I did some research and came up with a list of the 50 Best US Cities for Early Retire

[pb4uski]

I've considered McAllen/Brownsville TX area as a possible winter haven but wonder about how safe it is being so close to Mexico. Any experience here?

 

[REWahoo]

I think audrey1 lives in that area. Maybe she'll comment.

 

[explanade]

Costs and weather are important factors but lifestyle and standard of living may not account for them.

Bigger cities tend to vote more liberal so you'd think the bias would be for bigger cities but of course they're also more expensive to live in, so they all are the dark pins.

You always get best cities lists all the time. This list is certainly a departure from that, other than it mostly picking out medium sized cities in the southern parts of the country.

 

[jim584672]

You need to add a "Medicaid Expanded Y/N" column. For some this is an important option that needs to be considered.

 

[45th Birthday]

I guess if you think a liberal leaning place makes it better to retire in, but when I realized more voters for Obama improved the ranking of places, I threw up in my mouth a little.

 

[audreyh1]

well yeah you can't beat the rio grande valley with those criteria - I hope you like very hot, humid summers tho


I was dove hunting around McAllen one September and it was so hot the soles of my boots fell off in the field lol

It is really hot here right now, but it's not humid. Humidity drops into the 40s early in the afternoon and stays down during the evening.

Farther east on the TX coast it's way more humid.

 

[audreyh1]

I've considered McAllen/Brownsville TX area as a possible winter haven but wonder about how safe it is being so close to Mexico. Any experience here?

Proximity to Mexico is not a safety problem. There is a high law enforcement presence watching the border. It's a very popular winter destination - 150,000 Winter Texans come down every winter - that's a population increase of 10%.

If you look at the crime statistics, McAllen, for example, is safer than many Texas cities. Few of us cross the border - that's where it's really dangerous.

The FBI's List of the Most Dangerous Cities in Texas - Texas Monthly

 

[iac1003]

Temple TX is not liberal. Nor are Waco or Round Rock.

Not sure where those stats come from.

I have worked in Austin, Temple, Round Rock and several other towns in the central TX corridor.

Just sayin'.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum

 

[wingfooted]

I did some research and came up with a list of the 50 Best US Cities for Earl...

Nice list. I have varying criteria- conservative, Republican, cold weather a plus. So I can just take the map and re- label as 50 worst cities to retire.

 

[Gumby]

Let's knock off the political commentary (directed to the thread participants in general, not any particular person). Thank you.

 

[NW-Bound]

The OP started the thread by using a political criterion to rank potential retirement places. That doomed the thread from start, and there's not much to salvage.

 

[MichaelB]

The OP started the thread by using a political criterion to rank potential retirement places. That doomed the thread from start, and there's not much to salvage.

Identifying the political leaning of an area is a valid criterion for selecting a retirement location. Gumby's warning was not about using it to rank, it was about discussing the politics. The thread is about location.

 

[Midpack]

Interesting exercise. I agree with the mild winters thing - but I'd (personally, just me) have to add in mild SUMMERS. I could not tolerate many (most) of your locations because humidity and temps regularly over 100 are deal breakers for me.

But it's a neat map for outlining your criteria.

+1

 

[Silver]

Side comment...I LOVE THE MODERATORS HERE!


Back to the thread.......

 

[target2019]

Thank you, Mods.

OP , how did you actually rank the cities.

I downloaded to a google sheet of my own, and was wondering how ya did that map.

Or, pick other criteria if it helps explain things.

Again, thanks for doing this project.

 

[Ronstar]

Target - you can create the map from an excel spreadsheet. I created a spreadsheet with separate columns of city and state. You can also use lat and long if want. But the spreadsheet must contain geographical info in order to place the icons. Make sure that the top row of your spreadsheet are the titles for the columns, i.e. city, state, etc. Set up a Google Maps "My Maps" account. Then create a new map. Then click "import" and drag your spreadsheet into the map. The layer setup will ask you what columns to geocode to. If you use separate columns for city and state, you'll have to click both. It gets a little trickier if you want to color code the icons based on your criteria. If you want to do that, the criteria will also have to be in the spreadsheet. Good Luck, and feel free to ask more questions if you get stuck.

 

[target2019]

Did you have lat-long in your sheet? I may have missed that.

I did get things plotted. I used google all the way. Made a copy of your sheet to my drive, started a map, and brought in the sheet from my drive. I will have to try it again, as 10 or so cities were not recognized. I may have forgotten to add STATE.

I'll catch up with you after I check out what I did previously.

 

[Bamaman]

The best places for retirement should include great culture, good weather, low taxation, reasonable housing costs, generally low cost of living and availability of good healthcare. It all comes down to where can you get a high quality of life and best bang for the buck.

The answer is to go to a middle size college town in the Deep South that's located on an interstate within 2 hours of major cities. They'll give you everything on your list, and maybe your ridiculous desire for liberal politics.

 

[Gumby]

and maybe your ridiculous desire for liberal politics.

This is why we can't have nice things. Good work getting this thread closed.