Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Update February 24, 2016: The 2016 Most Popular Places to Retire is now out
February 21, 2015 – When Topretirements members and visitors dream about their best places to retire, warm places in Florida are usually featured. The Sunshine State dominates our 2015 list of the best places to retire, with 25 of its cities and towns making the cut (2 more than in 2014). Florida was followed by North Carolina (11 towns), South Carolina (10 - up from 8 last year), and Arizona and Washington with 6 each. Tennessee had 5 cities in the top 100.
The Sunbelt RulesThe Sunbelt, with 78 towns on Topretirements.com's 9th annual list of the 100 most popular retirement spots, continues to be the target of most of our visitor's retirement dreams. After that the American northwest and mountain states attract a lot of attention - 16 destinations made the list from Washington, Colorado, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. Just 3 states in the Northeast made the cut: Virginia (Charlottesville, Williamsburg, and Winchester), Delaware (Lewes and Rehoboth Beach), and Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh). The Midwest failed to garner an entry on the list. The highest ranking non-Sun Belt city on our list was Charlottesville (VA) at #19. Note: To make sure you don’t miss new lists like this, sign up for our free weekly “Best Places to Retire” newsletter. See also "The Worst States for Retirement - 2014".
10 New Towns Join as Popular Places to RetireTen new towns moved onto the 2015 list, one fewer in 2014. Eight of the 10 newcomers were from the Sunbelt, mostly Florida. The 8 Sunbelt towns new to the list this year were: 5 from Florida (Port St. Lucie, Cape Coral, Dunedin, Boynton Beach, and Fernandina Beach); Las Vegas (NV); and Gulf Shores (AL). The 2 non Sunbelt cities joining the list this year
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Published on February 21, 2015
Comments 171
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
-- This article continues our Dueling Retirement States series. See Further Reading at end for links to the other regions compared in the series --
Updated July, 2020 - Original article February 16, 2015 -- The Pacific Northwest has continued to experience amazing population growth since the end of World War II. Oregon's population, for example, grew by 400,000 between 2000 and 2010, and almost 2/3 of that was net in-migration. Many of the area's new residents are 20 and 30 somethings who have come for jobs and the great out of doors. But another demographic segment flocking to the region for its beauty, outdoor recreation, and in many cases, to be near their adult children, is the huge baby boomer group. In this article we will compare and contrast these 2 vital states, Oregon and Washington. Population and income data is from U.S. Census Bureau.
A Few Facts
Washington is the more populous of the 2 states. Its 1990 population of just under 4.9 million climbed to 7.5 million in 2020 - a 53% increase in 30 years. Oregon's population was 2.8 million in 1990, and grew to just under 4.2 million in 2020 - a 50% increase over that span.
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Published on February 16, 2015
Comments 128
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
February 11, 2015 -- Baby boomers have many concerns as they contemplate their retirements, but some issues resonate more than others. The three issues that keep coming up week after week in your comments and emails are: water shortages (in Arizona and the southwest), sinkholes (in Florida), and humidity (mostly in Florida and the Southeast). This article will explore those using a combination of input from our members' Comments to previous Blog posts as well as a look at the scientific literature.
1. Water Shortages
Our recent article by Harv on why he chose Tucson generated a river of comments about water shortages. Some of those provided helpful references that shed scientific
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Published on February 11, 2015
Comments 15
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Editor's note: This is an unusual post from one of our Members, Harv. He originally posted it as a Comment to our "Dueling Retirements: AZ vs. FL" Blog article. But due to its length we thought it might be good to break it out as its own article. Please forgive the spelling and punctuation as this was originally meant to be a Comment, not an article, so there are some errors. It is also quite conversational. Hope you enjoy it. PS - Here in 2016 we have had quite a few comments about retiring to Arizona. So we added those Comments to the bottom of this article - not to mention the many Comments made to the original 2015 article!
January 28, 2015 -- We retired to Tucson for very specific reasons. Many people here say “I’ll never again live where I need to own a snow shovel!” I totally agree with that sentiment, and I add that “I’ll never again live where I need to own a lawn mower!” No snow shovel … no lawn mower … life in Tucson is good!
In our view, 32 degrees is a “deal-breaker” when it comes to deciding where to retire. Bad things start to happen at 32 degrees! Water freezes! So the average number of days that temps get below 32 is very important to us. It affects safety in driving and walking. Increasingly as we age, our reactions slow, so driving or walking on snow or ice is dangerous! I find I’m less able to catch myself when I slip or stumble, and it’s not going to get any better with advancing age!
Tucson averages few days below 32 degrees … and when it happens, it usually gets
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Published on January 28, 2015
Comments 77
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
January 19, 2015 -- In your search for the perfect community, how many of these statements would you agree are your priorities? Would you like to:
- Walk or bike into town instead of going by car
- Live in a real neighborhood
- Have interesting entertainment or eating options nearby
If you checked at least 2 of these statements you might be a candidate for a New Urban Community. They are also sometimes called Traditional Neighborhood Developments (TND). There are a number of these entities across the country - some are totally new, and a few have been here for centuries. These communities feature walkable access to
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Published on January 19, 2015
Comments 22
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Updated June 2019 -- (Originally published January , 2015) -- Finding that "Goldilocks" place to retire is a goal for many people. A town which has just the right weather year round, offers great value for your hard earned dollars, and has everything you need for great year round enjoyment. Although it is not always easy to find one place that is great 12 months a year, if you can find one it avoids the problems that come with a snowbird retirement - one where you live in 2 or more places. Those issues include having to pay for and maintain 2 households, move back and forth twice each year, and juggle 2 sets of friends, churches, and volunteer work, etc.
This is part 3 of our series with more great choices for year round living. Part 1 identified 5 great towns where we think the year round living is sweet. Part 2 gave our top picks for year round living in 5 more categories, such as
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Published on January 5, 2015
Comments 80
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
December 15, 2014 -- Most "best places to retire" lists are highly subjective and based on somebody's personal opinions. Some others use a certain set of criteria, such as crime, climate, health care availability, etc. Another example is the annual "100 Best" lists at Topretirements, which are based on popularity - the city reviews on our site that were read most.
But there is at least "Best Places" list that truly is almost completely objective and data driven - the "Best Cities for Successful Aging" from the Milken Institute. Although you might not like all of its choices (in fact the reader comments to our 2012 version of Best Cities generated more than a few "you've got to be kidding" remarks), it is so fact based that it is hard
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Published on December 16, 2014
Comments 87
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Editor's note: This article is the latest in our series on various regional comparisons for retirement. See end of article for links to other regions in this series. We welcome ideas for future comparisons.
December 10, 2014 -- The area that we will call the mid-south is an under-estimated and often misunderstood place for baby boomer retirement. All of these states are relatively favorable for taxes, cost of living, and climate compared to many others. Yet so far they definitely take a back seat in terms of popularity compared to the Carolinas, Florida, and Arizona. In this comparison we will evaluate various factors for these states that affect retirement, letting our readers draw their own conclusions from the facts. As always, please remember that areas and neighborhoods within a state, even a Metro, can be very different - so generalizations are tricky. Reader
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Published on December 9, 2014
Comments 69
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
December 2, 2014 -- It is a hard reality that many baby boomers are very concerned about not having enough money for an enjoyable retirement. Yet a comparison of two studies, one that ranks Metros by affordability and another that tracks the Metros that are attracting the most new 55+ residents, finds very little correlation between the top of both lists. Apparently, housing costs are not always the only drivers when it comes to deciding where to retire!
The first study, the NAHB/Wells Fargo Affordability Index (See the "Complete Listing by Affordability Rank" report) compares home prices to median incomes in in U.S. Metros. The result is an Affordability Index ranking, which, surprisingly, produces a list completely different than that from the second study, the William H. Frey Analysis of American Community Survey data. That study lists the highest population U.S. areas with the most net migration of people 55+. In this article we will provide the highest ranking Metros on both lists and speculate reasons for the disconnect.
First of all - the most affordable Metros
The NAHB/Wells Fargo Affordability Index compares the median income
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Published on December 2, 2014
Comments 35
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
October 28, 2014 -- (Note: See our 2016 version with even more beautiful places to retire) Your editor was at a family wedding a few weeks ago when one of our smart young nephews surprised us with a question. Daeson, who was curious about Topretirements.com, queried: "What is the prettiest town you know about?" The unexpected question stunned me, maybe because there are so many choices. I didn't have a good answer.
Eventually I managed to stutter out Naples, Florida (to which the good wife said, Naples?), and Lucca, Italy. In the days afterwards I came up with many more, better possibilities. The exercise made me realize that it might be a really good idea to go further afield and ask you, our esteemed Topretirements members, what you think are the prettiest towns. In the interest of keeping on
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Published on October 28, 2014
Comments 35
