Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
April 11, 2016 -- We love hearing stories from real people about their adventures in finding the perfect place to retire. So we were very fortunate recently to get an in depth interview from 2 old friends, Sandy and Ann, who shared their retirement search adventures. We hope you will find it interesting and instructive. (Don't miss the Further Reading section at the end - over the years we have interviewed a whole lot of people about their retirement search experiences - and the links to those stories are all there!)
Prior to retirement the pair lived in a comfortable New York suburb, from which they commuted to successful careers in the Big Apple. Their enviable lifestyle included frequent ski trips to Vermont in winter and a busy social life at a country club the rest of the year. But when it came time for retirement, both were interested in a change of scenery. They agreed on two main motivations: to have easier access to outdoor recreation opportunities like hiking, biking, and skiing; and to escape New York's expensive cost of living and real estate taxes.
Looking down south
Like so many others, they were faced with a big
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Published on April 11, 2016
Comments 30
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
April 6, 2016 -- Are any of the Best States to Retire" lists you see so frequently worth the few minutes it takes you to read them? That is a pretty good question, since A: there are so many to read, and B: they seem to contradict themselves more than they agree. This article will illustrate the many ways that 2 recent lists differ from one another, along with the few ways they coincide. We will also see how these lists best and worst selections compare with the last 2 editions of Topretirements "Best (and Worst) States" lists. All of which has us shaking our heads at the general lack of agreement!
Every time we publish one of these types of lists we can count on a few readers taking a shot at why we picked this or that place, or why we didn't include yet another. That is understandable, as even when objective criteria are used to make the
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Published on April 5, 2016
Comments 38
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
March 29, 2016 — Due to popular requests we periodically update our extensive series of “Dueling Retirement States”. The latest to be updated is the comparison of retirement in Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, and Delaware. The previous version of this comparison was from 2010. Since then most trends and…
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Published on March 29, 2016
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
March 26, 2016 — If you asked most people to name the fastest growing Metro in the U.S., we think many would not be able to come up with the right one. The answer is a most surprising one – The Villages, the sprawling community of 119,000 in Central…
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Published on March 25, 2016
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Update July 2017: See our all new 2017 Best Places to Retire List
June, 2016 – Move over Asheville, there is a newcomer perched atop the Topretirements annual list of most popular places to retire. For the first time since we started publishing this list in 2007, Asheville, NC is not #1 - that honor goes to the vibrant city of Sarasota on Florida's West Coast. It edged out Asheville and Green Valley (AZ) in a close contest for the top spot.
Sarasota neighborhood
Many people view Sarasota as one of the two cultural capitals of Florida (the other would be Miami). Built through the philanthropy of the Ringling Brothers Circus and other generous souls, Sarasota's rich cultural institutions make it a vital and interesting city in which to live. There is also the beautiful Sarasota Bay, lovely beaches and barrier islands, and fascinating urban and low key neighborhoods. Sarasota was chosen for the top spot through a simple process. We count how many times each city's review has been viewed at Topretirements.com, which we view as a gauge of interest in that destination. For example, the Sarasota review was viewed over 10,000 times, {GOOGLE_AD}
which was 10 times as often as the newcomer in the #100 position, Palm Coast (FL). It doesn't mean that people will actually move to any of these destinations, but it does indicate interest and popularity.
A Place in the Sun
When it comes to places that Americans might consider for retirement, towns in the Sunbelt and the West are definitely the places to be. Eighty of the cities and towns on our 2016 list of the best places to retire were in the Sunbelt. As always, Florida had the most cities on the list with 24, followed by North and South Carolina. The American northwest and mountain states are also popular for retirement - 17 destinations made the list from California, Washington, Colorado, Oregon, and Idaho. Just as in 2015, only 3 states in the Northeast made the cut: Virginia (Charlottesville, Williamsburg, and Winchester), Delaware (Lewes and Rehoboth Beach), and Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh). The highest ranking non-Sun Belt city on our list was
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Published on February 23, 2016
Comments 51
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
February 12, 2016 (Updated Oct 2020)-- In looking for your best place to retire it is nice to know that there are some states that really want you. They have taken concrete steps to make themselves more desirable for retirees. These states (and many towns) know that the homes retirees buy and the money they spend locally can be an important, and clean, industry. They call it the "Mailbox Economy" - where the local industry takes the form of the pension, 401(k), dividend/interest, and Social Security checks that arrive in local mailboxes and bank accounts every month. Some of these states might
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Published on February 12, 2016
Comments 129
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Note: This is Part 2 in a series. Part 1, "Can a Yankee Find Happiness in the South", came out in 2010 and has generated an amazing 241 comments so far. The topic continues to be of interest: there have already been 52 comments made so far this year!
January 26, 2015 -- It is an important question for every snowbird considering a big move in retirement: will you be happy in your new location and culture? Part 1 explored the pros and cons our many members from the northeast face as they head south for retirement - often seeking warmer weather, lower costs, and fewer taxes. Here in Part 2 we will
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Published on January 26, 2016
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
December 9, 2015 -- For a surprising number of baby boomers the ideal retirement is not in an active community with a golf course, tennis courts, swimming pool, or clubhouse. Neither is it a small town, nor a postcard pretty burg with a college as its centerpiece. Instead, many surprise their friends by moving from the suburbs to of all places - a city. While an unexpected choice, there are any number of good reasons to make this move, akin to a salmon swimming upstream. This article will explore the many advantages and disadvantages of an urban retirement lifestyle, and then we will provide a list of 10 great cities where you can retire.
As we are fond of saying, retirement is a chance at a do-over on life. Lets say you have regrets about some choices you made during adulthood - like where you chose to live or what you did for a living. Now that you are
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Published on December 8, 2015
Comments 18
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
November 22, 2015 -- Over the years we have heard from many of our Members who were considering retirement in the Blue Ridge Mountains. We know there are many more who are tempted by the amazing scenery, mild 4 season climate, and outstanding recreational opportunities in this area. So it seems like this might be an ideal time to put together a compilation of comments that we have received from people who have either lived in the area, or explored it for possible retirement. We look forward to hearing from other folks who have an interest or experience in retiring to this area - please share your thoughts in the Comments section below.
All about the Blue Ridge Mountains
The Blue Ridge Mountains are a chain of mountains running northeast from Georgia to
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Published on November 21, 2015
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
November 7, 2015 -- In this installment of our "Dueling Retirement States" we compare and analyze retirement in the warm states that surround the Gulf of Mexico. Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas are better known and appreciated by residents of the South, while Florida is popular with retirees from all over the nation and Canada. See Further Reading at end for links to the other comparisons in the series.
Do warm sandy beaches call to mind your dream retirement lifestyle? The states that border the Gulf of Mexico - Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas - offer many advantages for retirement living. For one, they are almost always much less expensive than either the West or East Coasts. They have some of the warmest winters in the U.S. They represent 5 of the lowest tax states in the nation. And they are generally uncrowded and less congested than many other retirement locations.
The attraction for many folks is the opportunity to enjoy beautiful beaches that go from the West Coast of Florida all the way to southern Texas, where the Lone Star State runs into Mexico. In this article we will compare and contrast these 5 Gulf Coast states: Alabama and Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana,and Texas. (links go to our mini-retirement guides to each state). Population and income data is from American Fact Finder-U.S. Census Bureau.
A Few Facts
Texas, with its close to 27 million population, is by far the more populous of the 5 states. Florida's total estimated 2014 population increased to just under 19.9 million, adding 1 million people from 2010. Its West Coast is not as crowded as its East Coast, where more of the population lives. There were an estimated 4.8 million people in Alabama, 4.6 million in Louisiana, and 3 million in Mississippi during 2014.
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Published on November 7, 2015
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