Where You Said Bill and Carol Should Retire
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
April 10, 2024 – Last week we posed a situation for a hypothetical couple, eager to leave California for an active, outdoor lifestyle in the West somewhere. After thinking about it we suggested 4 very popular towns in as many states that might fit the bill, and asked our Members and Visitors to vote on which one the couple should pick. The choices were Prescott (AZ), Bend (OR), Las Cruces (NM), and Bozeman (MT), but there was an opportunity for write-in votes, which many people took advantage of. Here is a link to the article, “Which Town Would You Choose“, where you can still take the poll if you haven’t already.
The poll results for best outdoors place to retire in the West (updated 4/24/24):
Prescott got 29% of the votes
Bend received 27%
Las Cruces garnered 15%.
Bozeman got 13%
Other 17%
22 write-in votes for other towns:
Merano, AZ
Vancouver, WA
Robson Ranch, Denton (TX)
Auckland, New Zealand (that’s pretty far west!)
San Juan Capistrano, CA
More suggestions?
It’s not too late to make more suggestions on the best outdoor oriented towns in the West. So far there are no suggestions for places in Utah, or New Mexico. You can write them in here.
See also:
Brian’s Struggle to Find His Best Place to Retire (many great comments)
Here is the link to all of our past Surveys and Polls.
Comments on "Where You Said Bill and Carol Should Retire"
Danno says:
St George, Utah
Admin says:
We have updated the tallies for which of the 4 towns mentioned got the most votes. Prescott and Bend continue to dominate, but there are now more write-ins from all over the west. Thanks to everyone who voted!
Admin says:
We have a place in Vail CO and in Sarasota. Sarasota is a condo and takes 30 hours of driving to get there in the CO off seasons (Fall / Spring); we have a pup.
We'd like to have a place closer to our CO home, on water and 'relatively' warm in the Fall / Spring seasons (FL gets terribly hot).
How can we we use your services to locate possible alternatives to FL?
Admin says:
Thanks for your interesting question Russ. The choices identified above would be a good starting point for your search. Arizona and New Mexico would be the logical, warm winter weather choices. Southern Texas, Utah, and anywhere of the popular expat areas in Mexico as well.
Regarding your question about how you could use our services. A couple of suggestions:
Use our State Directories (located under the Best Places tab or Find a Community box at top of page). You can read capsule summaries of lots of places to retire and the communities in them,
Secondly, read our Blog articles. The Best Retirement Towns and States category there has hundreds of articles from over the years that discuss best places in various states. The Dueling Retirement States series might be particularly useful.
Third, use our Community Explorer tab to find communities that match the lifestyle, type of unit, and amenities you are looking for.
Good luck!