Greenville, SC: The Perfect Small City Urban Retirement
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
October 25, 2017 — For the person looking for a urban retirement on a small scale, it is hard to come up with a better choice than Greenville, South Carolina. It has parks and a downtown that attracts people every day of the week, including Sunday morning. There are plenty of housing opportunities downtown that let you walk to just about anything you might need. There is an ever expanding bike path that runs through the heart of the downtown and 8 miles up the road – through the Furman University campus and on to Travelers Rest, SC. The cultural scene is hectic with frequent festivals, multiple events, and an array of cultural resources.
This fast growing town in northwest South Carolina has 68,000 citizens in the city proper, while the larger MSA area including Spartanburg approaches 1 million. The downtown has been the subject of intense and successful redevelopment efforts. Those have paid off, as the city won Great American Main Street awards from the
Comments on "Greenville, SC: The Perfect Small City Urban Retirement"
Fionna says:
My husband and I retired to Greenville and lived in south Greenville for almost 3 yrs. We bought a home with 7 acres thinking we would have some peace and privacy, but we were so mistaken! It turned out that we were surrounded by barking dogs, people shooting guns and overall inconsideration from our neighbors whose son would ride a dirt bike up and down the property line. We had never anticipated this "culture" in our wildest dreams. We moved to the Charleston area and are building a home in a 55+ community. So do your due diligence and check out the area you are considering all times of the day and night. Overall, "culture" is so different from what we were used to. On the plus side, enough shopping venues and activities, as mentioned in the article.
Alice says:
The Charleston area, especially fast growing Berkeley County, isn't much different (except that you should be okay living in a 55 plus community where few locals live). It's the south folks, and that's the culture, regardless of your price point. If it's not to your liking there are plenty other parts of the country to consider, each with its own unique culture as well. If you want the east coast consider Florida, the most northeastern of the southern states, but also any of the towns along the southeastern coast where a lot of transplants have settled.
Fionna says:
Alice,
I agree with your assessment of the south. That is why we are building in a 55+ community where there are rules and someone to enforce them. We just didn't want to take a chance out in the "community" again, even though there were homes I was interested in... just not worth it!
Admin says:
Hello everyone. We would like to remind you that the point of this story was about the "Urban" lifestyle, not living in the countryside or in a 55+ community, and not really about living in the south. Not for everyone, but it is a perfect lifestyle for many. If you would like to discuss living in a 55+ or active community this article will be interesting. https://www.topretirements.com/blog/active-adult-communities/is-an-active-adult-community-right-for-you.html/ Thanks to everyone for your contributions - we look forward to more.
Jack says:
Everything you have said about Greenville is correct. An excellent city. Furman University hosts an Osher LLI which is another plus. Paris Mountain is another special place for homes/ homesites plus a magnificent park/ lake for overnight campers. And golf courses!
Yes, you are in a RED state. And YES you have some Rednecks, but you don't have to live in the areas that they inhabit. Most likely you will live in a neighborhood similar to what you are leaving or even more upscale in retirement. And Greenville has them in triplicate.
You have a joyful town. We moved to Charleston because we wanted to be closer to our grandchildren.
David says:
Having moved down from Connecticut two years ago, I do feel Greenville is a very special and unique place. The article is spot on in regards to the beautiful downtown area, surrounding parks, nature centers, arts and cultural scene.
It's always being mentioned for the outstanding choices of diverse restaurants...quality and quantity. A food's lover delight! Take in a ballgame, go shopping, see a play, eat out, ride the free trolleys, or just take a walk in beautiful Falls park or down Main street. Yes, Woodruff road at certain times can be a traffic headache, but it also has everything you might need, and most of the buildings are of fairly new construction and tastefully done. The Greenville health system I find is also very expansive and growing. The mountains are close with some nice hiking trails and scenic lookouts. One thing that wasn't mentioned in the article was the cost of living. Compared to Connecticut, it's really like night and day. My property taxes are 1/8 of what we paid in Connecticut, and for more house and land. Utilities are also less, with food costing about the same. Jobs are plentiful, with unemployment in Greenville at this time being 3.3%. All in all, it was a big move for us, but we couldn't be happier! We love Greenville and are excited to watch it grow better each day...just wished we would have moved sooner.
Elaine Cubbins says:
I live in southern AZ, which is not the same "south" mentioned above. I think this type of culture is nationwide because I have neighbors to the east of my 5 acres who do the same as mentioned above. They were born and bred in AZ. I hear gunshots, ATVs, and racist remarks around me, so it's everywhere, not just in the South.
Jasmine says:
I live in Connecticut on 4 acres and I hear gunshots, ATVs, barking dogs, constant chainsaws cutting trees, and racism all around me. I am searching for my utopian retirement of peace and quiet.
Charles says:
My wife and I moved from Michigan to Greenville in 2012 for employment. We lived 2 miles outside of downtown. We used to walk to downtown from our place. We really loved downtown. It reminded us of a smaller Ann Arbor. PLenty of things to do especially in the summer. They had four seasons there. They even got some snow. Close to Asheville, NC, Atlanta, Charlotte, Charleston was about 3 hrs away. People there were very friendly. We had to move back to Michigan because of work. We would consider moving back to Greenville again when retired.
William DeyErmand says:
Greenville is a great place for urban dwellers. There is plenty of apartments and condo's. I prefer smaller towns with around 20k populations with less traffic and noise, like Gaffney east of Greenville. It is good advice to check out areas during the day and night and rent for a season.
Lynn says:
My husband and I have visited various potential places that we thought would be great places to retire. We spent about a week in Greenville and really did love the place. However, we have been watching the real estate prices in Greenville spin out of control. It appears that there are many "flippers" in the area, folks who buy houses, make slight improvements, and turn around and place them on the market at a huge increase. We were quite disappointed to see so much of that. There appears to be quite the bubble in prices. The new construction is also quite pricey.
K.T. says:
2 thoughts: looking for single family home neighborhoods and winter. How cold /snow on ground in winter? Also more about health care programs e. g. Blue cross, Humana etc. not interested in acreage. Thank you, Katie