A HS friend of mine (We graduated in 1978) used to live in Dallas Texas, he got tired of the traffic, the crime and now he is happily retired, he worked for the city of Dallas Texas as street maintenance vehicle mechanic for 35 years and now retired. He decided to retire in in Dallas.. Dallas, South Dakota population about 90. He is as happy as he has ever been and loves the duck hunting ,pheasant hunting, deer hunting. It a sportsman's paradise. Cheap living and he is able to easily live on less than 1/3 of his retirement pension and SS and still save and invest.
Best cities for an early retirement 2022
- Thread starter omni550
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Koolau
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
It sounds idyllic for lots of folks, but I'd go nuts without some "action" (restaurants, entertainment, people, social events, etc.) Additionally, I demand access to high quality health care reasonably close at hand.
We seriously considered life on the Big Island. It would have been cheaper. A couple of BI cities were close when it came to action, but health care was a plane ride away for all but routine and trauma care. I hope your friend truly enjoys Dallas!
He does enjoy it and invites me up there every fall for pheasant and duck season. He knows nearly all the local farmers and can get permission to hunt. usually we give them a bottle of whiskey and a $50 bill and we can hunt on their land. Many farmers up there have field reserved just for hunting and they have cover crops so the birds have plenty of cover and food. He has a duck bilnd set up on one farmers lake that we use for duck season. I would like to move to Dallas SD myself ,but wife would not be on board. we live in Lincoln Ne,and though it is not a not a large city by big city standards, it is bigger than I care for. He does like dallas SD that is for sure and has zero regrets .
Ronstar
Moderator Emeritus
Your friend has found the perfect retirement city.
Sunset
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
MC Rider
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
If you're not looking at a metropolitan area, info can be harder to come by.
I don't think there is a substitute for getting your boots on the ground and checking things out in person. Can't hurt to look for the local news etc, though.
I don't think there is a substitute for getting your boots on the ground and checking things out in person. Can't hurt to look for the local news etc, though.
jpeter1093
Recycles dryer sheets
Denver checked our "go go years" boxes: skiing, hiking, biking, music scene, great restaurants, low humidity, no bugs, friendly and outgoing people, great weather. Yep, higher COL but it suits us
EastWest Gal
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Why do these articles assume people want to move to a city in retirement? And to a place that has unlivable summer heat?
Music Lover
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I guess those articles are fine if you want to limit yourself to one location and fall under the criteria that they deem important. Restaurant scores are irrelevant if you like to cook, museums are irrelevant if you don't visit them. Traffic doesn't matter much if you live on the outskirts and rarely need to drive in rush hour.
We live in a relatively inexpensive city with nice summers but very harsh winters. No problem, we just rent in Florida or Mazatlán for a few months to escape the worst of winter. You don't need to choose one location that's considered close to perfect if you simply leave during the harshest weather. We go south in winter, people in the south can go north in summer.
We live in a relatively inexpensive city with nice summers but very harsh winters. No problem, we just rent in Florida or Mazatlán for a few months to escape the worst of winter. You don't need to choose one location that's considered close to perfect if you simply leave during the harshest weather. We go south in winter, people in the south can go north in summer.
gooddog
Recycles dryer sheets
The best city to retire to is the city that best fits the interests of your family. The 'best places to retire' lists are so generalized that they are useless IMO.
SOOOO many things not taken into consideration...
Yep, we were gonna retire to Vegas. (Summerlin area)
We LOVE the hot dry weather--so several of those options looked great.
That was 3 years ago.
But with the water shortage in the area that plan is on hold.
I do not want to buy a house that is worthless in 10 or 20 years because the area is unlivable.
But this article reminds me why we DID want to move there!
Yep, we were gonna retire to Vegas. (Summerlin area)
We LOVE the hot dry weather--so several of those options looked great.
That was 3 years ago.
But with the water shortage in the area that plan is on hold.
I do not want to buy a house that is worthless in 10 or 20 years because the area is unlivable.
But this article reminds me why we DID want to move there!
martyp
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
I moved to Thailand five years ago. If you want to lower housing costs leave the USA. Tropical countries won’t appeal to those of you avoiding hot weather though.
Koolau
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Certainly pros but also lots of cons to such a move. IF one has cash and can hold on for a while, housing in the USA is likely to go down in price before much longer. If you need a mortgage - not so much. Happy the expat life is working well for you!
oiseux
Recycles dryer sheets
I was shocked when I looked up home prices. Reno median list price in April was 625K. Sacramento, 495K. Boise, 585K. Phoenix 475K. Gilbert 615K -- which you might expect as a more desirable suburb (#1 in that article). Now that of course is median and does not reflect the diversity of neighborhoods and their relative attractiveness/safety.
All data from realtor.com
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Koolau
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I wonder if this is another housing bubble or some sort of "new normal." In any case, it is a bit frightening. YMMV
PointBreeze
Recycles dryer sheets
Guess it's time to sell our home in Orange County and move to.... Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh is a wonderful city to be retired in. It’s a foodie town, has exceptional healthcare, has a LCOL, is very green with many parks, rails-to-trails, three rivers for kayaking, PA is tax-friendly for retirees, Pittsburgh has a lot of cultural organizations due to the philanthropy of the robber barons (e.g. Carnegie, Frick, etc.).
Sunset
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I'm also pretty shocked, especially as our house is not in some HOT market, so while it went up a bit it's now very cheap by comparison.
Turns out we may not be able to move, unless we bring a tent
Bamaman
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I like a mid size town 40 miles outside a city of 1 million people with a university and a large lake close by. Nice to have a nice forest and some hills too. And it helps if real estate prices and general cost of living is low. Great golf is another plus for many.
It is usually in the South many of these attributes can be found.
It is usually in the South many of these attributes can be found.
aja8888
Moderator Emeritus
That's quickly changing with the influx of people from California and other overpriced states. Look what's happening to Florida and parts of Texas already.
Alex The Great
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Does anyone care about mosquitoes? I don't want to feed them with my blood while retired: I need the blood for myself not for those little creatures.
ElizabethT
Full time employment: Posting here.
Yeah. I hope everybody moves to those places and keeps areas where I live nice and quiet.
My brother is having a house built in Phoenix right now (actually Buckeye) and I said "are you crazy" it gets to like 120 degrees there. He is coming from San Jose which is much nicer weather but very crowded as well.
I guess it doesn't hurt that he got ridiculous money for his house and can buy a lot more house in Phoenix for less than half the proceeds from his sale.
Still, not my cup of tea. Hate the heat.
I feel like some of us here in temperate, coastal CA might be taking the year weather with a grain of salt, and will miss that grain more than we realize once it's gone.
jpeter1093
Recycles dryer sheets
We moved to Denver, dry enough not to have mosquitoes.
