10 Places to Retire That Offer Great Downtown Living
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
November 5, 2017 — There is a certain kind of person for whom a great place to retire means being right in the thick of it. Not stuck out of town in an active community, where every trip to anything beyond the clubhouse or golf course means climbing in your car. Nor the suburbs or a distant lake, which have the same transportation problems. For the kind of person we are thinking of, the perfect place to retire is one where your home is a comfortable walk, bike, or transit away from a vital downtown teeming with restaurants, shops, and cultural opportunities. We’ve reported on the best walkable places to retire before (see Further Reading below); here are ten more excellent places to consider.
Just about any big city has some wonderful neighborhoods where you can enjoy the urban experience. The same goes for very small towns. In this selection of 10 towns with great downtowns we concentrate on finding smaller cities for retirement, usually somewhere between 25,000 and 100,000 people. We’ve chosen places with interesting downtowns where there is a lot to do, and that feature nice neighborhoods with easy access to all these
Comments on "10 Places to Retire That Offer Great Downtown Living"
William DeyErmand says:
Unfortunately, I think walkable greatly increases the COL of an area. Walkability is an immensely desired feature that also implies temperate enough climate to make walking/biking feasible year-round. Here's a few affordable areas with Transit service. Norwood, Ohio, Lancaster, PA, and Gretna, LA, also walkable.
Ron says:
Boca Raton, FL has a great downtown walking area
Ann says:
Consider adding Carlsbad, CA to this list. It has the added benefit of convenient rail service and great weather.
Troutbum says:
I live in Northern Michigan and love to visit Traverse City. I doubt if you can find a nice home or condo within a mile or two of downtown priced under $400K.
Jan Cullinane says:
Two others that are good (but not inexpensive): Annapolis, Maryland and Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.
You can also consider a "city" built right into the community: new urbanism communities. A few examples: Celebration, Florida; NorthWest Crossing in Bend, Oregon; Daniel Island in Charleston, South Carolina; and the under-construction Latitude Margaritaville (see write-up about it at https://www.topretirements.com/blog/active-adult-communities/dont-worry-retiring-boomers-you-can-retire-to-margaritaville.html/).