Maybe it’s because we know how brutal Wisconsin winters can be, but when you see metro Milwaukee ranked as the nation’s No. 4 most popular retirement destination for seniors, you can’t help but say, “What?”

There metro Milwaukee was, though — listed as the fourth most popular spot for retirees in the U.S. — in a new research report by a unit of online loan facilitator LendingTree.

The four-county metro Milwaukee area was the only Midwestern location in a top 10 dominated by places where it doesn’t snow and you would expect retirees to go, such as Phoenix, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Sarasota and Fort Myers. Aside from Milwaukee, Nashville was the only town in the top 10 not located in Florida or Arizona.

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 leading retirement destinations for seniors.

Researchers looked at the number of residents older than 65 who were out of the labor force and who’d moved into a metro area, then compared it with the number of over-65 residents who were out of the labor force and had moved out of a metro area. Those two numbers generated a net migration figure, which then was used to rank metro areas by their apparent popularity with retired seniors.

The data showed 5,790 people in the target demographic moved into metro Milwaukee during the period, and 1,866 moved out, for a positive net migration of 3,924 senior retirees. In comparison, the top retirement destination in the U.S., the Phoenix area, posted a net influx of 7,129 senior retirees, while the Chicago area — one of the survey’s least popular spots for retirees — had a net outflow of 8,497.

Were the researchers for MagnifyMoney surprised that metro Milwaukee, a clear outlier in the survey, was No. 4?

“Milwaukee is certainly not a traditional city when one thinks of retirement destinations, but despite the harsh winters, Milwaukee does have plenty to offer potential retirees,” said Derek Miller, a senior research analyst at LendingTree who worked on the study.

Miller said, for example, the median cost of a home is 10% lower here than in the neighboring Chicago metro area, according to 2017 Census Bureau estimates.

“If you are a Chicago retiree accustomed to life along Lake Michigan but looking to reduce expenses in retirement, Milwaukee would make a lot of sense,” Miller said. “After all, moving far is not all upside for retirees: Less time with grandchildren, new ways of life to adapt to and new friendships need to be made.”

Miller may be on to something with the grandchildren angle, but the inflow of retirees might be greater among former Wisconsinites who have moved back than Illinoisans who have moved north.

That's what Kelli Send has seen. As the leader of the MoneyAdvice@Work team of Brookfield-based Francis Investment Counsel, she works with people of various incomes as they prepare for retirement with 401(k) plans. She said retirees may be returning to Wisconsin when grandchildren enter the picture.

“What happens is they buy some place somewhere else, but because many of their family members stay, they come back,” Send said.

She said the thing she hears most is seniors want to be near their grandchildren, sometimes even serving as daycare providers when their adult children work full-time outside the home.

“The grandmas and grandpas don’t want to get too far away from them,” she said.

Some seniors are able to enjoy the best of both worlds, Send said.

“There is a certain pride about this particular state. People may leave temporarily, but then they come back," she said. "Or they maintain two homes. They want to have something handy where maybe their grandchildren are, which would be some suburban kind of Milwaukee area because that’s where their children settled. But then they want to have an extra place, whether up north near the lakes or farther south.”

Greg Nickerson, chairman of the Milwaukee advertising and marketing firm Bader Rutter, was a little surprised by the metro Milwaukee area’s high ranking as a retirement spot even though he’s a major advocate for the city.

But he said there is something special about Wisconsin that may lure baby boomers home, aside from those who might return to care for aging parents who are in their 90s.

“Wisconsin — and I’m not from here originally — there’s a pride factor that is pretty unique,” Nickerson said. “I don’t know that we fully understand how unique it is. The love of the state, the Packers, going up north to the lake. I think there’s a little nostalgia there. It tugs at the heart, and maybe they’re like, “Hey, you know I’ve lived on the West Coast — or somewhere else — for a long time, and I’ll go back to my roots and retire.”

Nickerson also praised the metro Milwaukee area for its entertainment, arts and theater offerings, which give it big city appeal without all of the hassles of larger metro areas. That could help make it attractive to retirees.

Send had a similar sentiment about metro Milwaukee.

“I think in particular it features things where you kind of get the big city, but not really,” she said. “It’s pretty affordable.”

The survey showed busiest and least-affordable metros saw the largest loss of retirees. Cities like New York, Los Angeles, Seattle and San Francisco tend to lose those who left the workforce, MagnifyMoney said.

Even if metro Milwaukee as one of the most popular places nationally for retirees may seem counterintuitive, LendingTree says that’s what the survey data shows.

“Winters in Milwaukee are tough, but the non-winter seasons are pleasant,” said LendingTree’s Miller. “With the potential savings of living somewhere affordable, retirees may be able to spend large parts of winter traveling anyway.”

Paul Gores can be reached at paul.gores@jrn.com Follow him on Twitter @pgores