News · Midland
Midland is U.S. News’ No. 1 place to retire for a second year, as Michigan’s pension tax break fully phases in
MIDLAND, Mich. — Midland is the best place in the country to retire for the second year in a row, according to U.S. News & World Report’s 2027 Best Places to Retire rankings, released Oct. 27.
U.S. News said Midland scored high on affordability and retiree taxes, the two measures that helped it hold the top spot after the magazine changed how it weights its rankings. Homosassa Springs, Florida, ranked second and Weirton, West Virginia, third. Some early news coverage reversed those two; this story uses the order in U.S. News’ own release.
The rest of the top 10, in order: The Woodlands, Texas; Spring, Texas; Rancho Rio, New Mexico; Altoona, Pennsylvania; Paducah, Kentucky; Lynchburg, Virginia; and Palm Coast, Florida. Florida and Texas dominated the full list of 250 places.
How the list was built. U.S. News said it looked at more than 850 cities and published the top 250, scoring each on six measures: quality of life, affordability, health care, retiree taxes, the job market, and population and migration among people 55 and older. Each measure’s weight came from a public survey of Americans 45 and older about what matters most when choosing where to retire. This year the magazine leaned harder on affordability, which it said was the factor survey respondents considered most. The data came from federal, state and local sources, including FBI crime reporting, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. News’ own hospital rankings.
“Places like Midland, Michigan, offer financial safety while still providing a good quality of life,” said Megan Wood, an assistant managing editor at U.S. News.
What retirees find here. Midland sits about 20 miles northwest of Saginaw and Bay City, along the Tittabawassee, Chippewa and Pine rivers. FOX 2 Detroit pointed to Dow Gardens and Whiting Forest, with what it called the longest elevated canopy walk in the country, the 1,500-acre Chippewa Nature Center, about 70 city parks and the 22-mile Pere Marquette Rail-Trail.
The tax piece, explained. The “retiree taxes” score matters more for Michiganders this year because a state law change has now fully kicked in. Under Public Act 4 of 2023, known as the Lowering MI Costs Plan, the state phased back in its retirement and pension subtraction over four years. According to the Michigan Department of Treasury, for tax year 2026 and beyond, the phase-in subtraction reaches 100% with no birth-date cutoff. Treasury says the change “essentially restores” the pre-2012 treatment of retirement income, though the subtraction is still capped at limits tied to private pensions and adjusted each year for inflation.
A second law, Public Act 24 of 2025, lets taxpayers born after 1952 who are 67 or older claim both the standard deduction and the Social Security deduction for tax years 2026 through 2028, instead of having one reduce the other, Treasury says.
What it means. A ranking doesn’t change anyone’s tax bill, but it does put Midland in front of people shopping for a place to retire. Retirees weighing a move should check their own pension and Social Security numbers against Treasury’s current rules or with a tax preparer.
Sources:
U.S. News & World Report, “U.S. News & World Report Reveals the 2027 Best Places to Retire,” Oct. 27, 2026, via PR Newswire (ranking order, methodology, Wood quote), https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/us-news--world-report-reveals-the-2027-best-places-to-retire-302920068.html
U.S. News & World Report, The Best Places to Retire in 2027, https://realestate.usnews.com/real-estate/best-places-to-retire/articles/the-best-places-to-retire-in-the-us
FOX 2 Detroit, “This Michigan city ranks No. 1 for best place to retire, per US News and World Report,” Oct. 27, 2026 (Midland parks and attractions), https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/michigan-city-ranks-no-1-best-place-retire-per-us-news-world-report
Michigan Department of Treasury, Retirement and Pension Benefits (Public Act 4 of 2023 phase-in table; Public Act 24 of 2025), https://www.michigan.gov/taxes/iit/tax-guidance/tax-situations/retirement-and-pension-benefits
Photo: Paul R. Burley, “Dow Gardens 1596.jpg,” Dec. 30, 2017, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), color-adjusted, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dow_Gardens_1596.jpg
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