Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
What is a good state to retire in? Looking for low state income taxes & property taxes, low insurance premiums, and low crime. Looking for a place that has or is close to culture & ammenities. How does Washington State fit the bill? What about Virginia, outside NOVA? Any other places? Texas and Florida have no state income tax, but I hear the crime is horrible & target elderly at times, and insurance premiums are astronomical there.
Welcome to our forum. Your question is a little too broad to really answer in one thread, but here's an index that can help you find threads covering all the states you've mentioned, and several others you will probably be interested in as well. Also several threads where we discuss the issues you've brought up. Hope it helps!
What is a good state to retire in? Looking for low state income taxes & property taxes, low insurance premiums, and low crime. Looking for a place that has or is close to culture & ammenities. How does Washington State fit the bill? What about Virginia, outside NOVA? Any other places? Texas and Florida have no state income tax, but I hear the crime is horrible & target elderly at times, and insurance premiums are astronomical there.
OP, you are making a basic error in attempting to paint entire states with one brush, especially with regard to crime. Texas and Florida are huge states, and conditions vary enormously within each state. Even property taxes (in many states at least) vary from county to county within a state. Of course state income taxes are indeed a state-wide condition, but all the rest is generally not. The gulf coast of Texas is subject to hurricanes, but the rest of the state is not, so we can expect insurance premiums to vary accordingly.
Let's take crime. As my example I will use the greater Los Angeles area, within which there are very safe areas and very unsafe areas. Where I live I can walk the streets during hours of darkness without any fear whatsoever. But twenty miles away there is a large area where I would not really feel entirely comfortable driving my car at night.
A second error, perhaps just as basic, is in wanting to find "culture and amenities" together in a single package with low costs. In general, culture and amenities go together with high costs of living, especially with regard to housing. Of course what we mean by "culture" can vary too. I am used to world class culture here, so for me a small artsy district featuring works of local artists and a few chi-chi over-priced shops would not cut it. Also, what are "amenities"? Some people might mean the existence of high-end shopping such as Macy's as opposed to low-end shopping such as Walmart.
It is not realistic to expect to find a location with the climate of southern California or Hawaii, the culture of New York City or Los Angeles, and the costs of the middle of Kansas. There is no earthly paradise and everything is a matter of trade-offs.
What is a good state to retire in? Looking for low state income taxes & property taxes, low insurance premiums, and low crime. Looking for a place that has or is close to culture & ammenities. How does Washington State fit the bill? What about Virginia, outside NOVA? Any other places? Texas and Florida have no state income tax, but I hear the crime is horrible & target elderly at times, and insurance premiums are astronomical there.
That's not true of the entire state.
Insurance is high near the coast but that would apply to any state that borders the Gulf or Atlantic or Pacific.
Property taxes are high but we have no income tax.
And property tax is not high all over; higher in and near the cities.
I lived near Austin and was paying near $7K in property tax.
Moved further away from these growing cities and now only pay $2K.
I'm 45 minutes from College Station so I'm not that far removed.
Crime is crime but it's not the same all over.
I would suggest you clear your head of any misconceptions and rumors and start with your goals in mind.
Find the state first and then start looking at cities. Within the cities you get the crime stats and also if the city/county charge additional taxes.
What is a good state to retire in? Looking for low state income taxes & property taxes, low insurance premiums, and low crime. Looking for a place that has or is close to culture & ammenities. How does Washington State fit the bill? What about Virginia, outside NOVA? Any other places? Texas and Florida have no state income tax, but I hear the crime is horrible & target elderly at times, and insurance premiums are astronomical there.
So far you have had a few responses. The one question no one has asked is where do you live now (state). That could give us better input to get you even better data. As someone mentioned welcome to the retirement forum. There are so many post on the best place to retire, the worst and so on.
If you are the east or west coast you will have a different view on what you want. Washington state is a wonderful place to live. It has a high property tax rate as does Virginia. Washington state also is such a diverse state. The Pacific coast has a more temperate climate and the further east you go the temperature and snowfall can vary widely.
As they have said too, pick an area and then look to the cities and towns that interest you. Before you make up your mind visit a few times and even better rent a place there to get a good feel for it.
Lastly are you retiring alone or as part of a couple? Do you have children and grand children? That is something you should take into consideration if you do.
What is a good state to retire in? Looking for low state income taxes & property taxes, low insurance premiums, and low crime. Looking for a place that has or is close to culture & ammenities. How does Washington State fit the bill? What about Virginia, outside NOVA? Any other places? Texas and Florida have no state income tax, but I hear the crime is horrible & target elderly at times, and insurance premiums are astronomical there.
Why do you want to move from where you are currently living?
How much do you think it will cost you to move including selling your home, paying movers, paying real estate commissions, paying for housing hunting trips, scoping out new services such as doctors and financial institutions?
Is the cost of moving (the answer to the above question) worth the supposed tax savings of another state?
Where are your kids and family located? This trumps just about everything in most cases.
Do you have a large social network?
What is your budget?
What type of housing are you looking for?
Do you have military benefits?
Pensions? Have you researched states' taxation policies on pensions?
Would you live in a place with lots of snow and rain all year to save $1000/year? In other words, what about things like weather?
Would you live in a place where you were the 1% demographically if you could save $1000/year (For example, you're the only Asian in a population of everyone else.)
What is a good state to retire in? Looking for low state income taxes & property taxes, low insurance premiums, and low crime. Looking for a place that has or is close to culture & ammenities. How does Washington State fit the bill? What about Virginia, outside NOVA? Any other places? Texas and Florida have no state income tax, but I hear the crime is horrible & target elderly at times, and insurance premiums are astronomical there.
It sounds like you're looking for Nirvana; listing all the elements most people want in retirement but generally not all of which are available anywhere. Add most weather preferences and I don't really believe such a place exists anywhere.
There is far more to "place" than mere financial considerations. For instance, when we made a 2,000 mile move in retirement we move to a region we loved but equally important, a culture we wished to live within. Financial considerations were somewhat important but joy in our surroundings were and remain more important. Coincidentally, we do benefit greatly from local COLs and at our current ages pay no state income taxes but others are taxed because of the sources of their incomes.
As brainwashed pointed out, there are a lot of other things to consider.
PS. I see that you're in Houston so you already live in an income tax-free state. So what else are you really looking for?
Last edited by Curmudgeon; 09-21-2013 at 09:23 AM..
Define culture..... I so desire to live in a little artsy fartsy, hippie dippy town but find most of them way expensive for our puny budget. I fell in love with Portland but would have to camp with the homeless there. Just the way it is. I also find a lot of soon to be retirees want paradise but do not have the chump change it takes. I will always hold the original Sun City in AZ high on our list due to the numerous recreation centers, fantastic pools, hundreds of clubs and 7 well maintained golf courses for only $445 a year (+ or -) and $20 a year HOA dues which you do not have to pay. Our taxes are very reasonable and I believe ours will be around $900 for over 1,700 square feet. AZ is probably not where we would have landed if we had more income, but we found a place to keep busy and happy in.
Property tax is another thing that varies depending on where you are in the state.
Where I live in Williamsburg, VA my property tax is $0.57/$100 assessed value. Is that high? Maybe, if compared to rural areas of VA. If a county doesn't need a lot of amenities, taxes could be lower. But, you often don't get some amenities I think are important.
FWIW, we looked at cities in several states, and most had property rates closer to or above $1.00/$100 assessed value. But that reflects the types of communities we like to live in (i.e. lots of amenities) 0.57 was the lowest rate we found when compared to the other places we considered retiring.
This is another reason to read some of the threads we've had previously. Just this one issue alone is enough to result in several pages of well thought out contrasts and comparisons posted by people who have spent several years comparing cities before choosing where they wanted to retire. Why not benefit from this richness? You'll learn a lot more than you will from reading a simple list from a magazine. A list isn't going to tell you much, especially since everyone has different situations.
Property tax is another thing that varies depending on where you are in the state. Where I live in Williamsburg, VA my property tax is $0.57/$100 assessed value. Is that high? Not compared to the other places we considered retiring. Just about every place we looked at had property tax over $1.00/$100 assessed value. Then again, it could be high compared to rural areas or other such places that don't need a lot of amenities. As someone else pointed out, every place has it's pros and cons, and it all comes down to what you are willing to trade off.
I agree with your points. It does depend on location. In Williamsburg your taxes are not too high but had he been considering the DC area or Seattle WA area both of those areas are even higher than 1:100. Still Williamsburg is a wonderful place to golf
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
A basic error or two
