Very Interesting: 10 Great Towns for Retirement

Interesting that HEALTH CARE is not one of your criteria for a retirement spot. As we age we ALL need it and some areas you have chosen have substandard health care. As a health care professional this is number one on my list. A good cultural mix does absolutely nothing when you need a stellar stroke or cardiac center . NICE can take a back seat to top of line medical care!

Editor comment: Great point Pamela. While health care quality may not be interesting, it sure is important for us retirees. Thank you. Fortunately most of these towns are good in that regard, particularly those with a university or in a capital.

Pamela, you are so right! What is the best way to research for good hospitals and good doctors? I see all sorts of conflicting comments on websites. I need to find true ratings of these important matters. Thank your for bringing this out. Your information on this subject will help tremendously.

Terrible representation of the SW with listing only one, Prescott, AZ. There are so many more, and more interesting thsn Prescott too! Kind of biased against the SW.

Editor comment. Thanks Bob. We are all ears, what towns would you suggest? Would love to hear your opinion. We limited this article to just 10 towns and actually included 2 from the Southwest (St. George, UT the other one).

I wish there was a source for great foody towns and cities. I live in New Mexico and there is little choice available here if you don’t or can’t eat Mexican food. The reasons for moving here have NOTHING to do with the food. I am considering relocating my retirement to a place more palatable.
Good food is one of the pleasures that we have in retirement.
I live in Las Cruces, which is in southern N.M. And not far from the Mexican border.
Santa Fe used to have some good restaurants but now has gone over to the ethnic palate as well. I think I must relocate to a completely different area of the country.
The weather is beautiful here and we have no major hazards like hurricanes,floods, tornado or humidity, but the QUALITY of healthcare is horrible. Skilled work in any field is unavailable or unwilling.Quite often, appointments mean nothing.
I know that Las Cruces has been listed on the best places lists but these things should also be considered when deciding where to retire. I realize that these things are difficult to know until you are living there. Vacationing is very different

One of the first things I do when investigating a new area is to check out “Yelp”. It gives information and reviews of most restaurants. It also shows shopping, grocery stores, etc. It’s a great resource.

There certainly are such lists - just put "Top US cities for foodies" in any search engine and a long list will come up. I tried to put links here but it wouldn't let me.

I can personally attest to Las Vegas NV, New York city, and Portland ME (300+ restaurants for 65K people). All places with a wonderful variety of food!

For more information on individual cities/towns - check out www.city-data.com

AZ? Thanks, no.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix-weather/2020/08/28/phoenix-hits-50th-day-110-degrees-2020/5662386002/

I know AZ is very hot but I have relatives/friends that moved to Phoenix metro as they couldn't handle the heat and humidity in KY along with the the winter cold. Our experience is when it is 95 in AZ it feels like 70 in KY thanks to the lack of moisture in AZ (46" per year in Louisville versus 8" per year in Phoenix). One should take into account the heat index/comfort index when comparing locales. An advantage of being retired is a person can alter schedules to be out and about when crowds, traffic and weather are optimal.

Flatearth, consider adding Charleston, SC, to your list of best restaurant cities. As a coastal city with many local-area farms, the restaurants there have a bounty to work with and some of the country's best young chefs have taken notice the last two decades. Newly opened Charleston restaurants perennially make respected "best of" lists, and even those that are long in the tooth have't lost their luster and are filled night after night. For a city of its size, only New Orleans and San Francisco rival it in quality of food. Charleston real estate has gotten pricey, but there are still some neighborhoods over the bridge in booming Mt. Pleasant, close to the beaches of Isle of Palms, that are reasonably priced.

Larry,

Just curious as to which neighborhoods close to the Isle of Palms you are referring to? I did not realize that there were affordable (depends on your definition of course) areas close to the beaches.

Fionna, It does depend on your definition of "affordable" and the context of where one is looking. My definition for affordable in the Mt. Pleasant area and, indeed, most of the Charleston area, is in the $200s, mindful that there are many for whom that is above their budget. Also, I was careful not to say the homes were "close" to the beach because that too is a relative term. Isle of Palms is about a 20-minute drive to the heart of Mt. Pleasant but only about 10 minutes to the area just over the bridge which, for those who enjoy the occasional day at the beach, seems close enough. (Perhaps my bias; I am not a beach lover.) However, in reconsidering my comments, I should have said most of those "affordable" homes were condos.

Thanks Larry. I do agree with you about the "affordable" homes being condos. I'm not much of a beach person either (been there, done that) but am sorry we didn't look for an "affordable" cottage in Mt. Pleasant. Love all of the amenities the town has to offer as well as proximity to Charleston. We live in Summerville but are planning to return to Greenville since we like that area of SC better. Weather is also nicer (cooler, less humid).

Mt. Pleasant SC is great, but unfortunately there are no longer many single family homes there under $350,000.

Staci, unfortunately we are going to see prices in towns like Mt. Pleasant continue to rise for the foreseeable future. In the short run, before a vaccine for the pandemic, suburbs like Mt. Pleasant will look attractive to city dwellers who perceive their chances of safety are better outside the city. Many of them, of course, are going even more rural, but the lower cost of living in a place like Mt. Pleasant compared with many cities and densely packed suburbs will continue to be a strong lure. (Example: Cost of living in Mt. Pleasant is 50% cheaper than in Wellesley, MA, a suburb of Boston, according to BestPlaces.net). There is another factor that will increase real estate prices, and that is all those corporate employees who are working from home. Their companies note that these workers are even more productive at some distance from the office, and the companies can save tons of money on leases, utilities and other expenses by keeping them at home. Now if you know you can work from home for the foreseeable future, will you do that in a Wellesley, with its cold winters and high cost of living, or in a Mt. Pleasant with a cost of living half that of Wellesley and much milder winters? The irony of the pandemic is that it has been good for real estate markets outside cities, and may continue to be so for the coming years. Anyone who has been contemplating a move South might want to consider pushing up their time frames or they may be looking at paying more or accepting less of a house.

Anyone living in Fairhope. Ala area or Osprey Cove , St Mary’s Ga?