Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Nov. 18, 2013 -- Everybody nearing retirement should have their own criteria for choosing a place to retire. For many, it's warm weather. Plenty of others want to be close to family, culture, or a favorite kind of recreation. Taxes on retirement income and distributions are often a key consideration. But for the millions of baby boomers whose meager savings are paired with tiny 401(k)s and social security benefits, finding an affordable place to live is consideration #1. This article provides a list of the most affordable places to retire in the USA, sliced
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Published on November 18, 2013
Comments 18
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
November 5, 2013 -- Note: See the 2018 counterpoint to this article: "Five Reasons Why You Might Not Like a Small Town Retirement". Moving to a small town for retirement is a frequent dream for many baby boomers. After battling urban traffic and/or the hassles of suburban living during your working days, the thought of living in a Norman Rockwell-like community might seem like a relaxing alternative. In this article we will give you 5 good reasons why a small town retirement is a good idea, with an example for each. And for good measure we've included 5 more picks for great small towns at the end of this article. Obviously there are a lot more, so please
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Published on November 5, 2013
Comments 25
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
Updated July 21, 2015 (original article was July, 2013. This is part of a series on "Affordable Places to Retire", see Further Reading at end for more.)
-- Finding an affordable place to live in retirement has become a real necessity for today’s retirees. That’s because about half of them say they are worried they won’t have enough money for a comfortable retirement. There are plenty of "best places to retire" sites that offer to help. But would you actually want to live somewhere just because it's cheap? Here is a list of 10 affordable place to retire - communities so nice you might actually want to retire there!
For the record, the NAR reports of the national median to be $205,200 in 1st Q 2015, while Zillow reported $179,000 in mid 2015. Since information on affordable places to retire was a top request in one of our member surveys - Downsizing, Renting, Affordability Dominate..., here we go - "10 Affordable Places to Retire Where You Might Actually Want to Live".
Criteria
In developing this list we decided to adopt some fairly strict
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Published on July 23, 2013
Comments 270
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
July 1, 2013 -- Note: Earlier this spring we asked our members for their ideas for future article subjects. We received some terrific suggestions (see "Downsizing, Renting, Affordability Dominate Your Suggestions"). This article is the second we've written on those suggestions; the first was "12 Steps to Downsizing Success".
Many people's retirement dream features an escape from winter, made possible by timely moves south and north to escape brutal climate extremes. For those who can swing it, snowbirding makes for a great lifestyle, although it does complicate the task of finding the best place to retire. That's because snowbirds not only have to decide where to go to escape the winter chill, but they have to pair that with the best choice to spend the summer. There is a further complication as well: which location lets them experience the charms of autumn or spring to best advantage. This article will explore some of the key considerations for deciding your ideal winter and summer locations, as well as recommend some of our top snow bird pairings. We also encourage our members to use the Comments section to share their ideas on what makes for the best snow bird choices for living in 2 places.
People who live in the midwest, northeastern U.S., or eastern Canada generally have the strongest desire for the snowbirding retirement lifestyle, since that option provides an escape from
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Published on July 1, 2013
Comments 91
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
May 21, 2013 -- The heck with what all the so called "experts" think with their fancy best places to retire lists - you've told us what's most important - where YOU think those places are. So thanks to the more than 130 members who took the time to answer our recent survey - "Tell us where you think the best place to retire is, and why". Your answers are always so rich with details and interesting reasons! It was fun to look at your choices and understand your reasons for selecting them.
We will do our best to summarize and make sense of the amazing data you so generously provided. While we should caution that 130 responses do not make for a statistically reliable sample. On the other hand, your rich comments do provide some deep insights and solid indications of regional preferences.
Conclusions
1. Best Regions. No surprise, the South and the West are by far considered to have better places to retire than
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Published on May 21, 2013
Comments 82
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
May 6, 2013 — Like we did in 2012, it is time again to ask our members to share their retirement plans. But we would like to ask the question in a little different way. Specifically, where do you think is the best place to retire, based on what you know now. When we asked a similar question last time ("Where are you thinking about retiring") the results were incredible - you provided over 700 thoughtful responses. Our new question is a little different - you can either answer where you intend to live in retirement, or where you would retire if you could. We are anxious to see what you all say!
For our part, we promise to analyze and
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Published on May 6, 2013
Comments 153
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
March 19, 2013 -- We were pleasantly surprised by the high ranking our members gave to walkability in our retirement preferences poll of a few weeks ago (See full report in "Our Members Speak"). So that in turn gave us the idea of providing a list of 10 towns where walkability is excellent -- but are also swell places to retire.
Our criteria
If you research "most walkable towns and cities" on the Internet you will find a number of results - but almost all of the lists have the same cities on them. Yes, New York (rated #1 most walkable large city by walkscore.com at 85), Washington, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, and San Francisco are great cities for walking. But, because they are expensive and congested, they will only appeal
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Published on March 18, 2013
Comments 50
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
February 18, 2013 – Note: Our 2017 list of "The 100 Most Popular Places to Retire" is now out.
With warmer winters and generally lower taxes, it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that baby boomers think the Sunbelt has the best places to retire. Topretirements.com has just published its 7th annual list of the 100 most popular retirement spots, and it shows clear proof that the Sunbelt's retirement popularity continues -- 76 of the 100 top positions are held by towns in the Sunbelt. Florida dominates the list of best places to retire, taking 25 of the cities and towns (1 less than in 2012), followed by North Carolina (11), Arizona (9), and South Carolina (8). California, Tennessee had 6 cities each in the top 100. The highest ranking non-Sun Belt city on our list was Portland (OR) at #14. 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".
The Top 10
As has been the case since Topretirements published its first
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Published on February 18, 2013
Comments 623
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
January 15, 2012 -- One of the most frequent Comments/questions on this site is: "We're thinking about retiring in (name of city). Does anyone know what it's like to retire there". You will often see that type of question among the amazing member comments made on the "Tell Us Where You Are Going to Retire" story we wrote about a year ago, where 691 Comments have been made (so far).
"LS", one of our members, recently suggested that we put all the references in one place so folks can answer their own questions. So here goes in what we are hoping becomes a team project: we will assemble all the references by category we can come up with, and you add yours in the Comments section. We'll go in and add the best of yours to the article to make it even more comprehensive!
Before we even begin, let us
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Published on January 15, 2013
Comments 27
Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
December 9, 2012 -- Our search for the towns that offer the best amenities to retirees has turned up some fascinating possibilities. One really nice thing we learned right away is that there are many communities that offer impressive amenities. Some towns are great for one type of amenity, such as golf, tennis, or culture. Others are more balanced, offering an array of facilities and opportunities.
This is Part 2 of our series on Amenities. The first came out 2 weeks ago, ("10 Best Amenities that Make for a Best Place to Retire"). Many thanks to the readers who provided comments and suggestions to that post.
It would be highly subjective and a bit reckless
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Published on December 9, 2012
Comments 6
