Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
January 26, 2022 -- A while back one of our Members asked if we could come up with a list of more unusual places to retire. As he reminded us, not everyone is looking to retire in a place that is famous, or where there are warm winters and gentle beaches. Many folks, like the couple we met this summer in Maine, relish the prospect of a morning snowshoe hike, chopping wood, or taking off in the ATV. Here is a list of unusual, and interesting places that might make them happy. Almost all are in colder climes, starting with the first one! We suspect you won't have heard of most of these off the beaten path choices before.
Homer, Alaska. Up here on the Kenai Peninsula life is pretty great, especially if you don't mind cold winters. There is sensational fishing and boating from one of the most beautiful spots anywhere. The Spit, a 4.5 mile glacial moraine that juts into Kachemak Bay, is Homer's seasonal center. It is crowded with docks, restaurants, stores, and charter outfits for fishing and adventuring.
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Published on January 25, 2022
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
January 12, 2022 -- Every year we have fun coming up with a list of the very "Best Places to Retire". This list is meant to highlight retirement towns that represent exceptionally great places to retire, as measured by Member and visitor interest at Topretirements. As wonderful as these towns might be, the one where you can be happy in retirement is your best place!
To develop our 2022 list we consulted our visitor logs to find out the 20 retirement towns in the U.S. whose reviews were visited the most at Topretirements. Many of the winners were predictable, they get named to the top 10 or 20 every year, but there were several other big surprises. The hope is the list will spark some ideas for you to consider in the quest for your best place to retire. Home prices in many of these towns are above the national median, reflecting their desirability, but a surprising number offer relative bargains. Although 11 states had towns in the top 20, Arizona, Florida, and Tennessee tied for the most cities on the list with 3 each. Congratulations to all these cities and towns!
20 Best of the Best Places to Retire
Popularity on this site, as measured by online visits by our Members, was the most important criteria. On that basis, here are the most captivating places to retire in all of the U.S.
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Published on January 11, 2022
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
December 23, 2021 -- More people retired in 2021 than in previous years, probably because Covid pushed them into early retirement. Some 50% of people over age 55 were retired this year, up by 2 percentage points. All things being equal, that should have meant a spike in the number of people who moved for retirement, but that didn’t happen. Quite to the contrary, the number of retirees who moved in 2021 dropped to 226,000—roughly 43% fewer than in the year previous. It’s also the lowest number of American retirees in the last five years!
These and many other interesting stats are courtesy of a "2021 Study: Where Americans Moved to Retire in 2021" commissioned by Hire a Helper using US Census Data.
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Published on December 23, 2021
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
December 15, 2021 -- The reality is most people don't want to retire too far away from where they live now. The tug of familiar friends, relatives, and institutions can be very strong for some, even more powerful than wanting to be in a warmer climate. Yet their current abode might have become expensive, crowded, or taxing enough to make them think about moving to a new city or town in the same region. In this article we will explore some of the nearby possibilities for a retiree who lives in or near the New York City Metro or suburbs. For that matter, residents of New Jersey and southern New England might like these alternatives as well.
Obviously if one moves less than 500 miles away the climate is not going to be too much different. But the cost of living, the livability index, and the tax situation could change dramatically. The 10 places to retire mentioned here are just a few possibilities, they barely scratch the surface of the very livable retirement choices that won't require you to move too far from where you live now.
In state
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Published on December 15, 2021
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
December 13, 2021 -- Thanks to everyone who answered last week's one question, instant poll on retirement location happiness. The bottom line is that the majority of people responding are happy with their choice of a place to retire. A certain minority is less satisfied, or had to move more than once. The results are shown below.
Taking out the 24 people answering who haven't yet retired, 58% of respondents said they were perfectly happy with their choice - they apparently found their best place to retire. Of those, 42% had moved and 16% did not change locations in retirement. Another 22% were "moderately happy" with their location. Almost 20% said they either moved a second time, or wished they had moved somewhere else. The answer that we hoped to see a small percentage for, "moderately unhappy", was just that, only about 6%.
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Published on December 12, 2021
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
We are curious – how happy are you with your decision where to retire? If we get a good response to this we will have a quick survey letting people tell us where they retired and how and what they like about it. Thanks for participating – you will see…
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Published on December 6, 2021
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
December 1, 2021 -- Last week in "Slanted Best Places to Retire List" we reported on the US News list of best places to retire. The creators of that one seemed to have not realized that the Mississippi is not the western border of the U.S. Many of the picks made there came in for strong criticism from our Members. This week we are happy to report on a better list of best places, one you can create yourself.
The NY Times just published an article with the headline, "Is Texas the New California". Its author, a Californian, was very surprised to find that after taking a quiz designed by the newspaper, 7 of the top picks were in the Lone Star State. They found that on characteristics like more space for your money, racial diversity, and school quality, Texas had some of the highest ranking places to live in America. Although the quiz is geared towards people of all ages, it can be tailored to reflect the priorities of people in retirement. That is, in our opinion, the best thing about this quiz - it takes into account individual priorities rather than those of the authors.
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Published on November 30, 2021
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
November 26, 2021 -- When it comes to lists of Best Places to Retire, one of the most consistent and "best" sources is US News. Their lists usually make sense, and rarely include bizarre choices in North Dakota or other places that don't take into account that most retirees looking to relocate want to move to somewhere where winter temperatures are warm. While their new Best Places for 2021-2022 lists uphold their sterling reputation for the most part, the fact that they left off the entire western half of the country seems like a very serious omission.
Florida came out on top on both of their new lists this year - "Best Places" and "Most Affordable Places to Retire". The Sunshine State garnered 8 of 10 spots on the Best Places to Retire list, and with 4 of the Most Affordable selections. Two of those Florida cities, Daytona Beach and Pensacola, made it onto both lists.
How they were chosen, along with our quibbles
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Published on November 26, 2021
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
November 10, 2021 -- People in retirement have different needs and abilities. So finding a place to retire that offers the transportation, housing, social activities, and health care suitable for your age is important. Fortunately there are some organizations that are working to develop and identify more communities that are age friendly. The AARP, which now has 575 cities in its AARP certified network, is one of them. Many states have also developed programs to certify as retirement communities too.
Certified communities are working to provide safe and walkable streets; age-friendly housing and transportation options; access to needed services; and opportunities for residents of all ages to participate in community life.
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Published on November 10, 2021
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Category: Best Retirement Towns and States
October 27, 2021 - When it comes to naming the best places to be a snowbird many familiar towns come to mind. Most are in Florida, Arizona, California, Texas, and South Carolina for the obvious reasons, as they are the warmest contiguous states in winter. But this year a list by StorageCafe´ has come up with some winners that are not exactly household names.
The company used a number of criteria that make sense - miles of beaches, winter temperature, crime, housing costs, parks, internet speed, etc. Many of the choices are unusual, but most are familiar. Some we would have picked, others not (particularly in Arizona and Texas). But in the end the best place to be a snowbird is the place that you like the best, not one picked by someone else.
The winners:
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Published on October 27, 2021
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