Maryland’s tax burden puts it lower on the list. But what’s the real reason most people pick a retirement location?

Maryland and Vermont may have more in common than Maryland and neighboring Virginia when it comes to finding attractive places to retire, according to a recent survey.

High taxes in Maryland mean it’s among the worst states in which to retire, according to a report by Bankrate.com, a personal finance site, and reported in the Washington Examiner. Virginia is in the top 10.

Maryland’s high cost of living, state and local tax burden of 10.2 percent and its above-average crime rate combined to put it at 44th on the list, the same ranking as Vermont.

Virginia and Washington, DC, were tied at 9.3 percent, Chris Kahn, the report’s author, told the Examiner.

Virginia’s relatively low crime rate and cost of living put it in sixth place.

“There wasn’t any one thing Virginia was stellar in, but they were pretty good in most areas we looked at,” Kahn told the Examiner.

Still, cost apparently isn’t the No. 1 factor people consider when choosing a place to retire.

“Probably the most important criteria is the distance to grandchildren,” Ric Edelman, president and CEO of the Edelman Financial Group, told the Examiner.