Anna (Chicago, Carbondale, Nashville: jobs, hospitals, housing)

[Harry /ROSEMARY]

My wife and I are looking to move to southern il. early retirement,can anyone tell me what they think about Anna,il.

[sunshine girl]

Very small town, minimal crime, friendly folk for the most part. Raised our children in neighboring Jonesboro. They went to Anna-Jonesboro High school. Pretty country. Not many folks move into the area, so what you buy may sit for a bit if you choose to move later. Housing is relatively cheap. Union county taxes are less than Jackson county to the north. Slow economy, few jobs for the locals. Non-walmart shopping 25 miles away either in Carbondale or Cape Girardeau the other way. Hospitals in both those places good. The Anna hospital is not highly regarded and half of it is an extended care facility. But for retirement a nice, quiet place overall.

[Kwach]

We moved to Anna from the Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona area about three years ago and we love it here. I can vouch for everything sunshine girl had to say. I don't even know if I own keys to our house ... we've never locked the door. Housing is relatively cheap compared to other places in the country, but property values here have risen drastically over the past ten years. Still, you can buy a gorgeous old Victorian home here in Anna for under $200,000 that would cost you a million a lot of other places. Land is going for about $7,000 an acre in Union County. A few miles down the road, in Pulaski County, it sells for closer to $1000, but you have to enjoy a very quiet, rural setting ... and you probably shouldn't anticipate needing things like ambulence service.

Anna is two and a half hours from St. Louis, three and half from Memphis or Nashville and about six hours from Chicago. It's a quiet community and the people are friendly.

And no, you don't want to go to Union County Hospital in Anna for anything more life-threatening than a sprained ankle ... but it's only a half hour to Carbondale and well worth the trip!