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Where will you live when it's your turn to retire?

By Robert N. Jenkins, LifeTimes Editor
Published October 30, 2007

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Pick your place

- Retirement Places Rated, 7th Edition, by David Savageau; Frommer's, 302 pages, $24.99

- Where to Retire, $4.95 per issue, six-issue subscription for $18; go to www.wheretoretiremagazine.com

Factoring in the best places to live

To help you appreciate cross-referencing the seven criteria, here is what author David Savageau considers the best places in the nation for each of those factors, followed by the top five Florida sites:

Best climate

1. Santa Barbara, Calif.

19. Sarasota

20. Fort Myers-Cape Coral

24. Bradenton

30. Naples

31. Largo

 

Best economy

1. Henderson, Nev.

6. Naples

8. Bradenton

9. Fort Myers-Cape Coral

16. Sarasota

26. Kissimmee-St. Cloud

 

Best services

1. Chapel Hill-Carrboro, N.C.

5. Gainesville

29. Pensacola

36. Largo

42. Sarasota

49. Melbourne-Palm Bay

 

Best ambience

1. Middle Cape Cod, Mass.

7. Sarasota

19. Largo

21. Fort Myers-Cape Coral

28. Key West

29. Melbourne

 

Best cost of living

1. McAllen-Alamo, Texas

57. Sebring-Avon Park

74. Ocala

78. Lakeland-Winter Haven

90. Pensacola

105. Panama City

 

Best housing

1. Madison, Miss.

17. Fort Myers-Cape Coral

21. Naples

25. Panama City

39. Kissimmee-St. Cloud

30. Bradenton

 

Best personal safety

1. Brown County, Ind.

126. Naples

128. Apalachicola

131. Port Charlotte

133. St. Augustine

137. Vero Beach

 

- - -

 

I don't know David Savageau, but after spending time with his Retirement Places Rated, I figure he knows quite a bit about me, and you. At least, he knows about the things that matter most when it comes to choosing a place in which to retire.

The emphasis is on choosing. Unlike circumstances that narrowed our choices earlier in life - where can I get the best education - the location for retirement typically is not dictated by factors beyond our control.

Instead, Savageau has decided, in nearly 25 years of compiling versions of this list, there are seven elements most relevant to choosing where to retire:

- Climate, taking into account elements from wind chill to fog.

- Economy, because so many retirees need, or want, to work at least part time for a few years. This emphasizes the chance for jobs in government; finance, insurance and real estate; retailing and services.

- Services, most importantly medical specialists and hospitals, but also airports, public libraries and continuing education.

- Ambience, focusing on historic preservation, water recreation, parks, restaurants, bookstores and the fine arts.

- Cost of living, including housing, food, transportation, health care and taxes.

- Housing, although included in the preceding factor, in this category considers the availability and the price for accommodations, from mobile homes to big-ticket houses.

- Personal safety, both the rates of crimes against people and property and the five-year trends for those categories.

But often, intangibles outweigh all of these factors, which is why so few of us move to a new home when we retire. In fact, the author notes, 98 percent of us stay put. According to an AT&T survey he cites, only one in 93 older adults will move to another state.

"The emotional connection that comes from raising children, working at a job and paying off a mortgage in one place may be missed in a new one," Savageau explains. "When you move, you can take the philodendron, the oak blanket chest, the canoe, and the satellite dish, but you can't pack a deep sense of place."

So why keep revising? Why did the author add housing to his criteria this time, and why did he add 22 places while dropping 25 others?

It's because so many older Americans have the health, wealth and curiosity to move on.

If it is curiosity that is nudging you, this book is a great place to start. After the author explains his seven criteria, he offers readers a 63-question survey.

You total the number of times you select each of the seven factors and then place the totals on a horizontal graph. The result should show you which elements you consider most important in choosing where to live.

Even if you don't contemplate moving, you probably want to know the best 200 locations.

The top 10

1. Georgetown, Texas

2. St. George-Zion, Utah

3. Fort Collins-Loveland, Colo.

4. Charleston, S.C. (tie)

4. Henderson, Nev.

6. Kalispell-Flathead Valley, Mont.

7. Fairhope-Gulf Shores, Ala.

8. Scottsdale, Ariz.

9. Laguna Beach-Dana Point, Calif.

10. Sarasota

Aha, a Florida location! It's one of the 20 Sunshine State places mentioned in the book.

Keeping up with trends

You also can get six new looks at retirement ideas each year by buying Where to Retire magazine.

It averages more than 260 pages an issue and is careful to compare apples to apples. If a round-up features eight towns that have "treasured traditions" (the September-October issue) - think Tarpon Springs - each town's section includes the population, high and low average temperature for January and July, cost of living, housing costs and contact information.

Or if an article focuses on a single town, a full page of specifics adds details: property and sales taxes, number of houses of worship, educational opportunities, public transportation, cost of housing in various neighborhoods and sample motel rates.

Robert N. Jenkins can be reached at (727) 893-8496 or bjenkins@sptimes.com.

 

 

[Last modified October 29, 2007, 14:34:06]