<p>National Geographic Traveler this month (March 2005) has an article on “American Retreats: 10 Small-Town Gems” (all college towns). I look at this as a potential list of places to look into for retirement (the bonuses of which have been discussed previously on CC). The towns are:</p>
<p>[ol]
[li] Berkeley: “Students, graying hippies, soccer moms, and artists rub shoulders and hobnob in the bookstores, record shops, and ethnic restaurants.”</p>[/li]
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[li] Eugene: “There are loggers and urbanite-bumpkins and track stars - Eugene is known as the running capital of the world - and anarchists and eco-anarchists, but mostly, it’s a green and easygoing place.”</p>[/li]
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[li] Flagstaff: “Flagstaff is not cute.” It has “a funky mishmash of cultures and activities … [and] attracts the liberal minded (students, artists, tree-huggers, New Agers) and the athletic (river-runners, mountain bikers, and skiers)…”</p>[/li]
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[li] Boulder: “… this valley oasis of liberal politics and open-minded social attitudes, set against a breathtaking mountain backdrop…”</p>[/li]
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[li] Madison:" “The city has a warm, small-town feel and an ironic sensibility…”</p>[/li]
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[li] Ann Arbor: “…a lot of vitality and artistic energy going on here.”</p>[/li]
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[li] Chapel Hill: “…one of those towns that nurtures passions and loyalties … one of the more liberal places in the country.”</p>[/li]
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[li] Charlottesville: “…a cultured exuberance emanates from the manicured, red-brick UVA campus…”</p>[/li]
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[li] Princeton: “At first it seems very yuppie, but then you realize that Paul Robeson was born here, that Russion and Spanish are spoken widely, that there’s great theater in town, and that the community challenges its traditions.”</p>[/li]
<p>.
[li] Hanover: “Locals are determined to preserve the character that makes Hanover unique… [they] are smart, fiercely independent, worldly, but they want to keep the place small and different.”[/li][/ol]</p>
<p>I’ve lived in Boulder before (thought I had died and gone to heaven) and have seen most of the rest of these. Sounds like a retirement list to me!!</p>
<p>Great list. I’ll have to pick up a copy of this magazine. Thanks for posting this
Have you ever been to Flagstaff? I don’t understand the “not cute” comment.</p>
<p>I have not been to Flagstaff and I have not been to Hanover. The rest, I’ve seen. The nice thing about many of these places is that they may have a small-town flavor, but they are not especially small in terms of services or opportunities. Anyway, I don’t have a clue about Flagstff. What’s it like?</p>
<p>You really need a car in Ann Arbor to get around, particularly if you are not a student. If you retired to Ann Arbor you would have to have a car, otherwise how would you get to Wal Mart for your job as a front door greeter!</p>
<p>Flagstaff was basically a through stop for traffic on the interstate and looks it. It has little old style downtown or quaintness to it.
I have been to all those towns and my ranking for overall retiree attractiveness considering cost of living would be:</p>
<p>Chapel Hill, Madison, Ann Arbor, Boulder, Eugene, C’Ville, Berkeley, Princeton, Hanover, Flagstaff.</p>
<p>barrons correct me, this is my cost of living guess…
Flagstaff, Eugene, Chapel Hill, Madison, C’ville, Princeton, Hanover, Boulder, Ann Arbor, Berkeley</p>
<p>Princeton is right below Berkeley if you want to live in the actual town. Otherwise that looks about right. Big gap from Berk/Princeton to the next group. Say $600k plus for anything in Berk/Princeton, 400k for Ann Arbor and Boulder with Cville right behind. 300 k for Madison and Chapel Hill, 250 for Eugene and 200 or so for Flagstaff for a decent 3 br house. Hanover is small and I would guess around 400K but don’t know that for sure.</p>
<p>Some colleges also offer living facilities near campus for seniors while others give folks the opportunity to be buried on campus, so one can gaze upon the football field (or some other landmark) for eternity.</p>
<p>Here are the official numbers, using Boulder, CO as the “norm.” If Boulder cost of living is $X, then the following are percentages of X needed to live there:</p>
<p>digmedia, that’s awesome. Where did you get those numbers? Did the article mention these areas as retirement spots? Hopefully, nobody reads this magazine.</p>
<p>Go to <a href=“http://www.findyourspot.com%5B/url%5D”>www.findyourspot.com</a> - GREAT little quiz that asks for your preferences about climate, location, weather, attractions, culture, crime, religion, politics, etc. you get 20 towns, small cities, or large cities (depending on your parameters) that are suited to your preferences. There is a selection for “college town.” Every time I visit the site, Eugene, Oregon always comes up first on the list - bien sur, it is the New Age capital of the West Coast.</p>
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