If you listen to foreign news services, like I do, you get to hear more of the chaos of other places and much less about ourselves.....Makes you feel mighty fortunate to be born here no matter where you live in the U.S.

Crowded??? The population of *****assa is ~2500 and the population of the entire county is less than 140,000. That's much smaller than the 5+ million we left behind in Atlanta. We have to drive for an hour or more to get to a decent sized city (Tampa, Orlando, Ocala, Gainesville). The last hurricane or tropical storm that did anything other than rain around here was over 20 years ago. The panhandle gets hit all the time. FYI: We're at the purple pin. No where near the panhandle.

Ventura County, California. Two cities in VC in particulat (Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks) routinely post very low crime rates. The rest of VC, except for a couple of cities, is equally low in crime.

Lots of miles of great riding, just take your pick: mountains, beach areas,agricultural areas, semi-urban areas, there are lots of different places to ride.

There is a well-established bike culture, lots of local riding clubs and tons of great bike shops.

Check it out!

I have a friend who is an ER nurse in a hospital in Rogers, Ak. She has lived in the general area most of her life. Her only real complain is the humidity, otherwise she is OK with the area.

Sharon Tate lived in a very expensive low crime neighborhood. I live in a typical American town with its share of issues, but not what would be considered high crime. I lived for years in a higher crime area of San Diego (North Park East SD back in the eighties-Somewhat cleaned up now) I don't worry about it too much myself. Where I live I have lived most of my life since the age of 13. I am not about to be chased off by a statistic.

George,
Good to read one of your posts again. I too have been looking for a suitable place to retire. Part of me says to go to NE Idaho, but part of me says stay here in Northern NY. I love winter - I do lots of winter sports so I am OK with the bitter cold. But it just seems you can't have some civilization without higher taxes.

Interesting - I was raised in Hillcrest until I was 7, then in later years in Burlingame, not too far from North Park. Both areas were middle class and pretty much crime free. We used to go "window shopping" in North Park. It is interesting and sad how neighborhoods change - and the point being that someone can move somewhere thinking it is low crime, and in a couple or few years everything changes around them. There are no guarantees.

https://money.cnn.com/magazines/money...PL0846355.html

Louisville is just North of me.
There are two sizable medical complexes there, one of them just built fairly recently.

In the last thirty years or so Hillcrest has become one of those Trendy older neighbohoods. We can thank the Rainbow Revolution for that. Kensington and Normal Heights have gone the same direction, if a little less "colorfully". Northpark has been subject of urban renewal lately. I was driving through it to go to the Balboa Park Velodrome. I had not been there in years, and was blown away at how Bohemian 30th and University had become.

What blew me away when I moved back to San Diego in the '80s after leaving in the late '70s was how much Ocean Beach had changed for the better. I watched a guy get shot in front of a Hell's Angel bar in Ocean Beach in the '70s.....Of course I didn't hang around for the police report. Downtown has trendy restaurants and night spots now and they call it the "Gaslamp District". It used to be the Wild Wild West in the '70s and another kind of light district. There are places where you can still get hurt down there at night if you flash your cash but it's nothing like it once was.

The neighborhood where I lived in Golden Hills for a few months when I first moved back had five killings in six months in a two square block area though. Mostly street corner baking powder salesmen but also a home invasion and a narcotics officer got killed in a store at the corner. And I believe San Diego set a record for cabbies getting killed one year in the early '90s....Can't remember the number but it was a few.

I like the 4 seasons of new england and very much enjoy western mass. No ocean, but the Connecticut and Deerfield rivers are available for boating, kayaking and paddle boarding. Lots of country roads for biking - 5 college area in Hampshire County. Very good medical care - the local hospital was just bought by Mass General Hospital. Not a long drive to get to Boston or NY if you want a taste of city life. Northampton a great foodie destination plus terrific music. Franklin County just a bit north - borders southern Vermont is also a great location with more inexpensive homes. Brattleboro VT a great town too - skiing at Mt. Snow and Stratton very close by.

It’s kind of hard finding a place. My wife and myself have Rheumatoid and Osteo arthritis so we have to be in a place where they have Rheumatologist and more than one. Some are better than others I’ve found out in our travels. So anyhow that kind of leaves out the 4 season, which I enjoy myself. I use to cross country ski a lot.

It’s still very nice where I am now and it’s a real boom town, but I would like something a little more laid back. Ever since Katrina the crime rate jumped 25%, but that’s in Houston. It’s leveling off now. It seem like every night a car runs into someone's front room or bedroom. They kick the doors down any time of the day, to take what they want and or kill the people that live there. It’s really crazy and of course I don’t like that. Where I live, it’s still pretty nice, but I still don’t like what I see on TV. I know don’t watch TV, but I like watching the weather and if I decide to go into the city, I’d like to know where the crime areas are. I know Chicago like the back of my hand and know where it’s safe to go or not. Just like any other bog city, but hear they have crime in little pockets all over the city. The mayor cut back on spending and laid off police and fire dept. personnel.
That didn’t help matter one bit.

I’m retired and I really don’t have to put up with this kind of crap, but trying to find good doctors and something with a more moderate climate, plus things to do is kind of rough. The first year I retired down in Florida, we got hit by 4 hurricane. Ivan went right over my house and I really thought I was going back to work to build another house. That wasn’t the case, but I cant picture a 80 year old man running around with a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood. I’m not 80, but it does make you think. Just before I retired I got cancer and then all the arthritis hit. My wife is on infusions now, but drug pretty much has mine under control. I’m 70 miles from the coast so if we get hit by a hurricane here, I think I may get some wind damage, ( I hope) But That would be about it.

Anyhow that’s about it it in a nutshell. Nice to hear from you as well.

Sorry for the long post, but it does help to clear some things up. Thanks everybody for all the replies.

As I have family that lives out there, I've learned a bit about it.

Boulder, CO, is a magical land of rainbows and giggles. Wonderful area, as long as you lock up your bike. But it is incredibly expensive. Rainbows and giggles don't grow on trees, you know.

The non wealthy live in Louisville, Lafayette, or Erie. Louisville has chosen to go upscale. Their downtown is cool. When we're in the area that's where we go to fete.

Lafayette thus is inheriting the tattoo parlors and the like. It's not cheap, but it's a bit rougher.

My family lives in Erie, which is in the next county. It's also not cheap. Erie to me seemed to be just suburbia with mountains in the background. It seemed nice enough. And their bike trails now connect with Boulder County, so you can ride for miles with your only concern being coyotes.

My new granddaughter was born in one of the above mentioned medical complexes. They seem nice.

I myself would love to move out there, but I wouldn't if we didn't have family. Loovul is a nice place. I don't worry about crime too much. Virtually all the homicides are drug/gang related.

You just have to watch "best places to live" lists and note the source. What might be "best" for that groups membership may not be best for you. Retirees don't have the same priorities as a young family for example.

Boulder: 25 square miles, surrounded by reality.

Don't forget about Superior; (Louisville's twin on the opposite side of Hwy 36.)
It is pretty much a bedroom community, (single-family & apts), with lots of shopping, (and a Costco).
The Interlocken Tech Park borders the South side adjacent to Rocky Mtn Regional Airport.

We stay at the Renaissance Hotel in Superior, BTW, when we go out there. Nice place, especially when you can catch a bargain rate.

Don't move to Austin, it's awful!

Another recommendation for this web site. I'm actively investigating where to locate when I retire soon, and this site give all the statistical data you would want. But, the best part of the web site is its user forums. They have sub-forums about every subject under the sun, but the most valuable is their state-by-state sub-forums. A lot of back and forth and many questions, answered by local residents, related to, "I'm thinking of moving to X. What....".

I suspect that inclusion on these. "Best" lists depends a lot on who will pay the most. Plus, lots of creative writing goes into the blurbs.

After spending a Lot of time and effort just before my trauma doing research I've come to the conclusion that most of the time staying where you are is the best answer. Some random factoids:
-Part of the reason we bought our current home was the city bus stop just down the street. Two years after purchase the city moved the stop beyond walking distace. Similar things are happening across the counfry.
-Many, if not most, "retirement" communities have no or minimal logistics for the infirm. "Aging out" of traditional retirement communities is becoming common.
-As has been mentioned communities change. Some for the better, others for the worse.
-Don't undervalue the importance of being in a culture where you know you fit. Many people have made the expensive mistake of moving for climate only to discover they were miserable and had to move again.
-Each of us will change over time. There is no substitute for maintaining flexibility to adapt to and enjoy that change.

Good to know. Uh, did you change your Avatar?



I remember the "bad days" in the 70s to 80s, when Boston was number one for car theft. It kind of became a running joke by some local morning DJs. The problem gave birth to Lojack, and Chapman companies. (Chapman is long gone) But, it was simply known that if thieves wanted your car, they would take it, no matter what you did. Today though, the Boston area does not even crack the top ten. Not sure where it stands in terms of car theft.

Yeah, we have issues here in Fort Worth for sure, and yet I don't have any issues riding home through the barrio after midnight. Not that bad things don't happen to good people, but it seems like a lot of the crimes I hear about are in situations that someone can avoid- for instance a lot of homicides seem to happen outside bars at closing time.

I'll check that out, thanks Pam

I'm glad you told me that. I've been over and I liked a lot about the area.

Haven't visited Austin since the '70s but what I'm researching is low violent crime rate but high property crime rate indicating some drug use. I also liked Austin the brief time I was there.

I think you nailed it. My family moved to an area north of San Diego when I was fourteen. Except for a couple of years in other parts of the San Diego Region, my mid thirtes to mid forties in LA, followed by a year in rural Nevada, I have always called this home, and always will. This in spite of the fact that I have seen massive changes. Oceanside had thirty thousand people in 1969 when I arrived. Now there are 170k. It went from the only costal town in CA, other that the SD 'hood of Ocean Beach mentioned above, to be working class, to gentrified west of I-5. There has been talk of building a new stadium for the Chargers here. That would make me move.