The old thread was titled Will You Retire Elsewhere. Below is what we considered when picking a retirement location. We didn’t have to fit family needs into our decision.
In the end, husband wanted a spreadsheet to rate and rank our final considerations. I always knew San Diego would win! Our items to rank:
Cost of housing
Weather - snow, rain, heat, cold
Cost of living (taxes, utilities, food, gas, etc.)
Recreation/entertainment/access to body of water, beaches
Culdesac is all rental. Are you looking to lease or own? If own, you might want to check out Agritopia in Gilbert:
…a planned community that redefines village life for the modern family. Spread across 11 acres of urban farmland, Agritopia embodies the spirit of Arizona’s rich agricultural history. Located in the heart of Gilbert, Agritopia provides a distinct environment where residents can create, experience, and truly live. Come take a stroll around the neighborhood and experience the Agritopia life for yourself.
I agree completely - the magazines have different criteria than any of us may have. But it can be a list of places to consider, or drive conversation.
I used to think I was OK moving from my friends and family, but now when I think about moving far, I get the “feeling” I wouldn’t be happy. When we were thinking about it, the idea was kind of “We could go someplace for 5 years and then come back when kids are more settled and start having grandkids.” Now talk of grandkids has started, and I can’t imagine leaving at this point. (Although if the kids decided to move elsewhere I would likely not “follow them” and I wouldn’t make them feel bad.)
We are 10 miles west, our town is very walkable (no school buses) with a Main Street that runs through the center of town, plus a park system that does as well (walkable score of 74), many towns around are good for walking places. Cost isn’t great.
My SIL and H have looked several times in DR, they live in NOVA but are navy and lived in San Diego, Virginia Beach, Hawaii, and Wales, San Diego was their favorite.
I wanted to suggest the OP use Chat GPT to help formulate a list. It’s been very helpful for us to help come up with a good starting point and then as we visit, get a good idea of tax differences etc.
Yes, this can also be a consideration. My parents used to live outside Lexington, VA which is very walkable if you live in town and the colleges provide some intellectual activities as well, but they were an 8 hour drive from me and getting there by airplane wasn’t much fun either. They ended up moving to New England where my two brothers live. If I leave where we are now, I’ll probably do the same. Making new friends is hard.
One other thing that’s complicated is getting a new medical team, especially as we age. I’m finding it harder and harder to work with new providers—I like keeping those who know me and will help me overcome whatever may develop if I have an infection or anything else. A good medical team looms larger, the older we get.
Wow… must be a popular topic. I left you folks alone a few hours, and there were 28 new post
There are some handy COL (Cost of Living) comparison calculators online. I like the format of this linked one from NerdWallet…. but often the city list choices are not granular enough to get a particular area.
Usually the biggest driving factor or total cost difference is housing. Sometimes also state taxes.
Are you looking for a neighborhood like this - thousands of homes including they are starting 55+, school, grocery store, restaurants, clubhouse and private golf, and golf carts and walkers everywhere - golf carts to go to the restaurants that might be .5-1 mile from a home if you didn’t walk.
So it’s not accessible to downtown - but it’s its own town.
There might be others around the country like this.
Don’t underestimate your gut feelings about a place. Seriously. Before you move, I strongly suggest that you visit and actually walk around to get the “feel” of a place. For example: we found a townhouse in a nice neighborhood in our city. Lots around, very walkable, etc. Perfect on paper. But when we visited the neighborhood, we realized every adult we saw was our kids age group. We quickly figured out that lovely as it was, we would not fit in. OTOH when we visited the neighborhood we eventually bought in, we saw people of all ages. It seemed much less transient. And it just “felt like home” to us.
I second Chicago. There isn’t much better than May-Sept in Chicago. While lately Oct hasn’t been bad either. There are a million things to do and the best variety of food.
We plan on splitting time in retirement between Chicagoland and a location TBD. 2 small condos.
