The Best and Worst States to Live in

[Big_Hitter]

yep, for better or for worse I lived there, a long time

in the mid-70s 59 and 45 were two lanes each side and hw 6 was one lane each side; there was no BW8 or toll road or anything, we had to scoot down Bellaire to 59 to 45 - took forever

 

[braumeister]

I grew up in a very big city, and have lived in large, medium and small cities, very small towns, and foreign cities of all sizes. I experienced the whole range of populations, climates, and infrastructures.

Based on all that experience, I settled down where I am, and consider it the perfect place to live.

Biggest single reason?
DW saying she can't imagine living anywhere else than here, which is where she has spent her entire life.

 

[REWahoo]

in the mid-70s 59 and 45 were two lanes each side and hw 6 was one lane each side; there was no BW8 or toll road or anything, we had to scoot down Bellaire to 59 to 45 - took forever

Even with all those new freeways and toll roads, population growth has choked out most gains in drive time. The worst traffic jams I've ever experienced were in Houston.

Retirement has sensitized my growing aversion to traffic. I try to avoid all major cities in our RV travels, especially Austin and Houston.

 

[Big_Hitter]

not much traffic in the 83702 - can't go over 30 either

 

[REWahoo]

not much traffic in the 83702 - can't go over 30 either

Snow and ice?

 

[Big_Hitter]

no the speed limit is 20 to 30 between my house and the office

we don't get much snow and ice here; however, on the ski hill that's 30 minutes away we get snow

 

[REWahoo]

no the speed limit is 20 to 30 between my house and the office

Office? I thought you moved to retire?

 

[Big_Hitter]

"till death do us part, but not during lunch"

my wife and boss won't let me

 

[REWahoo]

"till death do us part, but not during lunch"

my wife and boss won't let me

Then why are you here?

 

[Big_Hitter]

various reasons

I'm interested to see what people around the country think of recent changes in retirement and healthcare legislation and specifically, how people retire without defined benefit income (i.e. they don't, usually).

Don't get me wrong, I would love to retire early, but I love my job and staying married too.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Moved back to Georgia a couple years ago after living in San Antonio, TX for about 6 years. I love living in Georgia and HATED San Antonio!

Sent From My Motorola Startac. Please excuse grammatical errors.

 

[Kimo]

We really like Northern Nevada, in fact, we still own a second home there. We decided to live about 30 minutes outside of Reno in an area called Red Rock. It is 35 minutes from downtown but is feels like it is 500 miles from town. A nice 17 acre lot and we designed the house ourselves.

Northern Nevada is nice because of its altitude, there is usually about a 40 degree swing in the summer temperatures with the evening and day temperatures.

Look at the online research, it is a very favorable state in regards to retirement taxes etc.

Reno is still a relatively small city, I believe around 200 to 300 thousand population but because of the gambling/tourists there are quite a few things to do.

We love spending the summers there as the only drawback is it does get cold there in the winter, so we come back to Hawaii then.

 

[bmcgonig]

Gazing out on the beautiful, blue Pacific from my LR window, I have to agree on No. 6. If "positives" were all one looked at, I truly believe HI would win in a land slide. It's like all of those "places rated" books and articles. Once you average every category (the "good" and the "bad") some strange things can happen. Still, I understand the negatives of living here - primarily high cost, but also, perhaps (one party) government corruption and non-responsiveness, traffic and, I suppose, rock fever. But, as others have pointed out, there are many things one can do to enhance the positive and ameliorate the negatives. As always, YMMV.

Hawaii is sort of a retirement dream for well for me. The weather is just as close to perfect as I can imagine for me. I like using the Trulia or Zillow app on the iPad to look at places for sale there. Seems like the big island is the least expensive as far as I can see. Where do u live Kimo? Also it seems that with regard to rock fever it would be relatively easy to rent out your place, or even home swap for anywhere in the world you wanted to visit for a couple of months each year, no?

 

[Kimo]

Aloha bmcgonig,

I live in Makakilo, at the top of a mountain (I am sure you would say a hill but we regard anything over 500 feet a mountain, LOL). I have been here since 1980 and never experienced rock fever but anyone who lives here has heard about it.

IMHO, you can only get rock fever if you have no way out of Hawaii, meaning you lack the resources or time to jump on a plane and go to SFO or wherever....I believe everyone one this list will have that opportunity....Koolau is correct, there are negatives, especially the cost of living but I wouldn't give this up to live anywhere else....

 

[brett]

We do not live in the US. But if we were to move, our all time favourites would be either the Carolinas or Washington State. Lots of great places in those states. We also very much like Montana and Oregon.

 

[GSMAN]

It's a shame!

I am very disappointed that it isn't closer to 99%. I demand a recount!

Why is a state the "best" place to live just because the residents have a high opinion of it?

It's hilarious that TX has a 68% approval rating.