For us, we are not looking to relocate back to a cold weather climate. Our old joke was, if there is snow on the ground there should be skis on our feet. While we certainly enjoy the brief visits to snowy areas, I do not miss the salt stains on my shoes or digging my car out of the snow. Sure there are people who can be hired to clear the driveways or one can electrify their walkway and driveways, but for us, we will remain in temperate climates. We will not consider Florida for many reasons, and where we currently live is very affordable. We can find like-minded people and we have a religious community. If we considered a move, it will likely be to be closer to one of the kids. One is established in his home area. The other is making noises about an overseas assignment at some point so who knows where they will end up!
Is there a technical definition for, āruralā? I really donāt know.
Here is what the USDA uses:
Rural areas should be mainly covered by agricultural land, forests and natural areas, including disadvantaged areas for human activity (mountain, extreme climate conditions, etc.).
Also US Census:
ā The Census Bureauās urban-rural classification is a delineation of geographic areas, identifying both individual urban areas and the rural area of the nation. The Census Bureauās urban areas represent densely developed territory, and encompass residential, commercial, and other non-residential urban land uses. The Census Bureau delineates urban areas after each decennial census by applying specified criteria to decennial census and other data. Rural encompasses all population, housing, and territory not included within an urban area.
For the 2020 Census, an urban area will comprise a densely settled core of census blocks that meet minimum housing unit density and/or population density requirements. This includes adjacent territory containing non-residential urban land uses. To qualify as an urban area, the territory identified according to criteria must encompass at least 2,000 housing units or have a population of at least 5,000.ā
80% live in an urban area according to US Census
Follow up statistitcs on disability in rural southern areas:
āRural residents ā less than 20% of the U.S. population ā were more likely (14.7%) than their urban counterparts to experience disability.ā
ā Regional Differences in Disability
In 2021, the South had the nationās highest rates of disability (13.8%), followed by the Midwest (13.1%), the Northeast (12.3%), and the West (12.1%) (Figure 2).
Regional disability rates may differ for a variety of reasons. For example, disability is often associated with age, so regions that contain states with a higher proportion of the population age 65 and over may be more likely to report higher rates of disability.
Many states in the South are part of what is known as the Stroke Belt, defined by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute as a cluster of states (including Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia) that have a higher incidence of stroke than the rest of the country.ā
My wife and I discussed the possibility of becoming full time RVers in retirement. In the end we decided that by the time we are 62-65 we probably would not want to deal with the physical nature of RVāing and maintaining the RV. Also we read so many horror stories about RV repairs.
On the other hand if something happened to my wife and I was left without her I would probably sell everything after a couple of years and buy a Sprinter Van and live out of it myself. I like the idea of a Van because you can park it overnight in many places you canāt a RV.
Well. Got my latest property tax bill. The property tax is up 50% from Q1 2022 to Q1 2024. A surprising increase. I expected them to increase as property values have increased from when we bought the house in early 2020. Taxes usually lag valuations, but I would not have guessed the increase would be that big.
Ugh - sorry to hear that. Hopefully you find a way to contest it to get a bit of a break on that.
We are bracing for across the boar increases here too. Probably will have 40% increase, thankfully on a reasonable original figure ($2900 for a 2400 sq ft $650k house; our lot is under 1/4 acre, typical for CO neighborhoods where we have tiny yards and lots of public open space).
One of the reasons we donāt plan to move is that our county has a special exemption for seniors that lowered our property tax by 70%!
Do you agree with the new assessment?
Otherwise, challenge it. I have done this numerous times, and have been successful almost every time.
Thatās a great senior discount! My father has discount of about half(?) in NY. We did the paperwork for it here, but max discount is $500.
Unless the assessor missed the mark completely, in my neck of the woods, appealing assessment is completely futile. Our assessment actually went down about 25%! Do I expect any decrease in property tax? Nope. Hope for no increases!
Our assessment increased by about 25%, but almost everyoneās did. The mill rate will be adjusted to deal with this. I suspect our taxes will increase a littleā¦but that hasnāt happened in a few years, and I consider us lucky.
First thing to do is check that the assessors office has the correct information about the house.
In my case, they had the floor plan of some other house that was larger than my house. The previous owners had been overpaying since the house built!
Then when they redid the floor plan, they got it wrong and overstated the finished space by a non-trivial amount.
I might be screwed this year though, a house two doors down from me just sold for an absurd amount, my assessment could jump 75% and I canāt really argue itā¦
Our recent assessment did jump by over 75%. We already pay a boatload of $$$$ in property taxes and we appeal them regularly. Our state is known for very high property taxes, lots of problems with our state government unfortunately.
That is the logical way to handle things when all real estate values are up. However in Colorado things are tricky, and a city council person thought that mill levy changes would be unlikely when I asked about it in a large local FB group.
Got our new assessment yesterday; it comes in every three years, and phases up over that time. It has gone up 33%. Property taxes here arenāt terrible and are limited in how much they can increase annually. This is our first house, so we still have the homestead discount of $692.
The only senior discount on property tax is limited to gross income under $60,000 (inc SS) and assets under $200,000, inc IRA/401k. No wonder people retire elsewhere!
We didnāt have our property taxes updated much in the past, but now every year or every two years they plug in the ācompsā - and then you individually get your particular property tax to what it actually would price out.
Some states have increasing spending and the money has to come from somewhere.
When one rating was indicating the low cost of living in Mississippi ā well along the Interstate, we hit a (snack) sales tax of 21% in Mississippi. Again, the revenue funds have to come from somewhere.
People in retirement will consider many factors with where to live in retirement.
Are the lifestyles of any of you seriously impeded by paying higher property tax? Just wondering.
Yes, folks do consider how states fund their operation costs.
In my state, property taxes are used to fund local government operating costs, and school costs. They are not used to fund state costs. We have a state income tax and a state sales tax that do that.
The state does provide some funding to the towns for their overall operations, and also in the form of grants for special projects.