Yes, it is easier to have a little elbow room away from water. We’re currently on a roomy 5 acres, no water though.

Of course it’s subjective, on who likes what in retirement, for living. For many, moving away from family, kids, relatives & familiarity has it’s drawbacks. I’ve known 5+ sets that moved out of the Upper Midwest to ‘expected’ retirement destinations only to move back a few years later. That ‘early bird’ discount at the buffet soon gets old.

My two places of interest are the FL panhandle, and better parts of SD, if I was to move. Even then, some seasonal living could be part of it.

When I was looking for a place to retire to, I googled for several lists: Low taxes, gun rights, access to health care, low crime, climate closest to California, cost of living.

The one place that was consistently in the top ten was Asheville, NC. The only disqualifier for me was its higher than average cost of living. But with you and your wife being nurses, that may not be a big deal for you.

I finally narrowed it down between TX and AZ. Then the winter storm hit and I learned the state has to make up for the no income tax via property taxes and sales taxes. Then there was the incidence of natural disasters.

That left AZ. I did a more detailed google search for cities to retire to crossing off places near the border and with higher than average crime rates, extreme weather, and high median house prices.

That narrowed it down to Prescott, Prescott Valley, Chino Valley, and Strawberry. We're loving where we ended up. I'm waiting for my CCW permit - something I could not even dream about when living in the Bay Area. I'm taking my first shooting class next week compared to taking only private lessons in CA.

Check out Lake Havasu City, AZ. Huge river front and lake front choices.
Interesting city with the original London Bridge there.
Only negative is hot during the summer months.
You might even consider having a quality house
boat! But you'll likely have some sort of water
craft.
Beautiful mountain views.

IF you are retired disabled military FL offers zero property tax, zero income tax, the Panhandle area or just east of Tallahassee down south a bit is still country as country can be and you'd be close to I10, I75 for easy out transport. Guns, you will be hard pressed to find a more friendly state than FL

Next to that TN would be my choice, little cooler weather, change of seasons most of what you like.

quote:

Originally posted by cparktd:

That chart's a bit misleading... There's a big difference between an average annual snowfall of 0.1" and an average annual snowfall of 12", yet that's all lumped together in the same category.

For example, it makes it seem like North Arkansas and South Texas have similar snowfall. North Arkansas typically gets inches of snow 3-6+ times each winter, with incidents of feet of snow at a time every few years. Whereas South Texas will only very occasionally get a light dusting of snow, with a significant accumulation of snow only once a generation or so.

You'd be in for major disappointment if you moved to the former expecting the latter.

^^^^^ All the other increments are 12". I think they interposed the 0.1" level just so they could show places that had essentially zero snowfall--a condition that would be hidden if they had just made a 0-12" division (to match the others).

I was somewhat amazed to see portions of middle Arizona with more than 4 feet of snow. I knew it snowed in Flagstaff, but not that much.

flashguy

Right, but it would likely have been more accurate/helpful to do something more like:

0-0.1"
0.1-3"
3-12"
12-24"
24-36"
36"+

Or similar

Point being that there's a lot bigger difference in climate between areas with 0.1" and 12" in annual snowfall than there is between 36" and 48". It's the difference between "essentially no snow except the odd fluke every decade or so" and "semi-frequent light snow", compared to "lots of snow" and "still lots of snow".

^^^^^ North Texas does get some snow, but not much.

What kicks their ass, and us up in Oklahoma, is freezing rain and ice storms.

That chit is pretty bad.
.

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:
^^^^^ North Texas does get some snow, but not much.

What kicks their ass, and us up in Oklahoma, is freezing rain and ice storms.

That chit is pretty bad.
.

Yep. DFW gets 2" or less snowfall annually.

flashguy