The 10 Best Places to Retire in 2012

[TampaYankee]

The 10 Best Places to Retire in 2012

By Emily Brandon | US News

Wed, Dec 21, 2011 2:49 PM EST

Better weather, affordable housing, and plenty of interesting things to do are just a few reasons people move to a new place when they retire. Whether you want to spend your golden years watching the sun set over the water or taking on a second career, we've identified an ideal place. Using data from Onboard Informatics, U.S. News selected 10 key attributes that many people look for in a retirement spot, along with a city that excels in meeting each need. Here are 10 excellent places to retire in 2012.

Pleasant year-round weather: Flagstaff, Ariz.

Flagstaff's high altitude and low humidity generally lead to a pleasant four-season climate throughout most of the year. To select a place with great year-round weather, we used National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data to find places with the most sunny days. Among the sunniest cities, we looked for places where the temperature seldom rises above 90 degrees. The sun shines in Flagstaff an average of 78 percent of the year, according to NOAA data, but unlike most other sunny climates, the temperature only rises above 90 degrees an average of three days per year. Flagstaff can receive a significant amount of snow in the winter, but the prolific sunshine often quickly melts accumulation. "There is a lot of sunshine and no extremes of temperature," says Karen Haskins, 71, a retiree who moved to Flagstaff from Amherst, N.H., in 2007. "Summer and early fall are really pleasant. Winters are cold and you do get snow, but because of the intensity of the sun, it melts quickly."

Affordable mountain town: Boone, N.C.

Pricey Aspen and Vail may be beyond your budget, but that doesn't mean you can't spend your retirement years appreciating spectacular mountain views or making runs on the slopes. Nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Boone boasts three nearby ski resorts as well as trails for cross country skiing, winter hiking, and snowshoeing. Residents of this small town of 14,000 also have access to one of the country's most scenic roads, the Blue Ridge Parkway. A bonus: Boone provides residents with a free local bus service, AppalCART, and access to many of the amenities at Appalachian State University. In 2010, the median home sale price was $215,250.

Water views on a budget: Traverse City, Mich.

Dream of retiring to a lake house? The Traverse City area offers more than 180 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline and 149 large lakes measuring 10 acres or more. Residents can climb the high sand dunes and lounge on the freshwater beaches at the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, or take a ferry out to the Manitou Islands. There are also plenty of opportunities for boating on the twin Grand Traverse Bays. Housing prices in this lakeside city average a reasonable $155,715.

Greenest place to retire: Walnut Creek, Calif.

Retirees make up more than a quarter of the population of Walnut Creek, which combines the amenities of a city with abundant access to the wilderness. Downtown is filled with high-end shops, fine dining, and organic eateries, as well as the Lesher Center for the Arts. The city also has 22 city parks and 2,704 acres of open space. "There's a great amount of open space available," says Joe Stadum, a resident of Walnut Creek's large 55-and-older gated community, Rossmoor. He enjoys hiking with the Rossmoor Trails Club, which counts more than 200 members. "You can drive or ride your bicycle or run and hike. It's a great asset." Residents may choose to drive up to the summit of 3,849-foot Mount Diablo or travel to nearby San Francisco. But life in the Bay Area doesn't come cheap. The median home price is $411,000.

A college town for retirees: Ithaca, N.Y.

College towns like Ithaca can be an ideal place to retire. For a median home price of just $176,500, retirees can take classes at Cornell University or Ithaca College and attend speeches, concerts, and sporting events. They can also spend their days hiking to the more than 100 waterfalls and gorges within 10 miles of downtown or sampling the wares of the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail. Don Wilson, 65, a retired cardiologist from Rockford, Ill., bicycles throughout the Finger Lakes region three times a week. "The rural roads in the Finger Lakes region have so little traffic that you can ride three or four abreast on a bicycle in continuous conversation, learning from each other," he says. Wilson has also developed an interest in paleontology, and is taking a course on the subject at Cornell University and conducting research on fossils at the Museum of the Earth. "I think that university towns tend to attract interesting organizations, like the Museum of the Earth, and interesting people who may or may not be connected with the college."

Place to launch a second career: Lincoln, Neb.

Clague Hodgson, 65, retired early from a faculty position at the Creighton University School of Medicine and founded his own biotech company, Nature Technology Corporation, in 1998. His Lincoln-based business now employs eight people who investigate the use of DNA as a medicine. Hodgson says the city's low unemployment rate and proximity to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln make it an excellent place to launch a second career. "The University of Nebraska Technology Park really takes a lot of the weight off your shoulders," he says. "For an entrepreneur, remaining affiliated with the university is a good source of information, the library is very helpful, and occasionally we collaborate with researchers there." Nebraska's state capitol had an unemployment rate of just 3.5 percent in 2010, among the lowest in the country. According to Onboard Informatics data, the city has added more than 15,000 jobs since 2000, many of which are in fields known to hire older workers, including government, higher education, and healthcare.

Best mix of affordability and amenities: Pittsburgh, Pa.

Pittsburgh has a low cost of living coupled with a wide variety of amenities that retirees will need as they age. The median home sale price was $97,900 in 2010, which is unusual for a city with a large university and top-notch hospitals. Senior citizens age 65 and older with proper identification are entitled to ride Port Authority buses and trains for free. You'll just have to decide whether you want season tickets to the ballet, symphony, or Steelers games, assuming all three won't fit into your retirement budget.

Best place for affordable housing: Port Charlotte, Fla.

Port Charlotte home prices were battered by the housing bust, which could mean bargains for retirees new to the area. The median home sale price was a shockingly low $59,950 in 2010. And many of these homes are located along canals and waterways. "There are a tremendous number of houses on the water, and everybody's got their boats in their backyard," says retiree Chris Zwirner, 78. "All the people who live on water essentially have access to the Gulf of Mexico, and from there you can go around the world." The Charlotte Harbor Preserve State Park spans 42,000 acres, including 70 miles of shoreline along the Charlotte Harbor. An added bonus: Florida has no state income tax.

Best place for single retirees: Pittsfield, Mass.

Dating is increasingly becoming a part of the retirement years. And Pittsfield is the only metro area where the majority of the 55-and-older population (52 percent) is single, according to Census Bureau data. Carol Scott, 60, an event planner who has been widowed for three years, likes to connect with new people online and has arranged five in-person dates so far this year. "I usually like to meet for a coffee or a drink," she says. "If we find we enjoy each other's company, perhaps it runs over into dinner." But even if you move to Pittsfield, we can't guarantee that dating will be easy. There are nearly twice as many single women (14,237) age 55 and older as single men (7,869). "A lot of my women friends are single," says Scott. "And while I have met some very nice people, I have not met someone I am interested in pursuing."

Best place for recreation and culture: Santa Fe, N.M.

At more than 400 years old, Santa Fe is the country's oldest state capitol. The city is known for its unique culture and art galleries, including the New Mexico Museum of Art and Institute of American Indian Arts. "Santa Fe has a charter that is unlike other cities," says Karen Ralston, 67, a retired director of marketing for a publisher. She moved to Santa Fe in 2006. "The cultural mix that we get here — the Anglo culture and the Indian culture and the Hispanic culture — blends very beautifully here. We really love that mix," she says. An art history minor in college, Ralston rediscovered that interest by volunteering at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum and the Center for Contemporary Arts. The creations of artists worldwide are also celebrated at a variety of annual festivals and markets, such as the Native Treasures Indian Arts Festival and the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market.

See original article at:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/10-best-places-retire-2012-070000895.html

[TampaYankee]

Of all of those places my only interests would be, first and primarily, Santa Fe. Good climate, good ambience, cultural and otherwise.

For the inexpensive housing, Port Charlotte, but probably more becasue it is close to 'home' - a distant second.

Flagstaff has much to offer but if I am going to move to an ideal retirement community then I would forego those winters.

Boone NC would be an attractive alternative because I have always loved the Smokies, but, alas, my knees don't take well to mountains and Boone is a little isolated.

The others I'll leave to their following.

[BiBottomBoy]

It always annoys me when lists like these only mention American cities.

[Guest CharliePS]

I have been to every place on the list, except Traverse City, and I can't imagine any of them except Santa Fe as a desirable retirement place for gays.

[Guest epigonos]

I have never been to Traverse City, Michigan in the winter but it is gorgeous in the spring, summer and fall.

[Lucky]

Can you imagine how boring Flagstaff would be as a place to live?

[BiBottomBoy]

They all look like fairly dull places to me.

[TotallyOz]

I have been to all of them and like some of them but would not live in any of them. I need a big city.

[BiBottomBoy]

Me too.

If it's 2 a.m. it's somewhere I can't get a pack of cigarettes or walk in some place and see naked people I'd go crazy.

I have been to all of them and like some of them but would not live in any of them. I need a big city.

[Guest Hoover42]

They all look like fairly dull places to me.

I'd love to see a list of places to retire in Europe.

[BiBottomBoy]

1. Montpellier, France. The highest density of gay men in any city in Europe. You can get a one bedroom apartment in the nice part of town for 600 euros a month. There are more than 17,000 Native English speakers in town so you don't have to speak any French to make friends.

2. Madrid, Spain. Perhaps the most gay friendly capital in Europe. High quality inexpensive restaurants. You can get a pint of beer in the best part of town for about three euros and the male brothels are very affordable.

3. Nice, France. More expensive than Montpellier, but a thriving gay and expat population and it's easy to get to Italy.

4. Rome, Italy. The birthplace of civilization, low sales taxes mean cheap groceries and there are plenty of gay bars.

Berlin, Germany. Perhaps the least expensive capital in Europe to live in. It also has the most vibrant gay scene in Europe and even has a public park where it is legal for gay men to cruise and bang each other.

[TampaYankee]

I'd love to see a list of places to retire in Europe.

With the Euro/Dollar conversions in recent times, that leaves affordability to the Balkans, maybe? Of course if the Euro collapses then pick your poison, excepting German, France, and Britain of course.

[TampaYankee]

4. Rome, Italy. The birthplace of civilization, ...

Some might cede that to Athens. I would.

[BiBottomBoy]

The euro is quickly tumbling against the dollar.

[Guest Hoover42]

Thanks for the additions to the list, BBB.

[BiBottomBoy]

I live to serve.

[Guest CharliePS]

I love Europe, have travelled extensively there, have lived in a couple of different countries there and have some old friends there. However, I cannot imagine retiring there. No matter how well you speak the language (even in England), you will always be an outsider. Especially if you arrive as a retiree, with no work connections, finding a good social life will be a problem. Permanently adjusting to unfamiliar or just different customs and food can be much more of a challenge than one realizes; what was a fun discovery when you were younger can be disorienting when you are set in your ways. Imagine becoming disabled, depending on strangers, or being hospitalized in a place where the staff around you are speaking a language you don't understand well (and learning a new language is not easy when you are old). Then there is the uncertainty about the economy: if the local currency rises against the dollar, you may be in financial trouble. And the politics of another country may be difficult to understand, can even turn dangerous if you are identified simply as an American when local sentiment turns against America for some reason.

Some of these problems can be mitigated if one has plenty of money, but if that is the case, you might as well have homes in more than one country, or even just spend long stays in a European country that appeals to you, and leave when you grow tired of it.

[BiBottomBoy]

It depends on where you go. If you go to a European city that has a large expat population and live where the expats live you won't face most of those problems.

In the neighborhood I live in 80 percent of the population are native English speakers and all of the bars/restaurants/grocery stores/doctors and the local hospital are primarily English speaking.

[Guest hitoallusa]

That's hot!

I live to serve.

[BiBottomBoy]

Some of us were born to be on our knees.

[Guest CharliePS]

It depends on where you go. If you go to a European city that has a large expat population and live where the expats live you won't face most of those problems.

In the neighborhood I live in 80 percent of the population are native English speakers and all of the bars/restaurants/grocery stores/doctors and the local hospital are primarily English speaking.

But if you are going to live in a place that is just like where you came from, what is the point of going abroad in the first place, unless you are going to someplace only for a cheap cost of living and nice climate? And neither of those is guaranteed to last for a very long time, what with economic uncertainty and rapid climate change (many of my favorite places in Europe no longer have the stable weather patterns I used to depend on).

[kjun12]

Flagstaff would be great because you could visit the Grand Canyon regularly. Truly magnificent and wonderful.

[BiBottomBoy]

You can use it as a base to travel to other cool places. It's a lot cheaper and easier to say take three trips to spain from France than it is from the US.

[Guest CharliePS]

You can use it as a base to travel to other cool places. It's a lot cheaper and easier to say take three trips to spain from France than it is from the US.

True, but that only matters if you want to travel a great deal (and can afford it). As someone who actually has long been retired, I am more interested in where I live than in where I can get to from there.

[BiBottomBoy]

Well, the IRS also gives you a 90k tax write off for living abroad which is an added incentive.