A
new survey conducted for Bankers Life and Casualty Company reveals Portland,
Ore. is the best city in the United States for senior living with Seattle,
San Francisco, Milwaukee and Pittsburgh rounding out the top five.
A
panel of experts on gerontology and senior issues identified the qualities
for optimal senior living. Major categories were: health, disease, economics,
social, environment, spiritual, transportation, housing, and crime. Each category
was statistically weighted to reflect the needs of the senior population.
« We
find the survey results contain some cities we don’t often associate with
senior living, » said Bankers’ Chief Operating Officer Scott Perry.
« That’s
because we weren’t looking for the best places to be retired, but the best
cities for seniors regardless of whether they are retired, working, active
or non, healthy or not. It’s about more than golf courses and tennis courts, »
he said.
Categories
for the survey were suggested by Robert Butler, M.D., President and CEO of
the International Longevity Center, New York; Joan Frankel, Senior Consultant
of Health and Human Services, Metro Chicago Information Center; and Susan
Morisato, formerly Senior Vice President of Product Management and Chief Actuary
at Bankers. The survey was conducted by veteran survey administrator Sperling’s
Best Places and identified the top 50 metro areas in the U.S.
The
categories
The Health category included criteria such as physician to senior ratio,
gerontologist to senior ratio, hospitals per capita, and availability of adult
day care, assisted living facilities, continuing care (CCRC) facilities, independent
living facilities, nursing homes, and senior meals.
Housing included cost of living, median home
price, property taxes and monthly apartment rent.
Transportation included public transportation, special
access transportation, and commuting times.
Social included the percentage of seniors,
entertainment, the arts, museums, education, recreation, colleges, and libraries.
Crime included violent crime and property
crime.
Environment included sunny days, clean air, clean
water, natural disaster risk, ocean coastline, rivers and lakes, and national
parks.
Economy included consumer prices, sales taxes,
unemployment rate, and recent job growth.
Disease included life expectancy, age 85 expectancy,
depression rate, heart disease, and cancer rates.
Spiritual included percent of population belonging
to organized religions and the number of religious congregations.
Bottom
Five
Cities or metro areas ranking at positions 46-50 were: Riverside-San Bernardino,
Cal., Orange County, Cal., Nassau and Suffolk Counties, N.Y., Miami, Fla.,
and Bergen and Passaic Counties, N.J. For a complete listing, visit Bankers
online at www.bankers.com.