When you stop working, jobless stats become meaningless. Health care jumps up your list of priorities, as does weather since you'll no longer be stuck in an office. To find Canada's best places to retire, we built a scoring system designed to reflect the realities of old age.

We started by awarding points for a pleasant climate. We also rewarded cities with lots of health-care workers per capita. Because retirees live on fixed incomes, we handed out bonus points for low taxes. And we looked for places with low crime, easy walking and affordable homes. Turns out that the top three places to retire—Victoria, Kingston and Ottawa—are also the cities we think are best to live in at any age. See? Some things don't change as you get older.