Which state is best to retire in

OldOld said:
Not sure how many is "lots". Yes there are some people moving abroad for early retirement and for the go go years, and you can see many of them on YouTube, but we don't know how many retirees abroad actually move back to the U.S. when they need assisting living. I can imagine "language" is one concern. I suppose one popular destination is Mexico, but one needs to speak Espanio to truly live comfortably there. And the older you get, the more difficult it is to adjust to a different culture and different ways of getting things done.
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Plus, as far as I know—I very well may be wrong—a person just can't permanently move to another country, in most cases. There are a lot of requirements that must be met. You can't just pick up and move.
 

squatting dog said:
When I took an early retirement, we chose North Central Arkansas as it seemed our money would go the farthest and it was almost like Vermont, but, without the severe winters. If the house hadn't burned down, I'd probably still be there.
Of course, we preferred the rural living and lack of over regulation. (that allowed us to build our own house), and settled in with 33 acres and a creek. That may not be your cup of tea.



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My son in Calif, is looking there now for a retirement home so he can get out of Calif finally. He has done all the number crunching and he is here this weekend from just viewing 5 homes there. He wants about 2-3 acres.
 
jujube said:
The best place to retire is the place that makes you step back and say, "Ahhhh, finally I'm here!"
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This^^^. and that you can still say that every arrival day anniversary thereafter.

Nobody can tell you where the best place is and I wish people would stop trying to split hairs over things as there is no perfect answer. There are a lot of stories, on another forum, of discontent after arriving at their dream property because they allowed themselves to envision “Eden” and Eden doesn’t exist in most instances.

I found my Nirvana in the late 1980’s but it took me until 2003 to get here. I have no regrets. I’m as ecstatic now as I was the day I found this land. When we pulled in, the barn had just been built, the water was being finished up; the guys working over so I would have water for my horses❤️

The house wasn’t done. We lived in an 8-1/2‘ pull camper, next to the barn, with three big dogs for two months. My washer was on a pallet in the new barn, sectioned off from the horses. I only had cold water. I hung clothes on the line like mom did when I was young. Not a lot of people could have done that.

I live on a 1-1/2 lane, three mile long farming road. The bulk of my neighbors are cattle and wild life. I am 15 miles in either direction from a town, but folks have commented that I should be playing music from the movie Deliverance coming up the hill. It is a step back to a quieter place in time.

I have always known what retirement should look like for me. I am sorry for those people who don’t know what they want and have to, instead, ask others what they want. I could be wrong, but IMHO, if one has to ask around, one may never be happy. Looking and researching is the right thing to do, but asking others if you are doing the right thing, not so much.
 
Sunny said:
There is no "one size fits all" state. The factors that bobcat just listed are important ones, and there are additional ones. For many people, being near loved ones (family, old friends) is very important. There are sometimes religious considerations. Just being fond of a place because you have lived there previously and are familiar with it could matter,

I've also found that the things that do matter can change as you go through life. For instance, being able to enjoy a sport might matter when you are younger or middle aged, but be very difficult (or impossible) when you get older. The kind of housing available is very important, of course, and you could be fond of a particular type of house but find that it is scarce in that region. Availability of health services becomes more and more important. For instance, I once thought I wanted to move to Oregon, either the lovely town of Ashland or somewhere along the Oregon coast, which we both loved. But when we saw how far it was to the nearest hospital or airport, we changed our mind.

Some people love cities and all their amenities; others like small towns. Being near a large body of water might matter, or it might not at all.

You mention the affordability problem, which could either be a deal breaker, or maybe just something to grumble about but you can manage to live there anyway.

Sometimes you have to weigh several of these considerations against each other. Example: Vermont is a beautiful place to live for about half the year, but could I stand the winters?

Interesting subject.
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Another thing I've learned about all this (too late as it turns out) is that if where you live really matters a lot to you--say because of the weather or recreational things, etc. available--life will be easier if you didn't marry or life-partner up with someone with an alpha personality. If you did partner up with an alpha, you're either going to live where that alpha wants to or you'll be hearing constantly about why you should move, especially when you get old. (I've been saying this to some young people online that it's something they should be aware of.)
 
Looking up stuff on the internet is sort of a pet peeve of mine.
Ya ask it a question it gives you 4000 different answers and options. Ai sux.
If you want to find out, figure out how much it will cost you and do it, if thas what ya want.
For me East Coast, no. Texas, no. Fla. no. New mexico, arizona, no Wyoming no.
Oklahoma, no. need i go on, west coast, no. etc. Yep its a No. Thas your answer.
 
That Lady in PA said:
Three different friends said the same, and they all retired there.
Every single one is back on the mainland. It was WAY too expensive, and they could not deal with the natives' "island time".
All go back to vacation, but none will live there anymore.
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If money is no problem, would they move back to mainland?
What's "island time"? Is it in reference to the actual Hawaii time zone, or the laid-back, easy, no rush, never on time way of living? Isn't this perfect for retirement living?
 
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JustBonee said:

Which state is best to retire in?​


I would take Hawaii, for the lifestyle.
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After he and his wife divorced, my grand nephew and his sons lived in Hawaii until a couple of years ago. They moved to California. Now the boys are off to college, one in Boston, I believe. My upstairs neighbor's son and his S.O. also lived in Hawaii. The S.O. has been sickly for years so I don't know if she was able to work and contribute, but from what I've heard, like @That Lady in PA mentioned, the cost of living there is quite high, so that couple moved back to New Jersey.
 

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