Where to retire early

jtmax said:
I pay twice as much in property tax in silicon valley compared to my house in Austin because assessment is 4x for same house. Utah is the best in terms of $ amount for property tax which is what matters. New law in Texas now limits how much taxes can go up so that will help.
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As you probably know, property and sales taxes are high in TX because there is no state income tax. When comparing taxes in one state versus another, it's only prudent to compare all the various taxes - income (including how various sources are included/excluded - e.g. SS, pensions, military), property, sales, auto license/registration, gas taxes, etc. There are lots of ways for states to generate revunue while highlighting other "tax benefits."

I would expect the politics in Austin to be worlds apart from Silicon Valley, but that may/not matter to you.
 
Midpack said:
As you probably know, property and sales taxes are high in TX because there is no state income tax. When comparing taxes in one state versus another, it's only prudent to compare all the various taxes - income (including how various sources are included/excluded - e.g. SS, pensions, military), property, sales, auto license/registration, gas taxes, etc. There are lots of ways for states to generate revunue while highlighting other "tax benefits."

I would expect the politics in Austin to be worlds apart from Silicon Valley, but that may/not matter to you.
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Don't forget insurance! All insurance is very expensive in Florida, for example.
 
Nevada has no state income tax and property tax is very low, about 0.6% of initial build price, with 30-year depreciation in value + inflation. You can buy a million dollar home and pay $5K in property tax. Home, auto and umbrella insurance iare also very reasonable.

The downside, this summer has been the hottest and longest that we have had.
 
Midpack said:
As you probably know, property and sales taxes are high in TX because there is no state income tax. When comparing taxes in one state versus another, it's only prudent to compare all the various taxes - income (including how various sources are included/excluded - e.g. SS, pensions, military), property, sales, auto license/registration, gas taxes, etc. There are lots of ways for states to generate revunue while highlighting other "tax benefits."

I would expect the politics in Austin to be worlds apart from Silicon Valley, but that may/not matter to you.
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There's a homestead exemption of $100k for Texas residence is pretty nice. That takes tax down even more. I pay 10.75% sales tax in Silicon valley and it's around eight percent in Texas. So tax is just alot more in California all around. The government here just costs alot more to operate and there is just more waste in California spending.

As far as politics, I like that Austin metro is really diverse in views. Works fine for me.
 
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Incidents | CAL FIRE

www.fire.ca.gov www.fire.ca.gov
CA wildfires are up and going again. Close to 1 million acres of fire. This is part of reason why all these insurance are leaving CA or jacking up rates. This also cancels out the benefits of good weather here in CA. Not too healthy for old bodies.
 
jtmax said:
CA wildfires are up and going again. Close to 1 million acres of fire. This is part of reason why all these insurance are leaving CA or jacking up rates. This also cancels out the benefits of good weather here in CA. Not too healthy for old bodies.
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Daly City has zero hint of smoke so far. No issues with insurance either, despite the San Andreas fault heading into the ocean less than a mile from our house. :) We love the weather here, every heat wave alert this year we've not even noticed.
 
I'm skeptical of "top N places" lists. Everybody is different, so whatever criteria they used to rank the places, it's almost certainly wrong for most people.

I'd rather have statistics on people who move to someplace they saw on a "top N" list and later left. In other words, how "sticky" is the place.

In my case, I came to place #2 on the recently referenced list 42 years ago, and I'm still here. Hmm. Maybe I like this list after all.
 
I didn't read the whole thread so don't know if this has been answered but has the OP ever lived in a place with a real Winter? Utah could be a bit extreme for someone used to the moderate weather of Silicon Valley. The decision of where to go depends on what the highest priorities are. If affordable I would choose Silicon Valley or somewhere in that area. Tampa and Austin are too hot and humid, Nashville is both too hot and too cold, Utah is as well. Coastal SoCal is the best option if affordable which it seems to be for OP. To me, quality of life is very dependent on weather but if weather is not a priority then that opens things up a bit.
 
aaronc879 said:
I didn't read the whole thread so don't know if this has been answered but has the OP ever lived in a place with a real Winter? Utah could be a bit extreme for someone used to the moderate weather of Silicon Valley. The decision of where to go depends on what the highest priorities are. If affordable I would choose Silicon Valley or somewhere in that area. Tampa and Austin are too hot and humid, Nashville is both too hot and too cold, Utah is as well. Coastal SoCal is the best option if affordable which it seems to be for OP. To me, quality of life is very dependent on weather but if weather is not a priority then that opens things up a bit.
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It depends on where in Utah. St. George, Utah has very mild weather, 52/32 in December. I would hardly call that "too cold". July is 102/76 and remember, it is dry heat. 102 is nothing and I can be out golfing mid-day and won't suffer, although I wouldn't do that. I would still prefer to golf at 7am in the summer.
 
RetiredHappy said:
It depends on where in Utah. St. George, Utah has very mild weather, 52/32 in December. I would hardly call that "too cold". July is 102/76 and remember, it is dry heat. 102 is nothing and I can be out golfing mid-day and won't suffer, although I wouldn't do that. I would still prefer to golf at 7am in the summer.
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How long have you lived in St George? Can only fly a few places from there!
 
This is an old thread but I've enjoyed rereading it.

jtmax, where did you decide to land?
 
steady saver said:
This is an old thread but I've enjoyed rereading it.

jtmax, where did you decide to land?
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I've decided to go for a suburb of Austin. Move date is still in the air. Visited Virginia, Tennessee, NC, Florida, Utah, and live in CA. All nice spots where retirement can work out but Austin suburb just won out because combinations of things that came together. Got great deal on house so housing cost is really low (no mortgage). Water and air in the suburb is really clean, good for health. No disasters that I'm worried about that can be costly tracking and researching for a while (hurricanes, storms, fires, earthquake, tornados), ideal weather for me (65-75 degrees in December pretty nice and don't mind hot summers for watersports), great culture and sports (go Longhorns), nice homestead exemption of $100k to significantly reduce property tax, no state income tax, cheap gas, lots of organic food, lots of caves, lakes, rivers and waterfalls to enjoy, lots of diverse and independent minded people, low crime neighborhood, lots of Tesla charging stations, good central airport for travelling anywhere especially the tropics for vacation. Easy and quick to visit friends and relatives on west coast or east coast. Florida is more attractive for me because of the white sandy beach and tropical vegetation but it can get expensive with lumpy costs from storm damages and high insurance. Budget of $60k a year is very comfortable in Austin Suburb for me with $18k budgeted for travel and entertainment. Coming from CA everything is astoundingly cheap. For same house my property tax is going to go from $12k to $7k. Sales tax down 35%. Gas is 40% less. Cost to hire someone to fix something or do maintenance is 35% less.
 
^^^^^^^^^^

Congratulations on finding what you are looking for. Enjoy. Check back soon and let us know how all is going for you.
 
Hey, good for you in choosing. You did a lot of research and considered it from many angles. Did you land on Cedar Park then?

We are in the midst of making our own plans. Austin or close in is on our strong list of options, simply b/c both grown sons live there. The challenge is that neither of us is that psyched. Hate the traffic. Can't say I love the extreme heat anymore either but it's mostly the traffic that drags me down. Lots of positives though for sure. I certainly understand the draw and I'm happy you've made your decision. That in itself is a huge weight off of one's shoulders, isn't it?

We decided to sell our Houston home this coming year most likely and use our rural property (midway between Houston and Austin) as our base for now. Wish we had a strong pull to a place but we don't. Uh, well, other than DH would move to Hawaii in a heartbeat. We're here now, for the month of January...I love it too, but not so sure I want to make the move like Koolau. Both of our moms are still alive on the mainland and there's the pull of our sons both in Austin...

Keep us posted on how your transition to the Austin area goes...and, congrats!
 
steady saver said:
Hey, good for you in choosing. You did a lot of research and considered it from many angles. Did you land on Cedar Park then?

We are in the midst of making our own plans. Austin or close in is on our strong list of options, simply b/c both grown sons live there. The challenge is that neither of us is that psyched. Hate the traffic. Can't say I love the extreme heat anymore either but it's mostly the traffic that drags me down. Lots of positives though for sure. I certainly understand the draw and I'm happy you've made your decision. That in itself is a huge weight off of one's shoulders, isn't it?

We decided to sell our Houston home this coming year most likely and use our rural property (midway between Houston and Austin) as our base for now. Wish we had a strong pull to a place but we don't. Uh, well, other than DH would move to Hawaii in a heartbeat. We're here now, for the month of January...I love it too, but not so sure I want to make the move like Koolau. Both of our moms are still alive on the mainland and there's the pull of our sons both in Austin...

Keep us posted on how your transition to the Austin area goes...and, congrats!
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Yes. Cedar Park. Traffic not bad compared to Austin so that's a draw. Coming from Silicon Valley Austin traffic is relatively easy. I'm used to bumper to bumper 8am-8pm 7 days a week. There are trains around in Austin and more plans to build more routes so that's promising. I have to say though that not having to drive on icy roads like in cold states in the winter or waterfall rains like in Florida makes it attractive for me driving in Austin. In my older age, I get too stressed out with slippery roads or poor visibility driving. Well my daughter is in Austin so that is another attraction like your sons in Austin. I thought I'd hate the heat in summer but having spent time there, I guess it wasn't as bad as I thought since in retirement you get to wear shorts and do your own schedule to avoid the mid day suns. Lots of things to do after sunset and at sunrise. Weather is perfect in Silicon Valley comparatively but definitely not worth the money especially when I'm going to be travelling the world alot in retirement anyhow.
 
aaronc879 said:
I didn't read the whole thread so don't know if this has been answered but has the OP ever lived in a place with a real Winter? Utah could be a bit extreme for someone used to the moderate weather of Silicon Valley. The decision of where to go depends on what the highest priorities are. If affordable I would choose Silicon Valley or somewhere in that area. Tampa and Austin are too hot and humid, Nashville is both too hot and too cold, Utah is as well. Coastal SoCal is the best option if affordable which it seems to be for OP. To me, quality of life is very dependent on weather but if weather is not a priority then that opens things up a bit.
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I lived in Minnesota and that was fun having snow in the winter but driving on slippery roads is a little stressful for me and can be somewhat depressing with the long winter. Silicon Valley has the best weather overall in the world but just don't think it's worth the cost and poor governance.
 
jtmax said:
I lived in Minnesota and that was fun having snow in the winter but driving on slippery roads is a little stressful for me and can be somewhat depressing with the long winter. Silicon Valley has the best weather overall in the world but just don't think it's worth the cost and poor governance.
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Having lived in Thousand Oaks, Ca for a decade, I recall San Diego as having the "best" weather in the world!
 
aja8888 said:
Subtract 10 points for the rain in Hawaii.
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What rain? The whole state is in draught! Would LOVE to have some rain. Our hills look like SoCal and this is the "rainy season."

Living Leeward, I never cary an umbrella or rain coat - even in the rainy season. Only rain I've seen lately is a valley shower or two. We got one "storm" rain a few nights ago. I really miss the rain. YMMV
 
Koolau said:
What rain? The whole state is in draught! Would LOVE to have some rain. Our hills look like SoCal and this is the "rainy season."

Living Leeward, I never cary an umbrella or rain coat - even in the rainy season. Only rain I've seen lately is a valley shower or two. We got one "storm" rain a few nights ago. I really miss the rain. YMMV
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Well you do have a rainy season. San Diego, none!
 
This was a fun read! Only one mention of New Mexico. We just sold our house in Las Vegas NV and are keeping our place in Corrales. Just on the NW outskirts of Albuquerque. It's a nice little community with a rural feel but only 20 minutes to downtown ABQ and 40 minutes to Santa Fe. MUCH less traffic and congestion compared to Vegas. I spent almost the last 30 years in Vegas and it has changed A LOT! The weather is basically the same as Las Vegas except about 10 to 15 degrees cooler on average with the same amount of sunny days. Our expenses in New Mexico are less than there too. Utilities, gasoline, groceries, insurance, car registration are all less here in New Mexico. Property taxes are the same. Currently 0.6 percent of value. There are lots of outdoor activities here with the Sandia mountains close and skiing there and in Santa Fe. Jemez mountains are beautiful. Lots of off road trails and BLM land to explore. The Rio Grande is beautiful, and the bosque trail that runs through the city is awesome! Crime is bad in the ABQ area but we've not experienced any of it after 6 years. Oh, and the Balloon Fiesta is amazing! They fly right over our place usually several times when the winds drift our way. I love the New Mexican food with the red and green chile. And here is another biggie, ABQ is getting an In and Out Burger next year! That's something I do miss from Vegas.
 
^^^^ I was a bit iffy till that about In and Out!

Seriously, that sounds amazing. I really need to get to Albuquerque for balloons in the fall!
 
Another shout-out for New Mexico.

Funnily enough, we are in the Austin, TX metroplex and have bought a small second home in NM to get away from the extreme summer heat. We just cannot stand to be in Texas for the hottest summer months, the elevation in NM is perfect for us.

We have been visiting for years, and somehow rentals have always been lacking in some way, even when we spend a lot of money. We wanted our own place.
 
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