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Try It NOWCategory: Best Retirement Towns and States
January 8, 2020 — Our friend Dave Hughes, the creator of the retirement website Retirefabulously.com, has just released a helpful new book. The Quest for Retirement Utopia is designed to help you find your best place to retire. To see…
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
January 4, 2020 -- Who wouldn't want to wake up to a loon calling in the distance. Or the sound from the gentle lap of waves on the shore. Here are 20 great places to retire on a lake where you can do all of these things. Having the grandchildren up to enjoy some fishing or a boat ride. Not to mention the pleasure of an early morning dip in velvety lake water.
Lakes to retire on are everywhere.
The good news is that the country is filled with lakes and ponds of every size and description. Some are edged by major cities (Chicago or Madison WI), while others have bucolic towns on their shores. There are lakes where you can retire that have nothing around them except the occasional camp or cottage. By choosing just 20 lake towns in this report, it means that we have omitted dozens if not hundreds of other great candidates. We have tried to focus on lakes where it is possible to live on or near the lake, and where there is some kind of nearby town for entertainment and the necessities of life. Some of these lake towns were suggested by members.
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
December 17, 2019 -- If you are shopping around for the best state to retire in, the good news is that there are a number of states that would really like you to choose them. These states know that the homes retirees buy and the money they spend locally represents an important and clean industry. So they have taken steps to make themselves attractive to retiring boomers.
States like North Carolina, Nevada, Florida, and Texas don’t have a problem attracting retirees. They have a good reputation and many attractive places to retire. Others, such as West Virginia and Mississippi, have a harder time bringing in retirees without incentives. In this list we will concentrate on states that have taken specific steps to increase the number of people retiring in those states. .
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
November 26, 2019 -- Are you in the camp of retirees who “hate” Florida, or are you among those that “love” it? Most folks thinking about the best place to retire in Florida seem to fall into one of those divisions; not so many have no opinion. In our view, Florida is filled with many great retirement towns, and it is diverse in more ways than you might think. This article will tell you a bit about this very large and populous state, plus give you a list of 12 Florida towns we think make for a great place to retire.
First, a few factsFlorida's 2018 estimated population was 21,300,000, the 4th most populous in the nation. Some 19% of the population is 65 and over, compared to 15% nationwide.
Geographically speaking, the State has a very unusual shape – it is both tall and wide. So tall and wide that it takes over a day to drive from Pensacola to Key West (832 miles). Florida is the 22nd largest state, has the longest coastline in the contiguous states, and the only state to have a coastline on the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. It is a very flat state, which is one of the things that people tend not to like about it (Mount Dora, at 185' is one of its highest towns).
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
November 11, 2019 – As a place to retire the American West offers perhaps the biggest range of geography and the lifestyles that go with that. This huge area comprises 9 states with every kind of geography. Most impressive is its huge coastline that runs from coastal California to the state of Washington. There is the Pacific Northwest with its rain forests and deserts. Then there are towns in the real wild west from Idaho to Montana, along with deserts, mountains, and national parks in Nevada and Utah. There are college towns, some big and small cities, and many towns in tourist areas, so it's likely there is a great place to retire for just about everybody. Here in our the third installment of our "Best Places to Retire 2019" are the top 20 most popular retirement towns in the U.S. West. Here are links to the other two: "The Top 20 Places to Retire in the Southwest" and "Best Places to Retire in the Southeast".
What States are in the West?The National Geographic Society includes nine states in the American West, a huge territory made up of Washington, Oregon, California, Utah, Nevada, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. With the exception of the coastal Northwest, most of this region is dry with hot summers. Most of the region has low humidity. For more information about what it is like to retire in the West see our "Dueling Retirement States" series: Dueling Retirement States: The Pacific Northwest, andDueling Retirement States: The Western Mountain States.
A Surprising # 1The 20 most popular towns in the West contain some surprises, including a few not familiar to many. The surprising #1 most popular place to retire on our list, Sequim (WA), edged out many more well known towns and cities. Its review was read by over 3,300 visitors in the first ten months of 2019 by Topretirements.com visitors, beating out Grand Junction (CO). Last year's winner, St. George, UT, slipped to third place this year. This year there were four newcomers to the top 20 list: Cheyenne (WY), Eureka (CA), Brookings (OR) and Port Townsend (WA). Dropping off from the 2018 were Coeur D'Alene (ID), Medford (OR), Spokane (WA), and Las Vegas (NV).
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
October 30, 2019 -- Ahh, the mountains. Snowy peaks, amazing trails, clean air, and majestic scenery that one never tires of. Although many people dream of a retirement near the beach, in a small town, or even the downtown of a city, there are plenty of baby boomers whose ambition is to retire near the mountains.
To help them find their best mountain retirement town, we have assembled a list of sixteen. From most of them you can look up and see mountains rising above, while in others they are just a short drive away. All are proven great places to retire - some are college towns and others are also on a lake. At the end of this article we will discuss some of the pros and cons of retiring in the mountains, but first here is our list, in no particular order (they're all nice!). Note this is Part 2 of Mountain Towns for Retirement, see Further Reading at end for 10 more.
Shoshone Falls
Twin Falls, Idaho. Sitting above the Snake River Canyon, this town is known as the hub of the eight-county Magic Valley region. Its location atop the Snake River Canyon provides for outdoor activities including boating, fishing, hiking, golf, whitewater rafting and skiing. There are many parks, a national forest, and the popular Shoshone Falls. It is home to the Shoshone Falls, “The Niagara of the West”.
Williamstown and campus
Williamstown, Massachusetts. This small town in western Mass. offers a double pleasure - it is in the Berkshire Mountains and is home to prestigious Williams College. The famed Clark Art Institute, the Williams College Museum of Art, and the Williamstown Theatre Festival are just some of the proud artistic accomplishments of the town. Williamstown is in Berkshire County. Mt. Greylock rises to 3,500' above town.
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
October 16, 2019 - According to our surveys, the most popular places to retire in America are in the Southeast. In that research 48% of respondents said they would like to retire in the Southeast, twice as many as for the Southwest, the next highest choice. This is our 2019 list of the 20 most popular places to retire in the Southeast, the second in this year's "Best Places" series. Here are links to other reports: "The Top 20 Places to Retire in the Southwest" and the 20 Most Popular Places to Retire in the West (California to Colorado and points north, which will come out in Nov.).
What States are in our Southeast compilation?The states we have included in this big region are: Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida (MS did not have any towns in the top 20). In general the region has a humid subtropical climate with hot summers. Areas in its west and north tend to be cooler as they generally have more elevation or are further north. Hurricanes can reach landfall in the summer and fall months along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The region's major geographical features include the Appalachian Mountains, Atlantic Ocean, and the Gulf of Mexico.
Changes this year - Ups and downsThe 20 most popular towns in the Southeast are mostly familiar names. Asheville (NC), which has been top dog on our Top 100 list for the entire U.S. many times, was no surprise to take the #1 spot here. Its review was read by over 7,400 visitors in the first 9 months of 2019, more than three times as many as viewed the #20 selection, Jupiter, FL. One of the hottest towns on this list was St. Petersburg (FL), which rocketed from #18 on last year's list to the #7 spot. Four very familiar retirement towns dropped off the list in 2019: New Bern (NC), Brevard (SC), Jacksonville (FL), and most surprising of all, Naples (FL). Of the four newcomers to this year's list, three have been on the list in previous years (Ft. Myers (FL), Charlottesville (VA), and Fairhope (AL). Jupiter (FL), in the #20 spot, was the fourth new town on this year's list.
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
October 2, 2019 – Many baby boomers might not know exactly where they want to retire, but they probably have an idea of what region or state they prefer. So if the Southwest is on your retirement radar, here is our 2019 list of the 20 most popular retirement towns in that region. In the coming months we will be providing similar lists for the West and Southeast.
The 20 most popular towns in the Southwest are almost all recognizable. This year Prescott, a former cowboy town that celebrates that image, is a close favorite for baby boomers looking for a relaxed southwestern lifestyle. It narrowly beat out last year's winner, Green Valley (AZ).
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
August 21, 2019 -- There seems to be a never ending supply of articles touting the best and worst states to retire in. People obviously enjoy reading them. The trouble is that many of the websites publishing them have no expertise in retirement, and a result the lists they come up often have no connection to where people actually want to retire.
A good example is the recent list from Bankrate.com, which must have been overjoyed to see their picks reprinted in the New York Times and many other big media outlets. For the record, Bankrate.com is a website that promotes credit cards and loans, very similar to what wallethub.com does (but which generally produces more credible lists). Other frequent list generators are GOBankingRates.com and Smartasset.com, the latter of which is a site promoting financial advisors. Search on Google for "best places to retire" and sites like these will have prominent rankings, because it is good for their financial businesses. See the top listing in this screen capture, Homesnacks.net - anyone see their connection to retirement? (see more list companies at end)
Here is the list of Best States to retire from Bankrate.com:
NebraskaIowaMissouriSouth DakotaFloridaKentuckyKansas North CarolinaMontanaHawaii
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
July 17, 2019 -- Those of you who have been members for a few years might remember our two-part retirement exploration of Michigan's eastern coast in 2017. Today we are happy to follow up with a report on our recent visit to the Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
Coast of Lake Superior
The Upper Peninsula lies between Lake Michigan on the south and Lake Superior on the north. People have described it as looking like a fist with the thumb sticking out in the northwest portion. The area is sparsely populated and has a rugged climate. We visited two towns east of Marquette. Both would be interesting places to retire, although for most people only as a summertime residence.
Map courtesy Google Maps
Downtown Munising
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