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NJ ranks low in surveys of best states to retire or start a business

nj.gov

New Jersey may be a nice place to do a lot of things, but as a place to retire or start a business, it may not be your best choice.

A survey by the personal finance website WalletHub placed New Jersey next to last among the 50 states as a good place to retire —- only Kentucky was worse.

WalletHub analyst Cassandra Happe explained.

“They had some very low rankings as far as the taxpayer-friendliness, as well as the share of the population who could not afford a doctor’s visit out of that population that is age 65 and older,” she said.

As for a place to start a business, in another WalletHub survey, New Jersey ranked 44th among the states. Happe said it’s expensive here.

“The labor costs and office space along with the cost of living in New Jersey is a big part of why they ranked so low in this particular study,” said Happe, adding that there were some bright spots.

“New Jersey actually did really well as far as access to resources goes, they came in 7th overall in the study for that particular dimension, but they came in last place when it came to business costs,” she said.

Janice Kirkel is a lifelong award-winning journalist who has done everything from network newscasts to national and local sports reports to business newscasts to specialized reporting and editing in technical areas of business and finance such as bankruptcy, capital structure changes and reporting on the business of the investment business.