America’s most active seniors in 2026

For many Americans, retirement promises more autonomy over personal time. As work and child care responsibilities diminish or disappear, opportunities to pursue personal interests typically expand. While some retirees spend their post-work years focused on rest and relaxation, others embrace an active retirement lifestyle highlighted by travel, volunteering and other pursuits.

SmartAsset set out to identify the states that are home to America’s most active seniors. The study calculated the average daily time people ages 65 and older spend on four activities — exercise, gardening, travel and volunteering — and ranked states based on the totals.

Key Findings

• The Mountain West is home to America’s most active seniors. Montana (No. 1), Utah (No. 2), Wyoming (No. 3) and Colorado (No. 6) all ranked highly in the study.
• Least active states span the country. While states with the most active seniors are clustered in the Mountain West, those with the least active seniors are more geographically dispersed, including Indiana (No. 48), Nevada (No. 49) and Delaware (No. 50).
• Seniors in these New England states spend the most time exercising. Vermont (No. 4) took the top spot for the average daily minutes seniors spend exercising and participating in sports: 44 minutes. It was followed by Connecticut (No. 7), where seniors average 31.7 minutes of exercise each day.
• Seniors in these states love to travel. Despite ranking only No. 43 overall, South Dakota was tops for the amount of time seniors devoted to travel. In second place for time spent traveling were New Hampshire seniors.

SmartAsset

SmartAsset

Top 10 States

1. Montana• Exercising: 18.37 minutes daily• Gardening: 48.4 minutes daily• Traveling: 7.57 minutes daily• Volunteering: 35.62 minutes daily
2. Wyoming• Exercising: 14.44 minutes daily• Gardening: 33.76 minutes daily• Traveling: 8.21 minutes daily• Volunteering: 40.49 minutes daily
3. Utah• Exercising: 20.89 minutes daily• Gardening: 17.91 minutes daily• Traveling: 11.96 minutes daily• Volunteering: 32.46 minutes daily
4. Vermont• Exercising: 44.02 minutes daily• Gardening: 18.4 minutes daily• Traveling: 10.74 minutes daily• Volunteering: 8.72 minutes daily
5. Washington• Exercising: 13.8 minutes daily• Gardening: 33.35 minutes daily• Traveling: 7.72 minutes daily• Volunteering: 24.04 minutes daily
6. Colorado• Exercising: 30.44 minutes daily• Gardening: 21.53 minutes daily• Traveling: 9.18 minutes daily• Volunteering: 16.82 minutes daily
7. Connecticut• Exercising: 31.66 minutes daily• Gardening: 18.54 minutes daily• Traveling: 11.46 minutes daily• Volunteering: 14.26 minutes daily
8. New Mexico• Exercising: 18.46 minutes daily• Gardening: 39.57 minutes daily• Traveling: 9.28 minutes daily• Volunteering: 7.04 minutes daily
9. New Hampshire• Exercising: 28.81 minutes daily• Gardening: 24.19 minutes daily• Traveling: 16.85 minutes daily• Volunteering: 3.89 minutes daily
10. Alaska• Exercising: 18.48 minutes daily• Gardening: 39.27 minutes daily• Traveling: 4.71 minutes daily• Volunteering: 9.31 minutes daily

Methodology

This study uses data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ American Time Use Survey (ATUS), as extracted from IPUMS for the most recent available four-year period. For each state, the average daily minutes residents ages 65 and older (ATUS age top-coded at 85) spent exercising, gardening, traveling and volunteering was calculated, inclusive of those who spent no time at all on these activities. Those four measures were then summed to produce a total time value used to rank the states. Source data providers are not affiliated with, and do not endorse or sponsor, this study or its findings.

This story was produced by SmartAsset and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.