Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
January 26, 2021 -- Every year we have fun rendering our opinion on the very "Best Places to Retire". This list is meant to highlight retirement towns that represent exceptionally great places to retire. But it is important to remember, any place where you can be happy in retirement, that is the best place - for you!
To develop this list we consulted our previous reports of the 20 Best Retirement Towns in three of the major U.S. retirement regions. But the primary consideration was visitor and Member interest at Topretirements.com - the cities that generated the most interest from January to December on this site were the winners. The big news is that several of the towns generating top places on this list had never placed so high. Arizona garnered the top two places on this list, joining Florida and New Mexico who also had two winners. Congratulations to all!
10 Best of the Best Places to Retire
Popularity on this site, as measured by online visits by our Members,was the most important criteria. On that basis, here are the best of the best places to retire in all of the U.S.
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Published on January 26, 2021
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
January 12, 2020 -- Arizona is a really popular place to retire because of its climate, scenery, and interesting towns. At Topretirements it is the second most popular state for retirement. It also has the second highest net immigration of people over 65 (SmartAsset). Since Covid has put the damper on travel and exploration, please join us on this virtual tour of the best places to retire in this beautiful state. This is the second in our series of virtual tours of popular states for retirement (Southwest Florida was the first).
The Road Trip
Arizona is the sixth largest state in terms of size and 14th by population. Florida by contrast has almost 3 times the population in just under half the area, with many more retirement communities. Arizona's sheer size means a retirement tour of the Grand Canyon State involves a lot of driving. If done outside of the summer, it means bringing along some warm weather clothing for parts of the trip, because many areas have high altitude and chilly weather at times. This virtual tour will hopefully whet your appetite for an Arizona exploration, and learn more about the many towns we mention here and over 300 active adult and 55+ communities in our Arizona Directory.
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Published on January 11, 2021
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
January 6, 2020 - The coronavirus and the election might have been the two big national stories in 2020, but Topretirements Members and visitors had some other issues on their minds as well. We published almost 100 Blog stories last year, and it turns out that once again, features that highlight great places to retire almost always come out on top. Here are the most popular articles on Topretirements last year, 2020. As always, we appreciate any future story ideas you might have too.
20 Great Places to Retire on a Lake. This article picked the top 20 communities from the 122 lake towns reviewed on Topretirements. We focused on places where it is possible to live on or near the lake, with some kind of nearby town for entertainment and the necessities of life. This story from January was the runaway favorite of the year.
10 Best of the Best Places to Retire for 2020 In this "Best of the Best" review, we picked 10 towns from lists of our 60 Best Retirement Towns in three major U.S. retirement regions. Asheville (NC), a frequent winner, came out of top.
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Published on January 6, 2021
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
December 7, 2020 -- With the pandemic putting a damper on travel, many people are postponing their winter time retirement explorations. As a partial substitute for those travels, here in Part 1 of this series we will provide a virtual tour of some of the best places to retire in Southwest Florida. In Part 2 we featured a tour of Arizona places to retire. Future installments will cover Florida's East Coast, Central Florida, the Carolinas, and others suggested by our Members.
Best Places to Retire in Southwest Florida
Southwestern Florida starts just above Tampa and goes south to Marco Island. This 180 mile stretch probably has more places to retire than anywhere in the world, with the possible exception of the southeast coast of FL from Vero Beach to Miami. Here on the Gulf Coast there are barrier islands, 3 good sized cities (Tampa/St.Pete, Sarasota, and Fort Myers), fabulous beaches, endless waterfronts and waterways, and a variety of towns that make for interesting places to retire. There are thousands of active adult and 55+ communities, ranging from budget RV/Mobile Home parks to exclusive refuges catering to the 1%.
Anyone looking for a warm winter retirement should definitely at least consider this area - when safe travel resumes again a leisurely exploration would be well worth it. While you are there, if certain towns and areas appeal, you might consider a Stay and Play package or monthly rental to see if you really like the place. Note: Most of the names of the cities and towns in this article are linked to more detailed reviews as places to retire.
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Published on December 6, 2020
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
November 11, 2020 - We are not talking cool as in the temperature, when we say 10 very cool towns for retirement we mean retirement towns that are fun to live in. Small town and mid-size cities where there is plenty to do, congenial neighbors, and attractions and charm that will make your children and grandchildren want to visit when this pandemic finally ends! Turns out there are a lot of cool towns that are great for retirement; here are our picks for 10 best places to consider for your retirement. If you know others, we hope you will talk about them in the Comments section at the end.
10 Great Towns for Retirement
Davidson: One of the 10 Coolest Towns for Retirement
Davidson, NC. Home to elite Davidson College, the population is growing rapidly and is now over 12,000 people. Local downtown businesses, characterized by restaurants and specialty shops, cater to an affluent market. Davidson College has made the town an intellectual and cultural center, drawing into its orbit professionals and some retirees.
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Published on November 10, 2020
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
September 29, 2020 — We have updated our 2016 list for “10 Great Places to Retire in the Southwest That Won’t Break Your Budget“. The good news is that there are still some great places to retire that are affordable. The bad news is that most home prices are…
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Published on September 28, 2020
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
September 9, 2020 -- Although the pandemic has been horrendous for activities like dining out or social gatherings, others are experiencing a gold rush. One of those is biking (cycling to our British brethren). Walk into a bike shop now and say you need a bike - get ready for a 3 month wait. Want a used bike... sorry. The same goes for bike parts and repairs. As people avoid mass transit and have more time on their hands, biking has never been more popular.
While it is a great activity, it is a lot more enjoyable when you live in a place where the infrastructure is set up for it. When bikers and cars are kept separate it is a lot safer and more fun. Bike lanes, special traffic signals, concrete barriers, and under/overpasses make all the difference. No one wants to bike along a narrow berm next to speeding cars, or face daunting intersections with multiple lanes to cross.
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Published on September 9, 2020
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
September 2, 2020 -- There are are tens of millions of baby boomers, and just about every one of us has a slightly different retirement dream. Some might have one requirement in common, but the two or three other things on their lists make them unique. In this new series we are will explore different retirement quests, along with examples of retirement towns that match. As other articles in the series are written, we will link to them here.
A Topretirements Member asked last week about great places to retire for foodies. Secondarily, she is also looking for good healthcare, nice weather, and middle of the road cost of living. If those preference describe what you are looking for, this article will provide a few places for you to consider.Knowing what you are looking for - great!
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Published on September 1, 2020
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
August 26, 2020 -- You are probably only going to have one retirement, so you might as well make the most of it. At least, that's the way we think about it. So why settle for a "nice" place to retire, when you have actually have the option to go for the gold - a town that is interesting, charming, bustling - one you never tire of. Here are 10 possibilities for you to consider, chosen by region, and along with the criteria we used to select them.
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Published on August 25, 2020
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
August 4, 2020 -- Not everybody's retirement dream is to pack up and move to the Carolinas, Florida, or Arizona. In fact most retirees never move far from they lived when they stopped working. The Mid-Atlantic states have a big advantage for people who live in that region or the Northeast, and who are not looking for a big change. For those who prefer to be within easy driving distance of friends and family, proximity to where they live now is a big plus (even bigger in this time of Covid!). In this article we have come up with a list of the 14 most popular retirement towns in the Mid-Atlantic states, based on site visits at Topretirements.
The Mid-Atlantic states are generally considered to be Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey. Virginia, which borders most of those states, is close enough that we are considering it here.
With 5 winners, Virginia had the most towns on this list, followed by Delaware and Pennsylvania with 3. All of them are great places to retire, no duds here. Most are near the coast, while others are in the mountains. Here is the list, along with a few of the active adult communities in the region that also got a lot of site visits here. The towns are presented in order of popularity.
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Published on August 4, 2020
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