Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
June 10, 2025 --Note: This article was contributed by our friend and frequent contributor, Ed LaFreniere. It is from his column, The Retirement Sage, that he wrote as part of a humor hobby before and during covid. He and his wife spent years researching retirement spots around the country, and one of their conclusions was that choosing a community is one thing -- but the surrounding has to work for your lifestyle as well. A number of great suggestions are included in this column.
Dear Retirement Sage:My Dear Bride of 40 years has been scouring the Internet forour retirement mecca and has decided that she wants to move toa small town in Louisiana. It's on a little lake and that isknown for having two attractive parks, a dozen nice restaurants,and very low taxes. It was on one of the countless best-places-to-retire lists, this one created by some website that I’ve neverheard of that probably picked the only ten places it had photosof.
We are both water rats, having grown up on lakes in theMidwest, but our lakes are not part of a state that has 2 millionalligators! Nevertheless, she’s convinced that this is our newShangri-la. I, however, am far from persuaded, and amconcerned that this could turn into a fiasco – way too abrupt adeparture after decades in the same area of Minnesota. Mythought would be to keep the moving van outside our new placefor a week in case we have to turn right around and come backto our familiar surroundings. Better yet, I have encouraged herto rent down there for a year or for a few months and see if welike the area, but she thinks that would be a waste of money. Shetells me to trust her intuition. Would you?
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Published on June 9, 2025
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
May 14, 2025 -- Nobody understands the dozens of mistakes you can make when it comes to choosing a retirement community than our wonderful Members here at Topretirements. By the same token, they have developed many simple strategies for how to pick the right one. On this website they have made thousands of wonderful and wise comments, suggestions, and experiences on how to negotiate the journey to the perfect place to retire. This article will attempt to gather and organize a sampling of the best ones - space keeps us from publishing many other great ones.
Check Out These Wise Comments from Topretirements Members
We are so impressed with the collective wisdom of our Members over the years. Your real world experiences and insights are invaluable!
Chris: Making decisions and having a plan is the only sure fire way to end up in the right community. Otherwise there are just too many wrong forks in the road!
Nancy: Do a stay and play and dig, dig. The builders reputation usually easy to find construction issues are important but not as important as finding the right community. Also thoroughly research all utilities, taxes, etc. - it adds up.
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Published on May 13, 2025
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
April 10, 2025 -- Want to retire to an affordable town that has all kinds of great things going for it? Realtor.com came up with a list last year with 10 towns that hit that sweet spot. These communities offer access to many of the things that retirees value most highly: nearby beaches, good healthcare, outdoor recreation, plenty of things to do, golf cart friendly, the arts, and most importantly - reasonable cost of living.
To come up with their list Realtor.com combed through all their single-family, condo, and townhouse listings. Then they used keywords in the descriptions to pinpoint the percentage of those listings that indicate a retiree-friendly community, and prices below or near the U.S. median price of $410,100 to determine affordability. In addition to home prices, they also included the percentage of retirement age residents as well as percentage of retiree friendly listings.
Surprisingly, New Jersey garnered three spots on this list, as did Florida. California had two towns in the top 10.
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Published on April 9, 2025
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
March 25, 2025 -- It usually starts with a weekend or vacation home in the mountains or a peaceful lake. As the years go by, the appeal of living there full time grows ever more strong. So when it comes time to retire, the direction seems clear - let's go rural for your senior years. This article will explore the pros and cons of retiring in a rural environment, then you can make up your own mind.
What is a rural retirement
For our purposes here we will consider a rural retirement as any place that is outside of a city, town, or suburb. Somewhere where there are plenty of open spaces, be it in the country, mountains, or on a river or lake. There are degrees of ruralness of course. Plenty of rural environments are an easy drive to a town or city. And then there are those that are truly out there - hours from a hospital, medical offices, and big box stores - sometimes along difficult roads.
On the plus side
Living in the country appeals to a certain kind of person. They value their independence and generally seek a quieter life. Here are some of the things they are looking for:
Peace and quiet. People who retire in the country cite the peace and quiet that comes from living far away from the hubbub.
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Published on March 24, 2025
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
February 13, 2025 -- Good news is coming to 8 states this year when it comes to income taxes. It is part of a trend to lower taxes, make themselves more competitive, and enjoy the surpluses many of them experienced from the Covid years. Others, though, are concerned that the lower taxes will result in the cutting of public services. Seven of the 8 states that lowered their rates are controlled by Republicans.
Most of the reductions were relatively minor, usually less than a half a percentage point. Two of the states have moved to a flat tax instead of income brackets.
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Published on February 12, 2025
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Climate, Insurance, Costs Driving Trend
February 9, 2025 -- At least since the beginning of the 20th century, Florida has been a magnet for all kinds of people, particularly retirees. Covid boosted that trend, as working people escaped crowded cities to find sunshine and lower taxes. The era of Florida continuously adding new residents appears to have come to an end, however, according to two recent studies. Data from other sources come to the same conclusions. With 23 million people, it is still one of the fastest growing states in the Union.
Neutral net migration occurs when about the same number of people move to a state as move out. Florida has traditionally had very positive net migration, turning pastures into cities and developments as people flocked to the state. UHaul published a recent report showing that 50.4% of its recent Florida moves came into the state, while 49.6% moved out. Atlas Van Lines came to a similar conclusion: it reclassified Florida from an “inbound state” to one that shows a balance between inbound and outbound movers.
Not all of Florida affected
South Florida, with its more expensive housing, seems to have more folks fleeing the state than the northern part of the state. Younger people looking for better opportunities and lower cost housing are also driving emigration. Foreign buyers have also slowed down their purchases.
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Published on February 8, 2025
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Dec. 29, 2024 -- One of our most fun things to do every year is to look back and see which of our Blog articles attracted the most reader interest. Of the 86 we published, which ones were read the most, and what were the articles that generated the most Comments? The results are a pretty good indication of what our Members are interested in. Here is a list of some of the top performers, all of which were tightly clustered together. Many more were ranked just below them.
Looking at it by category, almost all of the winning Blog posts had to do with Best Places and Where to Retire (9 of the 13 listed here), with Medicare and Social Security making most of the other top ones. Note: When the article was published could make a difference: those with more recent pub dates had to do very well to rank high for the year. Number of Comments made in ( ).
Lake Chelan courtesy of Wikipedia and David Ansley CC 2.5
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Published on December 28, 2024
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
December 12, 2024 — What is the best town to retire to? That is the most frequent question we receive at Topretirements. Of course, our standard answer is that it is a very personal question—it depends on what you are looking for. Do you want to live in the mountains, on the beach, by a lake, in a small town, or a big city? Plus, what do you want to do in your spare time? Will your chosen town be a good fit for those activities? Not to mention factors like climate, medical care, cost of living, taxes, crime, and more. Any list other than the one you create yourself is not going to do the job.
You can see where this is going: answering the question of the best place to retire is not easy. However, some places consistently come up as favorites that fit the description. Here are a few that are frequently mentioned. If they match the criteria you set out in the first paragraph, they might be worth considering. Note that most of these towns are especially suited to outdoor recreation.
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Published on December 11, 2024
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Updated October 22, 2024 — The stunning devastation from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, so quick in succession, puts an exclamation point on climate and other natural disasters. It would not be crazy to wonder - is there anywhere you retire that is safe. And it's not just hurricanes - the natural disasters that have occurred across the U.S. in recent months are causing a lot of people to reconsider where they retire.
Where is a safe place to retire
Residents of Florida expect hurricanes and their damage, but as people in other states like the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Georgia found out last week, no one is immune from storms like these. What made Helene's damage so bad was that no one was expecting just how serious its impact was. Residents of the Asheville NC area, 500 miles away from the Florida Coast and one of the most popular areas of the country for retirement, are stranded by washed out roads and bridges, flooded infrastructure, and ruined homes. There is no power, fresh water is only available from state, local, and federal emergency supplies, and cell service is limited. Supplies are being brought in by mule trains. At least 57 people were killed in Buncombe County alone, home to the city of Asheville, and no one even knows how many more deaths will be in the final tally. Here is how you can help victims of the storm.
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Published on October 2, 2024
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
September 18, 2024 — “What is the worst state for retirement?” This is one of those questions with a frustrating answer – it all depends. Despite what some list you see on the Internet might say, the reality is that while there are many states that would be “worst” for…
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Published on September 18, 2024
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