Hi, I retired 10 months ago.
I had intended to sell my house in Irving, TX, and move to an apartment in Kitsap County (West of Seattle) to start the next phase of my life. I wanted a cooler climate, scenery, and plenty of choices of what to go see and do.
But my approach to the pandemic has been to halt those plans and hole up in my TX house until it's all over.
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So I'm not even sure what I want to ask here. I went to reddit, but most of the "Denver vs Colorado Springs" threads were focused on things to do for younger people who want to socialize and meet other young people. (Denver is apparently way better there.)
I guess I want a view, the comfort of suburbia not too far away, and good Internet. And drivable access to restaurants (for after-pandemic) and stores and some various things to do and see (mostly after-pandemic).....
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OK Several things. To research go to City-Data forum. You want to look two places. First, there is a retirement forum. It is a general retirement forum but people do often ask about what is like to live in a particular locale. This tends to get an older demographic than the general forum. Then, go to the Colorado Forum and go to the Colorado Springs forum.
A few years ago we lived in the Houston area and were deciding where to retire to. We actually ended up not too far from where you live now (we are in NE Tarrant County). I considered moving out of state but my research at City Data made me determine that the place I was considering (not Colorado) was not a good idea. One issue was that medical care where we were considering wasn't top notch. I would be flying to LA if I had a serious health condition. I don't, but things change. This is something to consider. How many medical schools are in the state. Do people graduate and go elsewhere for residency because there aren't good options in the stay. If you need a transplant are they available in state or do you need to go elsewhere? How are they on cancer care? And so on.
Texas is not so great for the pre-65 ACA crowd. It is better than nothing. Colorado is probably better though about insurance than Texas is. We don't know what will happen to the ACA suit. If it gets overturned I seriously doubt that Texas will really do much to protect anyone with pre-existing conditions. Colorado or Washington is probably more likely to do so.
I would suggest that you rent when you first move. We were going to do that for at least 6 months. That way, if you hate it you feel like you aren't financially tied. Also as you live in the area you may learn more about it and where you want to live.
For someone living where you live now, you hare reasonably close to pretty much everything. Irving is in a great location to give you access to stuff in both Dallas and Tarrant county. I am not sure that Colorado Springs will give you that kind of coverage. That may be OK but just think about it. Another option to moving, if you haven't done this, would be to just rent an Air BnB (or similar option) for a month or so and see how much you like there area before moving.
So we ended up staying in Texas, albeit moving from the Houston area to DFW.
A lot of people from Texas like Colorado. I never considered it because I don't like cold or mountains. And, I like having everything available close by so anything smaller than Denver would not have suited me.