Retirement states

April 21, 2025, 08:04 PM

doublesharp

Indiana seldom gets much respect in these threads and I wouldn't consider 2/3rds of the state even though it is triple red.

Great gun laws and lots of good gunshows, Indiana's BMV is the envy of the nation, vehicle registration is cheap and an individual can own 12 vehicles w/out needing a dealers license. I currently have 7 with my newest being a 2015. None cost $100 a year for tags/registration. Also have had the real id so long I've already renewed mine once. The state sandwich is a huge pork fritter that is reason enough for residence in itself.

Just don't go any farther north than Seymour. Southern Indiana is as country as cornbread, not too crowded and your money goes a long way but don't spread the word.

April 21, 2025, 08:38 PM

12131

quote:
Originally posted by 400m:
Which states is there no way in hell you would retire to?

Is this a trick question?

Btw, I'm with RogueJSK. NewYorkistan is part of New England, afaic. That damn cluster in that area is the same to me. Don't care what anyone says.

April 21, 2025, 08:55 PM

V-Tail

quote:
Originally posted by 12131:

I'm with RogueJSK. NewYorkistan is part of New England

Mark your calendars, everybody. This day will go down in history as the day that RogueJSK and Q were both wrong. Rare occasion!

April 21, 2025, 08:55 PM

400m

But you didn’t answer Q!
What are your picks?

April 21, 2025, 09:12 PM

12131

Hell no to any of these.

CA
CO
CT
HI
IL
MA
MD
NJ
NY
OR
WA

And DC. Not a state, I know, but still needs to be included.

April 21, 2025, 09:21 PM

911Boss

Surprised it took so long for someone to name WA!

I’m retired here but looking forward to GTFO as soon as I can! Doing so requires the death of a loved one so I ain’t looking to rush it, but I can pack and mourn at the same time.

Just sayin’

Glad to see some of the states I’m looking at are listed here as GOOD options.

April 22, 2025, 01:27 AM

Rey HRH

I used Google and Excel when I was searching for where to retire. I ran several searches to come up with lists: best places for lowest state taxes, gun rights, lowest cost of living, weather closest to the Bay Area, access to healthcare providers, etc.

I captured the results and noted which places kept being listed.

"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.

April 22, 2025, 07:34 AM

uvahawk

I left Virginia several years ago after living there for over 40 years. The state had become to far left for me. After considerable research, I moved to the Low Country area of South Carolina: lower taxes, better climate (for an aging senior), etc. I have met quite a few folks who moved out of the Mid-Atlantic states because politics and taxes had become too oppressive for them.

April 22, 2025, 07:46 AM

oddball

quote:
Originally posted by 12131:
Hell no to any of these.

CA
CO
CT
HI
IL
MA
MD
NJ
NY
OR
WA

And DC. Not a state, I know, but still needs to be included.

Me, I would add more states to the list. And in response to the original question, it is easier to list the states I would retire to, and I'm in one of them right now.

_{"I’m not going to read Time Magazine, I’m not going to read Newsweek, I’m not going to read any of these magazines; I mean, because they have too much to lose by printing the truth"- Bob Dylan, 1965}

April 22, 2025, 07:58 AM

Lt CHEG

I actually like Iowa quite a bit more than I thought I would during my recent drive across the US. I’d probably want to retire someplace further South, at least for the winter months, but I think of the couple states that I had never driven through before Iowa was the biggest pleasant surprise for me.

As of now, my most likely plan for retirement is to spend summer months in NH and winter months someplace further south, possibly AZ, NV, TN, AL or TX. I’d like to minimize exposure to winter so I really dig AZ, but my wife isn’t a fan of how brown so much of the state is. I’m definitely not going to retire full time in NY and I’d add MA, NJ, RI, CT, MD, VA, IL, MN, CA, WA and OR to my personal list as well.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

April 22, 2025, 08:24 AM

220-9er

Weather and taxes/politics rule out a large part of the country for me.
That means no to above the Mason/Dixon line, blue states and the left coast.
I'm pretty happy where I am, in NE GA and western North Carolina would also be OK.
Otherwise, if money was no object, I'd probably add some sort of low maintenance beach place for a few months.

April 22, 2025, 09:36 AM

Expert308

West coast, northeast corner, IL, MN. Too lefty by far.
Anywhere south of a line through the Wyoming/Colorado border. Too hot. I grew up in the snow and ice in northern Montana.

April 22, 2025, 09:55 AM

Sig2340

States where I might retire:
Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
Florida
Georgia
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Mississippi
Missouri
Nebraska
Nevada
North Carolina
Oklahoma
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Virginia
West Virginia
Wyoming

April 22, 2025, 09:55 AM

old rugged cross

I can always warm up. But trying to stay cool for eight or nine months is out for me. Humidity and bugs, forget about it. No thanks. I will take snow over tornado's and hurricanes. Many states have large cities that dictate state politics but the reality is even in those state large geographic area's of the state do not subscribe to those metro politics. Quite the contrary.
Give your self some elbow room. It is location, location, location. You can change or control a lot things, but not the location. Many of the states mentioned have great area's. There are probably eight or 10 mentioned that absolutely suck.

April 22, 2025, 10:08 AM

BigSwede

If I was loaded, I would move to the CA coast. I love it so much. Pipe dream

Have lived in GA for 30 years, neither the wife or I are big fans. Probably north GA mountains, TN or NC

We both were raised in the rust belt, we love the people and communities but don't think we could handle the winters anymore

April 22, 2025, 10:28 AM

konata88

Pismo to Morro is semi-red and somewhat affordable. Coastal living outside of Malibu.

"Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority share in it." L.Tolstoy
"A government is just a body of people, usually, notably, ungoverned." Shepherd Book

April 22, 2025, 10:31 AM

sourdough44

South Dakota is another sleeper State, not often mentioned.

Yes, bug out a little Jan-March.

April 22, 2025, 10:31 AM

StarTraveler

My wife and I have long planned to retire to our family farm in Middle Tennessee in a few years. However, I'm beginning to wonder if the quiet, relaxing place we were hoping for will still exist by then since so many of the farms in the area are being turned into endless subdivisions piled up against each other.