Moab. Lived outside it for 2.5 years. Wonderful people. Streets are so wide the RVs in summer are no problem. Wonderful music festival.
Beautiful place. Road riding is great. Mountains right outside of town.

I'm not a pharmacist and I don't know the answer to that question...but I was just recently introduced to the phrase "recreational Viagra", so I wouldn't be at all surprised if there's a sizeable demographic buying ED medications for reasons other than necessity.

I've got two years until I retire. Currently live 50 miles south of San Jose, CA just my wife, myself, bunch of bicycles and four horses. We have two grandkids 25 miles north. The logistics of moving our "footprint" are a bit imposing so we'd like to stay where we are depending on economics. All us Californians are concerned about the tax situation; we've already got a high sales tax and state income tax, only the property tax control measure (Prop 13) is keeping a bit of a lid on things. The next two years should reveal a good deal about the future of the state.

Into five pages now, and nobody has mentioned what I feel is one of the top retirement areas in the USA featuring: big towns/small cities, mild climate, good health care, low cost of living, low crime rate and fabulous near-year-round cycling.

Excellent! Last thing I want is you cats all moving there and running up the property values before I retire myself!

My kids are grown and have their own lives. As my daughter says, "Dad, you find an ideal place and we will come visit. If it's nice enough, we will move to join you."

I honestly think that so-called Third World countries like Panama, Belize or Costa Rica will be far better off than the USA soon. Already, there are thousands and thousands of North American retirees moving there. Panama even has special incentives to lure retirees.

I think it's great that some of you are so loyal to your high tax rate states like New York and California. If you've been there for some time, you no doubt were part of the people making the decisions to spend ever more money (much of which your states don't have, by the way). Now, it seems that some like California are expecting American taxpayers in the other states to pony up and pay off California's deficit. Nice. I would like my neighbors to pay my bills, too.

Nope, I think certain stable Central American countries may be more stable, secure, affordable and tolerant of retired people. Not to mention - a better climate 12 months out of the year.

One of those USA towns that comes to mind is Lincoln, Nebraska. Tons of improved bike trails and bike lanes.

+ 1, well said.

I want at least part of my retirement to be challenging and require me to expand my world. People often retire to retreat, I want to do the opposite. If I can, I want to see new sights, experience new cultures and reinvent.

Ideally, I'll have a place to stay that is close to our children and grandchildren for part of the year. However, I want to visit, see, learn, think and create a new chapter in my life.

As a fifth generation Californian (family moved here around 1874), I am not at all happy with where the state is at. My county typically votes contrary to the majority of the state and are stuck with the decisions made by others. Don't expect others to bail us out. I expect our government to cut the heck out of its spending (same way I feel about the federal government) but doubt that will happen. At least not until it is too late (which it may already be).

Up until a few years ago, I was sure we'd stay when I retire but now I'm not. Hard to give up the climate and all the state has to offer (we love camping and there are great year-round camping opportunities). Part of it will depend on where our kids settle and part on whether our state can get its act together. Still a great area but we're at a crossroads and there's no telling which path we'll go down.

They have several big events in Moab, Jeep Safari week would be an excellent time to go to Telluride (2.5 hours drive) or Jackson Hole for a few days of spring skiing. I like the location for the road trips, just west of Colorado, a couple hours to Salt Lake area, beautiful desert all around. There is Jeep Safari, but there is also Skinny Tire Festival and half marathon in spring, Moab Century in September and Fat Tire Festival in October.

A different, and I think more accurate, way to look at this is that CA wants the other states to REPAY the money it has been giving them all these years. Perhaps you are not aware that for every dollar Californians pay in federal taxes CA receives about $0.85 in federal benefits. The south and much of the midwest have been receiving that largess for many decades, to the tune of receiving $1.05-$1.25 for every dollar paid. I guess that free lunch can get addictive.

For us it is simply this: The pendulum of government policy swings back and forth - usually to extremes before returning to a more moderate stance. It seems to us that those pendulums, in many parts of the country, have swung far to the extreme of profligate spending unsuccessfully supported by increasing tax burdens.

As someone who has seen a lack of personal responsibilty ravage many families, with governments rallying more and more "services" to tend the foibles of the irresponsible, we are ready to go somewhere where we can help the truly unfortunate learn the joys of self reliance and personal responsibility.

There can be no question that responsible, well run government can dramatically raise the quality of life for any community. But that concept seems to have been left by the wayside in many areas of the country.

Sorry if "I" offended anyone.

Good post. We're a few years from retirement. I'll go out in 7 years, my wife in 13. She's from Brazil and once she finishes her masters & I retire, I suspect she'll look for a job back in Brazil. That's fine w/ me - I've made 15 trips or so to Brazil for business and for personal and would love to give it a try.

But, even with that, we may hold onto the home here. It's paid for, taxes & insurance only run about $160 a month currently and it's the perfect size for us. Despite all the personal opinions expressed here, the local politics don't impact my life and for 8 months out of the year, I love it here. The other 4 months? We deal with it but getting up early to go cycling or kayaking.

It's good to have options - southern Italy, as posted earlier, sounds attractive too. Chattanooga is an option and since I've lived in Wilmington NC, I could see us there also. Arkansas sounds beautiful - there's a lot of small towns that might work as long as there's access to the larges towns.

I loved living in Porto Alegre, Brazil. One downside was the red tape for doing simple transactions. Just banking was problematic. Traffic is also getting worse now that the middle class is expanding. Rio de Janeiro is really expensive.

I forgot to mention that I loved riding in Porto Alegre. there were some steep hills. I rode my hybrid every sunday morning when the traffic was light.

Too far south for me. Rio is probably out of the question also even the company we both work for is opening a large center there. Too dangerous though.

The area I'm thinking about is what they call the north beaches of the state of Sao Paulo - ie those beaches near Ubatuba, Ilhabela, etc.

Quite frankly, if I had my way, we'd live in the Amazon in an area accessible only by boat. I've done two different vacations to the region and love it there. The cycling sucks - no roads - but I love the area.

My wife said that I could live there if I wanted - after the divorce.

How about Southern Utah, say around the town of Hurricane? I understand it is very bike friendly, reasonable cost of living, etc. But, a little on the toasty side in the summer months.

Off topic question: Is it true that the Harley folks refer to Phoenix, AZ as "Dante's Inferno"?

+1 on the "two places" plan -but with exceptions.

Here's the thing: I really like my current town and LOVE the neighborhood and neighbors (we all say we're never moving away from each other because we have too much fun). But Jan-Feb-Mar sucks around here, so I'd want to get away just during those months.

Here's another thing: everyone else also wants to find that ideal warm place to get away from northern winters --and prices will reflect that.

The ideal would be to find a warm area that is off-season during northern winters. Sounds like a contradiction but I think I've found one solution. Gulf coast beaches have prime season during spring and summer. It is too cold during the core winter months to hang out at those beaches (50's, and 60's mostly). Rental prices for beach houses during Jan-Feb are one tenth of high season or even less. And yet the weather is still fine for biking and golfing and jogging and even walking along the beach.

I'm thinking I could find an owner who would love to have a regular renter for their off-season -especially a handy older couple/group who might even help out with repairs and general upkeep in exchange for still deeper discounts. Hopefully I can attract kids and their families, and maybe neighborhood folks to go to the same place with me.

Hmmm, you've done some good thinking!

My wife and I were born and raised in Rochester, NY. Also lived in Syracuse for eight years after we married. Bottom line,

My wife and I were born and raised in Rochester, NY and we've also lived in Syracuse. Bottom line: I HATE THE SNOW! Hope to never drive in it and shovel it again. We moved to Dahlonega, GA in 1985 and now live in Gainesville, GA. Gainesville is about an hour north of Atlanta in the foothills of the N. GA. mountains. We really like it here. Property taxes are low, ($1500 annually on a 180,000 home) presently no tax on food, average 1-2" of snow per year...except this year, which has been very strange. The cycling in north GA is very good, both road and mountain and a lot of retirees from the Atlanta area are moving up in this direction. Gainesville, is a growing city but still small in feel with no real traffic problems. We have a mall and all the standard chain stores and restaurants, but Atlanta style malls are about a forty minute drive.

The negatives: the summer temps are regularly in the 90s and the humidity can be real high as well. Sept-May are real nice and often you can bike ride in Dec. and Jan. in the 40s and even 50s. But June thru Aug are hot and sticky. People still ride of course but in July-Aug. it ain't much fun after 1pm.

North GA has great mountains, kayaking, cycling, hiking etc. If you are going to consider Chattanooga, Nashville, Ashville, etc., at least take a look at north GA.

https://www.gainesville.org/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gainesville,_Georgia

All that said, my wife and I have fallen in love with Colorado. I'm 60 but still need to work. If I was offered a job in Colorado Springs or Denver we would seriously consider it. Both cities have more snow than I would like, but the sun comes out at that altitude and it doesn't stick around too long. And there is NO humidity there.