Best Places to Retire in Each State

[Koolau]

The idea that Californians are leaving in droves has so far been mostly anecdotal and not supported by real data. The IRS publishes migration data for taxpayers at the state and county level here: https://www.irs.gov/statistics/soi-tax-stats-migration-data This seems to be the best data we have, since it covers most of the population and accounts for dependents.

They've only got data from tax returns processed through the 2018 tax year, but for that year California ranks 47th out of 51 (including DC) for outflow rates, with only the people of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan more likely to stay put. In raw numbers, more Californians do leave than Floridians (2nd most left state) or Texans (3rd most left state), but when you normalize for population, it turns out that the places people are most likely to leave are D.C, Alaska, Hawaii, Wyoming and North Dakota.

I think it's going to be very interesting to see the data in a couple of years, once the 2020 returns are processed, to find out how Covid and work-from-home trends really affected migration patterns.

Not trying to turn this into a dump-on-Cali thread. I have heard (anecdotally) that Uhauls are more expensive going out than coming into Cali. I google'd this: https://www.businessinsider.com/uha...os-angeles-san-francisco-moving-trucks-2020-9 which suggests it may be true. I often heard that Cali is moving to TX and TX isn't happy - but that may be a joke.

Living in HI, we have been seeing similar (minus the Uhaul and TX part, heh, heh) stories of folks moving out. It's not actually noticeable, say, on the roads. However, in our building, in the past 10 years we have lost (to the mainland) the next-door neighbors twice and both the upstairs and downstairs neighbors once each. As we live on an end unit, that means that all 3 of our neighbors that we share a common wall/floor/ceiling with have moved to the mainland a total of 4 times in 10 years. Not sure what that really means, but there it is. Could it be us? Naaaaahhhhh! We are good neighbors, so YMMV.

 

[Out of Steam]

In raw numbers, more Californians do leave than Floridians (2nd most left state) or Texans (3rd most left state), but when you normalize for population, it turns out that the places people are most likely to leave are D.C, Alaska, Hawaii, Wyoming and North Dakota.

In the case of DC, its statistics are affected by the fact that, unlike any of the 50 states, someone can't move to the suburbs without leaving DC for Maryland or Virginia.

 

[FIREarly]

In the case of DC, its statistics are affected by the fact that, unlike any of the 50 states, someone can't move to the suburbs without leaving DC for Maryland or Virginia.

DC is a very transient area due to many federal jobs and high COL. There might be more than I know but DC does not seem like a great place to move, unless you have a home that is already paid off there.

Maybe COL is better for retirement in US Virgin Islands B)

 

[Dwhit]

I've never understood the connection with retirement and relocation. We have been retired for several years and live in the same city we were working in, pre-retirement. its where we have friends, things to do, church etc.

 

[albireo13]

I've never understood the connection with retirement and relocation. We have been retired for several years and live in the same city we were working in, pre-retirement. its where we have friends, things to do, church etc.

Right.

And I don't get the obsession with a warm climate. Sure, it is nice but to uproot and leave your whole life history behind for it??
Hiding inside for air conditioning isn't that much different than hiding inside because it's cold outside (IMO).

ok, unleash the cabbage!!! LOL

 

[wompo]

I've never understood the connection with retirement and relocation. We have been retired for several years and live in the same city we were working in, pre-retirement. its where we have friends, things to do, church etc.

We relocated after I stopped working because the only real reason we were living where we were was because of the job. Once the job was gone we were gone.

 

[RunningBum]

We relocated after I stopped working because the only real reason we were living where we were was because of the job. Once the job was gone we were gone.

Yep. And a lot of workers are fairly transient and may have lived in a number of places during their work career, so there's no real tie to the last place where they happened to have worked.

 

[aja8888]

Yep. And a lot of workers are fairly transient and may have lived in a number of places during their work career, so there's no real tie to the last place where they happened to have worked.

This happened to us with a twist. From Connecticut to Michigan, then back to Connecticut. Then a move to California and 12 years later, move to Texas. My history and remaining family is in Connecticut, but most of my close friends all moved to warmer climates (FL, GA, etc) over the years. We have decided to stay in Texas since moving back to Connecticut is not where we want to be anymore. Texas is now home.

 

[F4mandolin]

A place like San Diego would bore me to death with the weather. I need some weather, unfortunately we are getting way too much rain again this year. I'm afraid it might be the new normal......

 

[Dtail]

Right.

And I don't get the obsession with a warm climate. Sure, it is nice but to uproot and leave your whole life history behind for it??
Hiding inside for air conditioning isn't that much different than hiding inside because it's cold outside (IMO).

ok, unleash the cabbage!!! LOL

Some people like us do love the warmer/hot weather. I will take 90 degrees and humid over 25 degrees with snow/ice.
Just personal preference.
Additionally, I don't notice any more mosquitoes in FLA, than where I lived in the Northeast. Plus we hang out in a screened in lanai some evenings.

 

[Koolau]

I've never understood the connection with retirement and relocation. We have been retired for several years and live in the same city we were working in, pre-retirement. its where we have friends, things to do, church etc.

I completely understand and support this point of view. With that said, we moved 5000 miles to a new "life." It's most definitely NOT for everyone. But it is for some of us. The real point is that we as retirees should live where we want to live and not be concerned about what other folks find to be the ideal location. I celebrate all of our decisions of where to live because YMMV.

 

[Koolau]

Right.

And I don't get the obsession with a warm climate. Sure, it is nice but to uproot and leave your whole life history behind for it??
Hiding inside for air conditioning isn't that much different than hiding inside because it's cold outside (IMO).

ok, unleash the cabbage!!! LOL

I agree that you should live where you want to live whether it's where you've lived all your life or someplace new (warm or snowy or 4-season or whatever turns you on.)

By the way, I don't have AC OR HEAT. Oh, and the planes DO fly both directions - even to where all 3 of my kids live (which is NOT where we raised them - but YMMV.)

 

[Koolau]

A place like San Diego would bore me to death with the weather. I need some weather, unfortunately we are getting way too much rain again this year. I'm afraid it might be the new normal......

I have to grant you the "boring" status of weather (especially here in Paradise.) The Weather Channel doesn't even DO the local weather! The "NEWS" weather is typically "Trades or no trades" (heh, heh, with the occasional HURRICANE threat - now THAT IS NOT BORING.) Boring is good although YMMV.

 

[F4mandolin]

I have to grant you the "boring" status of weather (especially here in Paradise.) The Weather Channel doesn't even DO the local weather! The "NEWS" weather is typically "Trades or no trades" (heh, heh, with the occasional HURRICANE threat - now THAT IS NOT BORING.) Boring is good although YMMV.

I spent 5 years in Okinawa Japan, plenty of typhoons....I liked them. But they build things strong on Okinawa....not much even blows down during the storms and the locals just ignore the storm until it's at it's worst. The weather was mild to hot pretty well all the time. The first year was "neat".....by the 5th year I was tired of it being nice all of the time. Here in N Yorkshire....I wish the weather was a little more boring. Always want it "just right"......not that many places fit. Even with the rain here.....a little less and I'd be fine with the weather.

 

[LRDave]

Here in N Yorkshire....I wish the weather was a little more boring. Always want it "just right"......not that many places fit. Even with the rain here.....a little less and I'd be fine with the weather.

Jame Herriot country.....the local weather often figured into his many stories.

 

[Music Lover]

Right.

And I don't get the obsession with a warm climate. Sure, it is nice but to uproot and leave your whole life history behind for it??
Hiding inside for air conditioning isn't that much different than hiding inside because it's cold outside (IMO).

ok, unleash the cabbage!!! LOL

We stay here because we both have family and also some friends we have known for 4 decades. I've been in a band with the same 2 guys for almost 40 years and my GF plays on the same ball team that has some members for over 30 years. You can't replace friendships that have lasted decades.

We go away for a couple months in the winter to escape the cold (maybe not this year) but this is home and we value our social network more than nice weather.

 

[RunningBum]

Another trend I've seen is retirees uprooting to move closer to their grandchildren. The family ties are stronger than their community ties.

 

[F4mandolin]

Jame Herriot country.....the local weather often figured into his many stories.

The rain is really messing up the golf......who cares about James Herriot!!!(although the new series is pretty decent). Coming from SW Washington I'm used to the rain.....but jeez.....we could use a break.

 

[kevink]

Not impressed with their choices for our current (AZ) and former (NM, CO) retirement locales.

The entire Colorado Front Range is essentially one big gridlocked city at this point. Hey at least you can look at the Rockies while you idle in place. Still plenty of decent options on the Western Slope though.

They chose Santa Fe and Las Cruces for NM; talk about apples and oranges. Santa Fe is beautiful, expensive, totally dominated by tourism (more than half of its workforce commutes from Albuquerque) but a great place for wealthy, cultured retirees (it has more of them as a % of the population than any other city in America).

Las Cruces is kinda the opposite. Hot (not much different from Tucson where we live now), cheap, nearly culture-less but a nice size. But you know you're in the boonies when El Paso is your idea of a cultural excursion. Santa Fe if you can afford it, Albuquerque if you can't, Silver City if you love beauty and small-town living and can deal with extreme remoteness.

Vis-a-vis Arizona, far better quality of life in Tucson than Mesa or any other Phoenix suburb, but there are plenty of other great options: Sedona if you can handle the New Age tourist onslaught, Bisbee if you're a hippie at heart, Prescott if your politics are the exact opposite of the Bisbee crowd, Flagstaff for outdoor enthusiasts who don't mind Boulder, Colorado snowpack levels. YMMV.

 

[NoiseBoy]

Regarding the two choices in Illinois, Alton is a small town on the bluff across the Mississippi from Saint Louis. Its population peaked at 43k in 1960 and has declined every decade since then to an estimated 26k for 2019. It does have two hospitals and a fairly new bridge over the river that brings Saint Louis into easy driving distance. But it lacks a college or university, excepting an SIU branch campus for the dental school. My guess is that the local cultural options are limited so it's main value might be low cost access to a big city? I would not move to a community that has been declining in population for 70 years.

Naperville is a very nice suburb of Chicago, but property values reflect that fact. If you already live there, it's probably a pretty nice place to be retired, but I sure couldn't afford to move from a smaller downstate city and buy a house there. Both seem like odd choices to me. If I were to throw out a suggestion it would be Champaign/Urbana. Smaller cities with a big university with direct interstate access to Chicago, Indianapolis, and Saint Louis and I think Amtrak goes there too.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

Vis-a-vis Arizona, far better quality of life in Tucson than Mesa or any other Phoenix suburb, but there are plenty of other great options: Sedona if you can handle the New Age tourist onslaught, Bisbee if you're a hippie at heart, Prescott if your politics are the exact opposite of the Bisbee crowd, Flagstaff for outdoor enthusiasts who don't mind Boulder, Colorado snowpack levels. YMMV.

I really appreciated your candid rundowns on those places in NM, CO, and AZ.

May I ask for the same from-the-hip impressions for the Verde Valley (Jerome/Cottonwood/ even Camp Verde)? Thanks!