retirees. The art and music scene is vivacious, home to legendary jazz musician Charlie Parker and the American Jazz Museum, the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and the Kansas City Art Institute.

Food lovers will really enjoy the authentic barbecue. And the best part is that you can entertain your visiting grandkids with the Sea Life aquarium, Legoland, and the Kansas City Zoo.

Also, while the University of Missouri’s main campus is about 125 miles east of Columbia, the school brings over 16,000 undergraduate and graduate students and all the amenities of college life to its Kansas City campus.

It even offers an all-volunteer education program called Communiversity, offering various classes and seminars to the entire metro area. Class fees range, but students over 65 can skip the registration fee and get course discounts.

Springfield

Rounding out our list of the best retirement destinations in the Midwest is Springfield, where housing costs depict a mere 17.86% of an average retirement income. One downside of this area is the crime rate.

Springfield is in the bottom five for both crime metrics, with 1,519 violent crime incidents and 7,793 property crime incidents for every 100,000 residents. But even then, the city ranks in the top half of the study for both of those metrics.

We hope you found this post on some of the best retirement destinations in the Midwest intriguing. But Retired In USA has much more information we think you’ll find useful. For instance, check out: 14 Things Retirees Forget to Check When Viewing a Home for Sale