Where Have You Have Lived, Why you chose where you live to Retire or Still Mulling

[bssc]

Let's see where I have lived
Tehran, Iran (born in a US Army Hospital)
Jakarta, Indonesia
Taipei, Republic of China (now Taiwan)
Ann Arbor, MI
Manila, Philippines
Seoul, South Korea
Northern Virginia
Houston, TX
Phoenix, AZ
but will retire to Colorado

 

[Greg V]

Born in St Croix Falls, WI and grew up in Minneapolis, MN and Birmingham, AL
Lived in:
Colorado Springs, CO
Lubbock, TX
San Bernardino, CA
Honolulu, HI
Charleston, SC
Warner Robins, GA
Retired back to Birmingham. Nice area, friendly people and we are close to family. If family was not a consideration, the choice might have been Charleston. Despite hurricanes (Hugo in particular), it's a beautiful and historical place to live.

 

[check6]

Also, New Zealand is high on the list to check out during our winter months.

That was our game plan for many years as well, but after visiting we changed our minds.

 

[rodi]

Born in Southern Ca.
Lived in northern Puget Sound
Lived in a Philly suburb
Lived in Atlanta
Lived in a Philly suburb again
Live in So. Cal.

I love the Northwest. But the hubby doesn't like the weather.
I hate the weather in the mid-atlantic and southeast. Humidity and I don't get along. (I like the winters in Philly... but not the summers)

We love southern Cal for the weather, family, lifestyle, etc. My kids are growing up with year round beach going and surfing... Year round outdoor sports... it's all good.

 

[Cessna5354]

WOW, have I lead a sheltered life,

Grew up in small town northern W Va.
4 yrs Dayton Oh
36 yrs South Jersey,
Last 11 yrs across the street from the beach

I have been enjoyed both domestic & international business & personal travel throughout the years.

We think will be relocating to Fla. and summer in NJ after the work days end.

 

[deserat]

Oh gosh - umm, I've lived a lot of places and visited a lot more. The longest times have been in Arizona, California or Europe (Germany). I am now back in Tucson, AZ, and plan to stay here. However, who knows what the future holds. One thing, work won't move us as husband is retired military and we both do consulting work which doesn't require us to live where we work.

I have a western US frame of mind, so am fairly comfortable here, although I do like the lifestyle we had in Europe-all of the history and stuff to see and do was amazing. The USA is different and much younger in that aspect - however, I won't miss freezing my a$$ off at times. Like to visit and ski in snow, don't like to live in it.

I've lived in San Diego, Los Angeles and northern CA (Fairfield, Sacramento and worked in Berkeley). CA is a beautiful state, however, if you don't have oodles of money, you spend a lot of time in your car getting close to the cool stuff. Plus, the tax burden is horrendous. The tax burden in Europe is large, however, at least you saw what you got....I couldn't discern that while living in CA.

We seriously considered Texas and Florida for homes, but we like mountains. CO was an option, too, but the living in snow versus visiting snow came up again.

We do intend to go to Europe at least once a year and my husband is from Poland and gets there by virtue of his consulting, so gets that yen taken care of. I'm not a big Poland fan, but do like Germany, Switzerland (one of the most beautiful countries in the world), parts of France, Italy, and Croatia (we thought of retiring there - la dolce vita without the high cost). We also will be going back to South America - we want to hike in Patagonia, Chile. We loved Santiago and thought of living there, too.

In any case, we are here in Tucson for now, but are still mobile around the world.

BTW - we loved Iceland when we visited there - great scenery, hot springs to take the edge off the cold, excellent fish - great place.

 

[AnIntentionalRoad]

Coming from a military family and then serving four years in the Navy myself, I've gotten to live in a quite a few places:

Panama City, FL (born)
Biloxi, MS
Neah Bay, WA
Lakeside, MT
Colo. Springs, CO
Chicago, IL
New London, CT
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
Kansas City, KS
New Smyrna Beach, FL

Now I'm on a sailboat preparing to live in the the Bahamas and Caribbean!

After the sailboat, we will split our time between Chicago and NSB, FL. I get snow weary quickly each winter so spending Jan 2nd-June 1st on the beach each year will be a fantastic solution.

AIR

 

[freebird5825]

I can't remember if I posted to this thread (CRS)

Born and raised just N of NYC
Moved upstate for college (Oneonta and Binghamton)
Lived 1 summer in Orlando FL
Lived in Oneida County NY for 2 years
Lived in Scottsdale AZ and Anaheim CA for 9 months combined, j*b hunting and helping my Mom with a relocation from AZ to CA
Lived in Oneida County NY until present day

Why am I still here? Inertia

 

[Sun456]

Very interesting thread. I've lived in:
Akron OH
Ithaca NY
San Francisco CA
Denver CO

I would love to live in New England or the Pacific NW. But I'm not sure if we would be just chasing fools gold. We live in a paid off house on an acre of land (so the dogs can run around all they want) and can walk to 3 grocery stores, Lowes, Walmart, Target, a 16 plex movie theater, more restaurants than I can count, JC Penny, Macy's, a dollar store, Ross etc (basically tons of shopping), a 24 hr emergency room, miles of hiking trails and a fishing lake that seldom has more than a few other people enjoying walking around it when we do.

I tend to see the positives of where I am and maybe over emphasize the potential negatives in the unknown. The population where we are is pretty educated, pretty open minded and pretty easy to tolerate. We are however, not diverse. But things are getting better as the region grows. The cost of living isn't really cheap and isn't very expensive. The area is desirable so the housing prices haven't fallen that much. And we don't have alot of bugs or creepy crawly things. However the sun is intense, the area is brown alot and kind of scraggly. Denver has lots of good city activities and many clean safe areas in the urban environment. There is also easy access to the national forest where camping is free and if your lucky not too many other people are around.

In the Denver metro area you can pretty much find any kind of environment your looking for whether it be county, horse property, urban, suburban or some other variation. And yet somehow I still want to live in other areas of the country.

We could move and then come back if it doesn't work out but I hate home improvement projects and we've customized this house to us.

I suspect after the dogs have lived out their natural lives we will close up the house here and do multi-month rentals in areas we think we might want to relocate to just to see if the grass is greener. In the mean time we bought an RV and take the dogs with us when we go exploring.

Since the OP has lived in Denver and all those other exciting places I'm curious as to their thoughts regarding the desirableness of Denver vs. their other locations.

 

[steinj]

Great thread. Its amazing how many places so many of you have lived.
I have lived in: Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Dallas, Madrid, Ottawa again and Raleigh. I like to live in different places and have a nomadic spirit. Considering central/south america as a home base with significant long term travel.

 

[stephaniee36]

SJ1, I am with you, Chattanooga and Greenville are high on our list, small town, close to hiking, beaches and major cities. No income tax in TN either. Will probably move to Gulfport, MS to my vacation home for 2-3 years so it can be considered a primary residence for tax purposes..

I have lived in:
New Cumberland, PA
Newark, DE
Louisville, KY (I consider this home, and would move back, hubby not so much)
Germantown, TN (Memphis suburb, cant wait to get out of here, Germantown is great, Memphis not my cup of tea)

 

[sparkee]

I was born in Fullerton, CA, but my folks moved to Seattle when I was 4 1/2. Grew up just north of Seattle, dad was transferred to St. Louis for half of 6th and all of 7th grade (Florissant), then back to the same neighborhood just north of Seattle (Shoreline district). Went to school at UW, did MM there, too. Moved to South Hadley, MA for a teaching job (Mt. Holyoke College) for 3 years, then back to Tacoma, WA to take a teaching job at Pacific Lutheran University, where I was for 18 years. Stayed in the same house the next number of years, sold house, lived in an apartment in nearby Puyallup, WA, then bought a manufactured home back in Tacoma. During this period conducted a chamber choir in Edmonton, AB, Canada for 12 years, but never lived there (liked it, though!). In 2009 moved to Denton, TX (north of Dallas) for a job at the University of North Texas, bought a home in 2010. Probably teach another 4 years, minimum, if I like it will keep at it. Not sure about retirement, but possibly back to Puyallup.

So:
Fullerton, CA
Seattle (Shoreline), WA
St. Louis
Seattle
South Hadley, MA
Tacoma, WA
(Edmonton, AB)
Puyallup, WA
Tacoma, WA
Denton, TX

 

[HFWR]

Almost even split: born and lived in southern Indiana for most of first 29 years, with a one year stay in Atlanta, then 29 years and counting in the Dallas area.

Liked the scenery of southern Indiana, but the winters are too long, dark, and cold, no j*bs, and small town living is too provincial for me. Nowhere to hide...

Like the mild winters of Dallas, and there are plenty of restaurants, bars, theaters, and sports. But it's a gawd-awful sprawling "metroplex", and, to quote the Austin Lounge Lizards, "most cities have soul, but Dallas must have been at the bank when they passed it around"...

Having said that, may always use Dallas as a home base, with summer excursions to cooler climes in places like Portland or Denver. Still TBD.

 

[haha]

Very interesting thread. I've lived in:
Akron OH
Ithaca NY
San Francisco CA
Denver CO

I would love to live in New England or the Pacific NW. But I'm not sure if we would be just chasing fools gold. We live in a paid off house on an acre of land (so the dogs can run around all they want) and can walk to 3 grocery stores, Lowes, Walmart, Target, a 16 plex movie theater, more restaurants than I can count, JC Penny, Macy's, a dollar store, Ross etc (basically tons of shopping), a 24 hr emergency room, miles of hiking trails and a fishing lake that seldom has more than a few other people enjoying walking around it when we do.

I tend to see the positives of where I am and maybe over emphasize the potential negatives in the unknown. The population where we are is pretty educated, pretty open minded and pretty easy to tolerate. We are however, not diverse. But things are getting better as the region grows. The cost of living isn't really cheap and isn't very expensive. The area is desirable so the housing prices haven't fallen that much. And we don't have alot of bugs or creepy crawly things. However the sun is intense, the area is brown alot and kind of scraggly. Denver has lots of good city activities and many clean safe areas in the urban environment. There is also easy access to the national forest where camping is free and if your lucky not too many other people are around.

In the Denver metro area you can pretty much find any kind of environment your looking for whether it be county, horse property, urban, suburban or some other variation. And yet somehow I still want to live in other areas of the country.

We could move and then come back if it doesn't work out but I hate home improvement projects and we've customized this house to us.

I suspect after the dogs have lived out their natural lives we will close up the house here and do multi-month rentals in areas we think we might want to relocate to just to see if the grass is greener. In the mean time we bought an RV and take the dogs with us when we go exploring.

Since the OP has lived in Denver and all those other exciting places I'm curious as to their thoughts regarding the desirableness of Denver vs. their other locations.

Given your personality as stated, there is no reason to waste life energy lookong beyond Denver. At least 80% of the people in the US would be moving up if they lived in Denver, rather than wherever they do live.

Ha

 

[LeavingOhio]

I have lived in the following areas:

Central Ohio
San Francisco Bay Area
Maryland (just outside of Washington DC)
Michigan

We are currently in Ohio where we both grew up. Moved to California so my wife could go to graduate school at Stanford (while I went back to school at San Jose State University). Moved to Michigan so she could get another graduate degree at The University of Michigan. Moved to Maryland for jobs. Moved back to Ohio to be closer to family and a cheaper cost of living.

Can't wait to move out of Ohio. It's a fine state, but I do not like winter weather. Plan to end up south...TN, SC, NC, AZ, NM, NV, FL -- one of those more than likely.

 

[Nuiloa]

Great thread - it's interesting to see where people have lived.

Sudbury, Ontario
Kingston, ON (schooling)
Guadeloupe, Caribbean
Mexico
Haiti (loved it!)
Tahiti
Vancouver, BC

If I could, I would move to Rarotonga, in the Cook Islands, in a heartbeat. Still might - you never know. Might be hard to get the RV over there, plus the cost of gas is $10/gallon. On the other hand, it's only about 25 miles around the island.

 

[ScoutAZ]

Chicago and Chicagoland growing up...
Milwaukee for undergrad degree and first job 6 years
Boulder CO. 2 years
Seattle 2 years
Northern California and Southern California 8 years
Arizona for 25+ years

Had planned to stay in AZ, but had not planned on how brutal the summers have become as we got older.

Maybe reverse snowbird back to WI, MN or U.P. MI

 

[imoldernu]

For those "still mulling" a retirement locations, here's a site where you can check the demographics.
Stats about all US cities - real estate, relocation info, crime, house prices, cost of living, races, home value estimator, recent sales, income, photos, schools, maps, weather, neighborhoods, and more

After doing homework on the available finances for retirement, finding the right match deserves as much if not more attention... not just for amenities, or weather or lifestyle, but for the economic compatibility. Cost of living!

A pretty good example of this comes from a comparison of where we lived before retirement and where we live today. Eighty seven miles apart.... Naperville Illinois... avg family income $98,500... and Peru, Illinois... avg family income $49,900. Food, housing, travel, utilities, taxes, insurance, education, entertainment and general living expenses are commensurately less.

The same comparisons exist in Florida... where we live in Leesburg, avg family inc. $32,000 and The Villages... 13 miles away... at $52,000. Almost all of the costs of living reflect the income levels.

The site lists states, then cities, then demographics for each city.

 

[SJ1_]

SJ1, I am with you, Chattanooga and Greenville are high on our list, small town, close to hiking, beaches and major cities. No income tax in TN either. Will probably move to Gulfport, MS to my vacation home for 2-3 years so it can be considered a primary residence for tax purposes..

I have lived in:
New Cumberland, PA
Newark, DE
Louisville, KY (I consider this home, and would move back, hubby not so much)
Germantown, TN (Memphis suburb, cant wait to get out of here, Germantown is great, Memphis not my cup of tea)

I would check the tax rules on moving to your second home. They changed
the tax code on this about 4 yrs. ago. ..
We are pretty sure it will be Greenville.
We just spent another weekend there. Hiked in Paris Mountain , biked on the Swamp Rabbit Trail and went to the Friday night street party that they have I think March thru Oct.
We like things about all 3 but Greenville seems right for us. It is also closest
to our family .

 

[bjanuary]

We are also considering a move to KC area (from the Wichita area). We have always taken (somewhat frugal) family vacations in KC when our kids were younger and now have a daughter working and living in KC, so it seems a natural to retire there. Though the move may be a couple of years away, I agree with your assessment!

 

[Donzo]

Born in Germany
NY,NY
Ramsey, NJ
Lake George, NY
Ithaca, NY
Devonshire, England
LA, CA
Rancho Cucamonga, CA
Julian, CA
San Diego, CA
Now in the foothills of Sierras near Lake Tahoe

I have enjoyed all the places I have lived for different reasons. I think I am going to stay where I am now. There is so much to do/see in this area and I have a pretty good core group of friends here.
I do esp. love San Diego year round and Lake George in the summer is hard to beat.

 

[RAE]

Had planned to stay in AZ, but had not planned on how brutal the summers have become as we got older.

Maybe reverse snowbird back to WI, MN or U.P. MI

We live in the U.P. of Michigan (we both grew up in the Midwest, and came here as young adults), and we love it, at least for most of the year. We have a home in town and a lake cottage (both paid for), lots of friends and family nearby, and plenty of activities and hobbies to keep us occupied, so we are probably here for the duration (and no complaints about that). After retirement, though, we decided we needed to escape to a warmer climate for a couple of the worst winter months, so we spend Feb. and March on the Coastal Bend of Texas. We have grown to love our winter escape too.......made some good friends down there (that we look forward to seeing every winter now), and I absolutely love the fishing, kayaking, and other activities that I can do down there. When we get back home, it's time to start gearing up for spring activities. It's a good life.......

 

[kcowan]

The MI UP is a secret unknown to most of us. Enjoy.

 

[citrine]

I have lived in:
New Delhi, India
Poughkeepsie, NY (1 year)
Central Jersey (26 years and counting)

Have been to NC, GA, CA, Spain, Cozumel Mexico.....would love to retire in Mexico!

 

[palomalou]

Alabama (grew up)
Baltimore
New York
LA
MS
Germany
TN (24 years)
And hate the south