MILWAUKEE — When it comes to winters, Milwaukee is no Phoenix.



Last winter was brutal, even by Wisconsinites’ standards, but metro Milwaukee recently was ranked as the fourth most popular retirement destination for seniors.

Yes, you read that correctly: Milwaukee is more popular than Nashville, Tennessee, Fort Myers, Florida, and Tucson, Arizona, for retirees, according to a study by magnifymoney.com.

The four-county metro Milwaukee area, which includes Waukesha and West Allis, was the only Midwestern location in a top 10 dominated by locations where it doesn’t snow: Phoenix, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Fort Myers. Besides Milwaukee, Nashville was the only town in the top 10 not located in Florida or Arizona.

Milwaukee saw a net influx of 3,924 retirees, while Nashville gained 2,831.

MagnifyMoney, part of LendingTree, used 2016-17 information from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, a population database housed at the University of Minnesota, to rank the top retirement destinations for senior citizens.

The Milwaukee metro area is known for its entertainment, arts and theater offerings. Milwaukee sports teams have enjoyed recent success, and Fiserv Forum has brought top performers to the Brew City.

The area has a big-city appeal without many of the hassles of larger metropolitan areas.

New York, Los Angeles, Seattle and San Francisco tend to lose residents who leave the workforce, MagnifyMoney said.