Best city for weather in a tax free state?

[kramer]

If the OP thinks that Spokane and Reno have the best climate, then that is so far from what I think that I cannot even comment

One thing I will say, is that folks tend to focus on the extremes, especially the high temps, instead of the average temps. For instance, I was working in Austin during the summer and it was definitely hot during the day. But the evenings were absolutely gorgeous. I loved going out in the evening in the summer there.

When I lived in San Jose, many of the mid-day temps were fine but it was cold as soon as the sun went down. It was uncomfortable to have almost any outdoor event last past dark most of the year without jackets, etc.

Another thing about weather is predictability. I am living in Medellin, Colombia, which has year around high/low temps of about 82/62 (due to 1500 meter elevation near sea level). But it rains 60 inches per year. However, it hardly ever rains in the mornings or early afternoon. So I changed my workout schedule to the morning instead of late afternoon like in the USA and it has worked out great. If the rain were less predictable, it would be more of a drawback. This also makes it easier to schedule outdoor activities like tennis.

 

[LARS]

I remember an argument years back that Oregon had a lower overall tax then Washington state because of the high sales tax that makes up for no income tax.
They are right no state runs on air..If you have a high enough income in retirement, you will probably want to spend it and the sales tax and local taxes in WA are high.

And I just found this article about state estate taxes
... - Investment News -

Purely from a tax perspective, one should live in Washington, right on the Oregon border. No state income tax in WA (quite high in OR-- maxes out at 11%!) and do all your shopping in OR (with no sales tax).

Opps see someone else made the same point.

 

[audreyh1]

Trans-pecos region of Texas around Alpine and Fort Davis is probably the best climate. High altitude means really comfortable summers, low-humidity, mid-80s and they apologize for the "heat". Pretty scenic. Winters aren't bad.

But you are really out in the middle of nowhere. I think closest Walmart is like 80 miles away and 3 hours to the nearest mall.

Audrey

 

[audreyh1]

aaron how about Amarillo.

Man, you wouldn't catch me anywhere near the TX panhandle!

(Well, that is except for occasionally camping at Palo Duro Canyon State Park)

Audrey

 

[wildcat]

Yeah, living in a yurt in the Texas mountains to live in a tax free state w/ climate low in sounds like a hoot.

If I had enough income to really be that concerned w/ taxes I think I would be able to afford to live where I wanted to live. Besides, in many cases you are gonna pay one way or another.

 

[LARS]

Besides, in many cases you are gonna pay one way or another.

With a few exceptions I think this is correct. The big three taxes (income, sales and property) have a way of balancing out.

 

[FANOFJESUS]

If the OP thinks that Spokane and Reno have the best climate, then that is so far from what I think that I cannot even comment

QUOTE]

I don't know the best cities I am just trying to get some more ideas from the great people on this forum.

 

[FANOFJESUS]

Sequim,WA is in the center of the rain shadow of Mt Olympus on the north shore of the Olympic peninsula.

Total rainfall is about the same as Los Angeles (16" or so). Average winter hi/low 45/29, average summer hi/low 69/49.

Sequim lies within the rainshadow of the Olympic Mountains and receives an average of less than 15 inches of rain per year, nearly qualifying it as a desert. Fogs and cool breezes from the Juan de Fuca Strait make Sequim's environment more humid than would be expected from the low average annual precipitation

 

[FANOFJESUS]

Here is a list of the seven states with no state income tax.

Alaska – no personal tax, but has a state corporate income tax.
Florida – no personal income tax, but has a corporate income tax (at a 5% rate). The state once had a tax on "intangible personal property" held on the first day of the year (stocks, bonds, mutual funds, money market funds, etc.), but it was abolished at the start of 2007.
Nevada – has no personal or corporate income tax. Nevada gets most of its revenue from gaming and sales taxes.
South Dakota – no personal income tax, but has a state corporate income tax on financial institutions.
Texas – no personal income tax or corporate income tax. In May 2007, the legislature replaced the franchise tax with a gross margins tax on businesses (sole proprietorships and some partnerships were automatically exempt; corporations with receipts below a certain level were also exempt), which was amended in 2009 to increase the exemption level. The Texas Constitution places severe restrictions on passage of a personal income tax and use of its proceeds.
Washington – no personal tax, but has a Business and Occupation Tax (B&O) on gross receipts, applied to "almost all businesses located or doing business in Washington." It varies from 0.138% for splitting dried peas to 1.6% for bigtime gambling.[8][9]
Wyoming – has no personal or corporate income taxes.

 

[FANOFJESUS]

For low humidity Nevada, Texas, and Washington look good. Wyoming is the closest to colorado maybe it would work. I am looking for something with less humidity than ST LOUIS.

 

[haha]

For low humidity Nevada, Texas, and Washington look good. Wyoming is the closest to colorado maybe it would work. I am looking for something with less humidity than ST LOUIS.

I think you will find that all these states you mention will differ from St. Louis in many more ways than humidity. Have you ever been to Wyoming? There are fewer people in the entire state than in most ordinary cities. I think it would be atractive in many ways, but man you would be out there. Might be good if you really really like sheep.

Ha

 

[kyounge1956]

Here is a list of the seven states with no state income tax.

(snip)
Washington – no personal tax, but has a Business and Occupation Tax (B&O) on gross receipts, applied to "almost all businesses located or doing business in Washington." It varies from 0.138% for splitting dried peas to 1.6% for bigtime gambling.[8][9]

As already mentioned there is a state sales tax in WA and sometimes local sales tax on top of that. Here in Seattle, the total sales tax rate is almost 10%.

 

[aaronc879]

Have you ever been to Wyoming? There are fewer people in the entire state than in most ordinary cities. I think it would be atractive in many ways, but man you would be out there.
Ha

That would be a major plus to me. Too bad Wyoming has what I would consider to be an unbareable winter or i'd love to retire there. Is there a place in Florida that has a low population density that doesn't have major alligator issues?

 

[bobbee25]

It is hard to beat northern Florida for weather and taxes.

 

[RonBoyd]

Have you ever been to Wyoming? There are fewer people in the entire state than in most ordinary cities. I think it would be atractive in many ways, but man you would be out there. Might be good if you really really like sheep.

And cold in the winter like you wouldn't believe... or even imagine.

 

[RonBoyd]

If weather is THE determining factor, then you should read the 1,520 posts in this thread:

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/this-weather-is-awful-41354.html

 

[audreyh1]

With a few exceptions I think this is correct. The big three taxes (income, sales and property) have a way of balancing out.

I don't really believe that because:

1. Some states offer many more public services than others and tend to be more expensive tax-wise, and
2. There are huge differences in cost of living across the country, and some of this is taxes.

Audrey

 

[kramer]

I don't really believe that because:

1. Some states offer many more public services than others and tend to be more expensive tax-wise, and
2. There are huge differences in cost of living across the country, and some of this is taxes.

Audrey

Correct. If you look at per capita state spending, it varies quite a bit. I can remember when a guy named McClintock was running against Schwarzenegger in the California Governor recall election that took place around 6 years ago, he claimed in a debate that California spent approximately twice as much in the last fiscal year, per capita, as Arizona. I didn't believe it and looked it up and indeed he was accurate (the difference is not as great now).

But I think one has to look carefully at overall expenses. For instance, in California the biggest tax is an indirect tax called insane zoning and environmental rules. It takes incredible amounts of money to environmentally clear an area for housing or just plain get it approved by the city. This is a combination of city and state rules. This is why even housing in cities in wide open areas in central California is expensive. The San Diego Apartment Association once did a study of what city building rules cost them since they considered many of the rules there so excessive, they picked a random city in the county, and went through each building rule and its economic impact. They estimated that the city rules in the city of Carlsbad cost from 19 to 33% of the total housing price, this was ignoring all state rules, only counting the marginal cost of the city rules on top of the state rules. So much for "smart growth". Prop 13, which limits property tax increases, also makes cities less open to building residential properties, preferring sales tax generating commercial properties instead.

One does not really need to understand all of this, but merely look at your total expense package in each place (and then visit the place to weigh this against quality of life). For instance, when doing the comparisons, you don't really have to know why housing is expensive, just that it is expensive.

 

[kcowan]

There are places in the San Juan Islands that have low rain and a temperate climate. But do you want to live on an island? Similarly, Sequim might have low rain but it takes a special personality to live there. And for all practical purposes you might as well be living on an island because it is a ferry ride to any significant city. Not that there is anything wrong with that. But it is not comparable to Reno or Spokane.

 

[lightspeed]

I've thought a lot about where to retire based on taxes, but have slowly come around to thinking one should just live where one wants to live. The enjoyment of being in a great location would outweigh any extra taxes. Happiness first, taxes second.

 

[W2R]

OH my - - this thread touches so many issues and I have a multitude of opinions on all of them. Please regard the following post as just that: my opinions and thoughts concerning your quest for the best city for weather in a tax free state. Really, this is four posts in one (what a bargain!) so I have numbered them.

(1) I can't imagine basing a choice of retirement location on only two criteria, no matter how important they are to you. I would suggest narrowing down the country to places that meet your top criteria to a reasonably satisfactory extent, and then looking at those places with all of your criteria in mind (not just taxes and weather).

(2) I think it would make much more sense to look at overall cost of living, than to look only at states with no income tax. Even if you plan to have a huge taxable income in retirement, your overall cost of living could make a much greater difference to your personal finances than whether or not some of those costs went to state income taxes. I would suggest a more in-depth cost of living approach.

(3) As to weather, I think you might want to consider what is appealing to you about living in good weather. Do you plan to spend much of your time outdoors hiking, surfing, or something of that nature? Then you need to have those activities available at your ER location. If you don't plan to do much outside, then consider the implications of that accordingly.

(4) There is no perfect ER location. We all have to compromise, based on how important our criteria are to us. Also, there is the intangible. We narrowed down the entire world to three towns but when visiting them found that factors we had not considered, such as how the town was laid out, traffic, how hilly the town was, and whether or not we felt at home there were more important to us than we realized.

 

[ziggy29]

(2) I think it would make much more sense to look at overall cost of living, than to look only at states with no income tax. Even if you plan to have a huge taxable income in retirement, your overall cost of living could make a much greater difference to your personal finances than whether or not some of those costs went to state income taxes. I would suggest a more in-depth cost of living approach.

(3) As to weather, I think you might want to consider what is appealing to you about living in good weather. Do you plan to spend much of your time outdoors hiking, surfing, or something of that nature? Then you need to have those activities available at your ER location. If you don't plan to do much outside, then consider the implications of that accordingly.

These actually do combine, in a sense, because most places with the closest to "ideal" weather (little or no snow and subfreezing temps, mild, non-humid summers) tend to a have higher cost of living; the weather doesn't come "for free." So in reality, the extra cost of living in such a climate probably far exceeds the state income tax bite. So if someone is willing to pay $1.5X instead of $X for good weather, how much worse will $1.55X or $1.6X be when you add in the cost of state income tax?

 

[FANOFJESUS]

W2R you bring up a good point I have never lived in a low humidity area. I was thinking about that a lot like maybe trying a semi arid place instead of a desert area. Renting looks like the way to go a least for the first year or so.

 

[FANOFJESUS]

Ziggy you are so right people do pay for nice weather. I guess a lot of the very rich just pay the taxes as part of the price even if that is a great deal of money.

 

[W2R]

W2R you bring up a good point I have never lived in a low humidity area. I was thinking about that a lot like maybe trying a semi arid place instead of a desert area. Renting looks like the way to go a least for the first year or so.

Oops! Before reading the above I went back and re-read your initial posts where you said "not a desert" and consequently removed that paragraph in my post. Maybe you can get a map of the US and start by cross out regions of very high humidity (start with New Orleans! It is like a steam bath out there today.) But do consider my remaining four comments too.

I think that renting is a good idea for the first year or so no matter where you go.