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this is all just fantasy but humor me if you will. I consider ideal weather to be mild year-round. the only place that seems to have that is san diego which is not appealing to me. other factors important to choosing where to retire (at least to me) are charm and cost of living. on the east coast, you could do portland, maine in summer and sarasota, fl in winter. what about colorado springs in summer and albequerque in winter? any other ideas? before i had though montana in summer and arizona in winter but...i know MT is expensive (in the most desirable areas). any others suggestions? what would your dream retirement location(s) be...if you value a mild climate that is? i've read on this forum that flagstaff comes somewhat close but i've also read it can have some nasty winters. anyway, i know this is a tired topic but i've exhausted the internet researching this stuff and still don't know. any ideas? thanks!
In the US, Southern Florida, the California coast or Hawaii are the best in my opinion. The chances of snowfall or freezing temperatures are slim to zero! That's the most important thing for me if I were to live in my ideal climate.
I love my Great Lakes! Would never chase warm temps, or perpetual sunshine! I'm retired, stayed in the midwest, moved 140 miles farther north, blocks from Lake Michigan, noisey waves, unpredictable weather.
I know this is fantasy but I don't need 2 places to live, I'm happy! Shocking but if I had hundreds of thousands of dollars I'd still be in the midwest, maybe go away for a few weeks for a winter break!
Lots of cities would fit the bill for me. Way more than two.
An unexhaustive list of cities for me to live in:
Rome, Italy - another mild place for its latitude. Could be very windy with changable temps in spring when I went there. It was warm at first (25°C when we got there) then very windy and cold. That was March 2002. I went in June/July 2007 and it was very sunny and warm. Gets a lot of convective weather too (30-45 thunderstorm days per annum). Seems Italiy is quite a thundery country. Maybe cus it is a peninnsula and gets sea breezes meeting in the middle
Sydney, Australia - A generally mild climate void of extremes and plenty of heavy rain/thunderstorms for excitement every now and again and quite humid, which I prefer.
Toulouse, France - extremely mild for its latitude - summer avg max is 28°C / 82°F
If I had to stay in England: London (used to live near there - summers were acceptable)
What's perfect depends more on the individual than the place. If I were to consider only climate....
I happen to like a dormant season. Without one, many of the fruit crops I can grow in my area or buy locally would be difficult or impossible to grow. So such places as coastal Hawaii or south Florida are out. I would want at least two months (but no more than four) with average temperatures below 50 (10) degrees.
On the summer side of things....Ideally, I would like two to four months of average temperatures passing 70 (~21.5) degrees with no month higher than 77 (25). This way I can grow more varieties of tomatos and peaches; stick in a few almond trees and still avoid the suffocating nonsense that the northern Sacramento valley endures.
So, who fits the bill temperature-wise and is still wet enough that I can actually grow something besides sagebrush and juniper? In the west, where I live, only towns and cities in northern and central Californis meet the criteria.
Ukiah, Healdsburg, Auburn, Placerville, Livermore, Sonoma (barely) and Paso Robles would be candidates - if weather were my only consideration.
Ukiah, Healdsburg, Auburn, Placerville, Livermore, Sonoma (barely) and Paso Robles would be candidates - if weather were my only consideration.
I think those areas would be my favorite climate in the USA. Would San Rafael and Santa Rosa work as well?
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I'm retired, stayed in the midwest, moved 140 miles farther north, blocks from Lake Michigan, noisey waves, unpredictable weather. 
