PA has 7 of the top 10 places to retire.

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

I'm glad someone has said this. Pennsylvania is a rural state, just like most of them are, and every little wide spot in the road isn't going to have a "world class medical center with the best specialists in the world".

What rural hospitals do have is doctors who know when to send a patient to one of those "world class medical centers with the best specialists in the world" that the local hospital has a working and established relationship with.

This somewhat illustrates what I was saying. I would note that the referenced hospital has recently expanded but is still somewhat in the middle of the middle of nowhere or at least on the edge of it:
https://www.explorejeffersonpa.com/r...e/#more-439889

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

This somewhat illustrates what I was saying. I would note that the referenced hospital has recently expanded but is still somewhat in the middle of the middle of nowhere or at least on the edge of it:
https://www.explorejeffersonpa.com/r...e/#more-439889

Make that four?

I note that this health system largely operates outside the metropolitan centers (Geisinger also does, but it has hospitals in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre). However, it is expanding to State College.

Still, a Level II trauma center in a relatively sparsely settled part of the state is a good thing to have.

[NorahLA]

I'm old and hate the heat. Not every old person is the same. It is not only the climate and temperature, it is the surroundings one looks at every day. Trees, mountains and a wee bit of snow in the winter looks good to me. Unless, one stays trapped in their car or air conditioned building, one is going to hit in the face with HEAT if hiking, exploring, etc. in those states you mentioned.

[retiredtxn]

Just my two-cents worth here.

I thought it was interesting reading comments about AZ in particular because my late husband and I lived in AZ for almost 10 years before we moved back to PA. Yes, AZ is hot, but like they say, it's a "dry" heat, but it's also dusty and windy. We lived in the high desert, about 3500 feet elevation and not in a valley like Phoenix, which has high air pollution, high crime, and very over populated. The lack of water is a great concern.

We had horrible healthcare where we lived. It seemed like the doctors were rejects from other places. It was a dirty town. Trash thrown along the roads. It reminded me of CA where we lived before retiring in 2001 and then we got the heck out of there.

I never wanted to go to AZ but my late husband was injured in a fall in 2012 and the winters in PA at that time were hard on him so he got the bright idea to go to AZ. Fast forward to 2022 when he finally came to his senses and decided we were going back to PA. I was looking forward to the change of seasons again and doing some fishing. We were so glad to be back. Then, in October, 2023, he died suddenly. I've thought about leaving and going back to MI (my home state), or TX where we spent a lot of time after he retired and we even bought a home there, but I never considered going back to CA or AZ. I've decided to stay in PA because I love it here. I've lived in PA more years then I did in my home state of MI. I'm 77 and I'm not leaving.

[blisterpeanuts]

Originally Posted by retiredtxn

Just my two-cents worth here.

I thought it was interesting reading comments about AZ in particular because my late husband and I lived in AZ for almost 10 years before we moved back to PA. Yes, AZ is hot, but like they say, it's a "dry" heat, but it's also dusty and windy. We lived in the high desert, about 3500 feet elevation and not in a valley like Phoenix, which has high air pollution, high crime, and very over populated. The lack of water is a great concern.

We had horrible healthcare where we lived. It seemed like the doctors were rejects from other places. It was a dirty town. Trash thrown along the roads. It reminded me of CA where we lived before retiring in 2001 and then we got the heck out of there.

I never wanted to go to AZ but my late husband was injured in a fall in 2012 and the winters in PA at that time were hard on him so he got the bright idea to go to AZ. Fast forward to 2022 when he finally came to his senses and decided we were going back to PA. I was looking forward to the change of seasons again and doing some fishing. We were so glad to be back. Then, in October, 2023, he died suddenly. I've thought about leaving and going back to MI (my home state), or TX where we spent a lot of time after he retired and we even bought a home there, but I never considered going back to CA or AZ. I've decided to stay in PA because I love it here. I've lived in PA more years then I did in my home state of MI. I'm 77 and I'm not leaving.

I'm sorry for your loss. How long were you married?

Regarding Phoenix... that really doesn't sound like the same city I lived in, 2007-2012. They had great medical care, generally clean and beautiful city even in some of the more dumpy areas, some crime but nowhere near as bad the big Eastern cities or south LA. No water shortage to speak of, and the wind generally blew away the air pollution.

I would happily live in Phoenix again, though more likely in a smaller city outside of the valley to get away from the heat island effect.

[Jessie Mitchell]

Phoenix is one of those places that is so utterly and completely what it is, giant, dry, desert, sprawling, freeway'd, golf course'd, commercial, super-HOT-in-the-summer metropolis that if a person likes that sort of thing, it's fantastic. If it strikes horror into your heart, well then not so fantastic.