Since a lot of us are or near retirement, I thought this would be interesting. After all AARP has our best interests in mind.
http://www.aarp.org/work/retirement-...irement.2.html
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Since a lot of us are or near retirement, I thought this would be interesting. After all AARP has our best interests in mind.
http://www.aarp.org/work/retirement-...irement.2.html
Really surprised me that CA didn't make the top (or bottom, depending how you look at it) ten.
Well, going on the 3 main criteria.. crime, cost of living, and climate -- California has a lot of very safe moderately price rural-ish communities with great weather.. especially for seniors. :dunno: Seems like most of these places on the list are expensive and cold as heck. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by KJ6BSO
Well, it was a list of the worst.Quote:
Originally Posted by W4GPL
Me, I'm thinking of retiring in an arroyo in NM somewhere.
Yeah, I went and actually looked at the criteria after I made my post.Quote:
Originally Posted by W4GPL
CA came in at #32, more or less at the bottom of the middle third, which seems about right. The tax burden is high here, although not as high as a lot of other states but the economy is okay and the climate, of course, is hard to beat.
Yeah, I know. I was just commenting as to why California probably wouldn't be on that list.Quote:
Originally Posted by kf0rt
California gets a lot of crap for being a hopeless ungovernable wasteland full of freaks just waiting to drop into the ocean, but any time I'm there (outside of urban LA), I always love it. The countryside towns, especially up north are great. I could certainly see myself settling in a place like that.Quote:
Originally Posted by KJ6BSO
Wow, NYS has the 6th highest cost of living?
I guess they just average it, because the COL in WNY is decidedly lower than most of the nation. NYC must be skewing the entire state hard.
NYC skews everything in NYS, as Emperor Bloomberg would have it.Quote:
Originally Posted by KC2UGV
Yeah, I love Northern California. Of course, I hail from there so I'm probably not exactly a detached observer. My XYL had to drag me kicking and screaming down here to San Diego because I thought it would be just an extension of LA. Turns out that it's not at all, in fact it's got more in common with the Bay Area--an abiding dislike of Los Angeles being one commonality.Quote:
Originally Posted by W4GPL
My fondest memories are bumming around California during the summer when I was 17. Every day was something new. We spent a week or so around San Diego, the county fair during the day, the beach at night..
And LA is a wasteland, as far as I've ever been able to tell, but even some of the sprawl isn't so bad.. Redlands, Ontario, etc..
Only been to CA three times in my life. First was a family road trip in 1970 (was 14) to Fresno and SF visiting relatives. Second was another road trip with a HS buddy in '74 to San Diego. That was a hoot. Third was my honeymoon (back to SF) in '78. We actually looked into Las Vegas first, but they had a convention in town and we couldn't find a room. SF was better anyway. Love that place, but it's probably changed a bit in 30 years. My Grandpa lived there until he died in 1985. Never owned a car...
A bunch of family trips to Ukiah in the 60's and 70's, raisin' hell with the cousins. My great uncle owned the White Truck dealership and service center there for years and years. Even got some patents for equipment he designed to refurb injectors.
I remember driving into town the first time... and seeing the "Belchfire Chemical Company". Still makes me laugh.
Parents settled in CO in the 50's to get away from their parents. Mom's side: Berkeley area in CA. Dad's side: Albany area, NY. Been to both, but not much and not in a long time. Gramps (Mom's Dad) was the head of the microbiology department at UC Berkeley. Dad's Dad was a preacher in a small village "across the river" from Albany. He passed away in '65.
My fucked-uppedness comes honestly. All genuinely good people though.
NY state is still expensive as hell. The catskills are nice though.Quote:
Originally Posted by N8YX
So I see New Jersey did not even make the top 10. I think I can explain that. Apart from property taxes, our taxes are actually not that high, and seniors get the property taxes frozen anyway. Besides, it's mainly North East Jersey that is expensive.
That said, I do not know if I will be remaining in this state when it is time to retire. I think I'm nice Caribbean location may be calling me for retirement.
It's not just skewed by NYC but also by many of the affluent communities surrounding NYC, such as my area and some of the very rich neighborhoods bordering my area. . NYC property taxes are high but my property taxes are higher than what some people I know in NYC are paying. Couple that with some of the highest heating and electricity rates in the country and this is an extremely expensive place to live. When winter comes I look forward to the cold weather but I am grateful when it is mild in terms of heating costs. Ditto for hot summer weather. I like the heat but I don;t like the cost of cooling the place down. This break of cool weather we are having right now is an economic blessing.Quote:
Originally Posted by KC2UGV
Main reason i stay hear is because in so many other ways its a great place to be. There is so much to do here and all within short distance of home. Plus I can get the best pizza in town. And I'm only a few minutes drive from NYC (appx 20 min drive from Manhattan). it would be very hard for me to part this area, even in retirement. If I do ever retire and leave I'll probably head to Alaska or Northwest Canada or the Yukon territory.
My montly utility bill only rarely hits $100 for gas and electricity combined. Of course, no A/C here either and the house is small.
Hah !! I WISH mine were that low. We get our power from Con Edison. With plenty of emphasis on the CON part.Quote:
Originally Posted by KJ6BSO
I noticed that no one ever called the AARP a "progressive" organization until the ads on the radio told you to.
I was all set to move to North Carolina next to the Albemarle Sound, but I guess Virginia is the better retirement state. I never would have guessed.
Most of NYS is not. I'd challenge people to find a city with property taxes lower than Buffalo's (Averages about $2000 a year, skewed up by some of the mansions here). Cost of living is lower than most other areas I've considered (Even Texas, which has a rather low cost of living).Quote:
Originally Posted by N2RJ
That's what I'm surmising. It's mostly downstate and Ithaca skewing it so high.Quote:
Originally Posted by n2ize
If this list follows suit with many others the top and bottom lists will just about reverse themselves by the time the next list comes out. People will flock to those places listed best driving the cost of living up and bringing crime with them. Automatically two strikes toward certain decline.
Fulton county in the Adirondacks is (or at least was) one of the economically poorest counties in the state. But one of the most beautiful in terms of landscape and scenery.Quote:
Originally Posted by KC2UGV
Oh yeah. Downstate is wwhere the high taxes and high cost of living prevails. It definitely drives up the average for the entire state.Quote:
That's what I'm surmising. It's mostly downstate and Ithaca skewing it so high.
Stafford, TX (gotta love TEXAS!) has no property taxes. In fact about a dozen cities in Texas have no property taxes. And yes, they have services and no debt.
Stafford also has a fraction of the population of this general area (excluding NYC) and also probably a fraction of the expenses.
No matter what, im quite sure Maine will stay off a LOT of retirees to-do list. Were sticking with that one.
If I ever retire and it so happens to be in the states it will be in either Kentucky or Tennessee. I have felt this way since I was 9 years old. I do have particular areas in mind too. The pace is slow, the weather is decent, lots of space and time to fish, cost of living is fair, etc.
Texas also has pretty high other taxes too, and their services are minimal, at best. And, they get bokku dollars from the Federal government due to the military installations (8 of them I believe, one of which is the largest CONUS installation).Quote:
Originally Posted by N2RJ
I lived in Texas for 6 years, and saw first hand.
An example? I got my Driver's licenses in Texas without taking a written or road test.
Health care programs for low income? Barely there.
In Texas, you one of the following (Generally, of course there are exceptions): A soldier, a worker at Walmart, or a wealthy rancher.
My uncle is now a social worker in Texas. Before that he was a teacher. He said he had a hard time buying groceries. He ofc used to teach in PA so I assume that the pay scale for teachers down in Texas is significantly lower.Quote:
Originally Posted by KC2UGV
Before that, you guessed it, he was a soldier. Lol.
Stafford has more people than my town.Quote:
Originally Posted by n2ize
We are talking about retirees. I don't expect working people to want to move to a place with no jobs or services.Quote:
Originally Posted by KC2UGV
Retirees don't need much in the way of services. Roads, basic infrastructure, access to healthcare. Many probably don't need low income healthcare (if they are over 65 they get access to medicare). They don't need top schools or any of that stuff. They need mostly a place where they can stretch their limited retirement dollars.
Retirees need workers, to perform services lolQuote:
Originally Posted by N2RJ
And, in all 3, Texas is lacking.Quote:
Retirees don't need much in the way of services. Roads, basic infrastructure, access to healthcare.
And, in Texas, that ain't the place. My electric bill during the warmer half of the year never dropped under $150. Oft times it was $300.Quote:
Many probably don't need low income healthcare (if they are over 65 they get access to medicare). They don't need top schools or any of that stuff. They need mostly a place where they can stretch their limited retirement dollars.
Medicare? Good luck finding a provider who takes Medicare in Texas. Last I checked, it's only accepted at the county hospitals.
My electric bill in PA was rather high. 300$ was a cheap month.Quote:
Originally Posted by KC2UGV
Quote:
Originally Posted by KC2UGV
Finding a Medicare provider is difficult in a lot of places, because quite frankly it doesn't pay much (thank you Government).
People available in Texas to do work... you mean like fixing up your house etc? LOL, yup there's definitely a shortage of that in Texas. (not) :lol:
Texas is #31 (lowest to highest) nationwide for electric rates. NY is like the 3rd highest after CT and HI. http://www.neo.ne.gov/statshtml/204.htm
The good thing about Texas is that you don't have to buy heating oil or pay for other fossil fuel (nat gas, propane).
Let's face it, Texas is faaaar better as a retirement destination than New York. The only people I really hear that retire to NY are people who have lived there forever or who live downstate who don't want to move far from the city they love.
One of my friends pays like $500/month in New Jersey. In my old apt I was paying $170/month electric year round for a crappy 1000 sq ft apt.Quote:
Originally Posted by KB3LAZ
Oh, I know. In the summer with AC it was $500-$575 a month. In Spain it is 75€ a month. This is not the biggest place but not small either. 3 bedroom, 2 full bath, attached living and dining room, with a separate kitchen. There is also a dedicated washroom for clothing that has an enclosed balcony for hang drying as well as an full balcony at the back of the place overlooking the courtyard. In reality this place is not a lot smaller than my main home in the US and yet the utilities are so much cheaper. Though, here we do pay for water on a different bill but that is cheap enough that it is not really worth mentioning.Quote:
Originally Posted by N2RJ
Idk what the norm is but when I lived in OH my electric bill for a 4 bedroom house was $120 a month and there were five of us living there. Lol. Hell of a lot different than PA.
Now in the house, electric is really nothing because we don't use AC much during the summer (we have shade and it is cool). Our electric bill is on average $120/mo and about $160/mo during summer. We run it at 75 degrees and it's on a timer.
Winter time though gets pretty damn expensive. If we use propane it can be upwards of $6000 per season to heat the house. We use firewood and an EPA certified wood burner so that cost is cut down some (but firewood is a LOT of work!)
It's not difficult here in WNY. And, every provider I've done consulting for loves both Medicare and Medicaid. They are both the least hassle, and both use the same data transmission systems, so every practice management system can talk to both, out of the box.Quote:
Originally Posted by N2RJ
No, there isn't a "shortage" of unskilled labor. It's just all you've got there.Quote:
People available in Texas to do work... you mean like fixing up your house etc? LOL, yup there's definitely a shortage of that in Texas. (not) :lol:
And, you use a hell of a lot more to cool your home. My combined electric/gas bill here monthly is $150.Quote:
Texas is #31 (lowest to highest) nationwide for electric rates. NY is like the 3rd highest after CT and HI. http://www.neo.ne.gov/statshtml/204.htm
No, you just use electricity for all that, which is very inefficient.Quote:
The good thing about Texas is that you don't have to buy heating oil or pay for other fossil fuel (nat gas, propane).
I lived in Texas for 6 years. I would never retire there.Quote:
Let's face it, Texas is faaaar better as a retirement destination than New York. The only people I really hear that retire to NY are people who have lived there forever or who live downstate who don't want to move far from the city they love.
Must be why Texas A&M, the DFW metroplex and all of those places are full of nothing. :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by KC2UGV
Incidentally, we lost AT&T in this state to Texas too. A lot of businesses are moving and have moved there.
Pretty easy when you live in the house the size of a shoe box, near to natural gas too (in a city most likely).Quote:
And, you use a hell of a lot more to cool your home. My combined electric/gas bill here monthly is $150.
Electrically powered heat pumps are more efficient than most other heating methods.Quote:
No, you just use electricity for all that, which is very inefficient.
Texas is a big place.Quote:
I lived in Texas for 6 years. I would never retire there.
But we get it. You don't like texas. People freely carry their guns around there, and you don't like guns, and about the only liberal place really is Austin.