[TootsieWootsie]

Grand Rapids and Holland have, in the past, been touted as great retirement cities in Michigan; however, lately there have been quite a few notable magazines promoting Ann Arbor for a retirement city.
As I understand it, Ann Arbor has a fantastic FREE transportation system and, of course, is close to Michigan State and U. of Michigan both for courses for seniors that want to go back to college.
What is the opinion of the Michigan board members on which city is best for active retirees?

[pjmiami]

We are considering similar locations for our retirement for similar reasons although we have several more years before the actual move will occur. This will be a move back to our home state for us and though we both attended college and grad school in cities other than those mentioned, based on what I have read and seen, Ann Arbor is a more dynamic place offering a wider variety of options for the active retiree. Ann Arbor is more the quintessential college town and you will have easy access to a major airport there. Of the two, I'd go for Ann Arbor hands down.

[TootsieWootsie]

Traverse City and Petrofsky (sp?) are two others; and I did look up the demographics on them, and they do have a decent size of over 65 y.o. However, I'm not a rural type and they are small areas.
Have you noticed how they are pushing Ann Arbor lately in the magazines for retirees? Regardless, it has me interested as I'm interested in studying finance (not my degree, obviously), and Ann Arbor and E. Lansing have two of the top MBA-Finance schools in the country about an hour apart--amazing!
It's the taxes that have me concerned, tho, as they are somewhat high and you can get better tax States. Is it worth the trade-off? I don't know....

[Rapunzll]

A2 isn't all that close to MSU, but sure is to U of M. There are many other areas around A2 that might not be so expensive. It used to be and I think still is one of the most expensive places to live in the state. It is a nice town though with plenty going on.

I recently moved south from Traverse City, which is a fabulous place to live and does have a college there, but it sounds like you are move interested in staying in the southern part of the state and based on what you are saying about wanting classes and transportation, I would think that Ann Arbor might suit you just fine.

[darstar]

These days , many retirees are taking a second look at the smaller more rural areas. A lot of folks will have less to retire on , so , taxes , cost of living , are , along with good health care , more important than ever.
I am always a promoter of the UP , but , in these times , its even more important. I can not think of a better place to retire in Michigan than in Marquette. We have great health care , clean air , almost no crime , and the cost of living is affordable..... The beauty of the area speaks for itself , and our winters , even with a lot of snow , are actually warmer than any place in Wisconsin , as well as a lot of the lower Michigan retirement spots. I encourage anyone to check it out seriously , and not just dismiss our northern tier as a frozen remote waist land , cause its not. Our International Airport will take you anywhere in the world , when you need a break , . Chicago is 45 min. away , for that big city shopping fix. Meanwhile , you can enjoy a healthy retirement , in paradise , without the ills of the rust belt down under. We have a quite urban feel for a small city , ( about 60,000 in the county metro ) , with all the culture and progressive thinking that places like Ann Arbor have , at a fraction of the cost.

[TootsieWootsie]

I had to look up Marquette, frankly, and it surely is up there.
Guess when you say Chicago is 45 min. away you mean via airplane.
Interesting idea to mull over...

[Huitlambes]

I attended U of M, so I am biased towards Ann Arbor. You may be more on the conservative side or more on the liberal side socially, so you might want to consider that Ann Arbor is a more liberal community (as is U of M) than East Lansing (MSU).

I would also say that Ann Arbor has more going on in the summer than East Lansing does. I've spent summers in both cities.

However, East Lansing is more centrally located in the state, making trips "up north" (must learn this term if you are going to live here) or west to the fabulous Lake Michigan coastline shorter and easier.

You may also want to look into the Kalamazoo area.

[GraniteStater]

Try the Sunrise Shore for retirement if employment is not a big issue. Tawas City up through Alpena is much less crowded and far more affordable compared to Petoskey down through Traverse City.

[TootsieWootsie]

I have looked various places for the over 65 y.o. retiree demographics, and am really surprised to see how few live in Ann Arbor. Why?
Great teaching hospital there, lots culturally to do, weather is tolerable as understand not very snowy, so why aren't more over 65 retirees going there? Sounds great to me, so I would think they would be flocking there from all the small towns around. Go figure?

[Rapunzll]

Many want to get out of the city and as I mentioned earlier, the col is high there.