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Funny thing about Texans and Californians is that both are very proud of their states. You'll hear: "Don't you just love it here" from both in equal amounts.
Californians follow it up with "we have the best weather" and "best nature" and Texas with the "most friendly people" and "great cost of living compared to our economy."
People from Michigan and Florida seem to hate their state. In Michigan it's all about the economy and how it's always cold. In Florida it's always about the rude people and how it's always hot (and COL compared to wages). People in Michigan seem to like romanticizing about what states they're going to move to.
In Georgia I didn't detect any strong state mentality. People from Georgia identified with the "South" and Georgia seemed to be no more important than your specific county (which Georgia has millions of).
Most of these states are always rated as the BEST states to retire in, monetarily speaking.
You can actually afford to do things in your spare time there. This is probably the worst
Retirement info I have seen. I know people who are living the good life retired in New Mexico,
Texas, Tennessee, Louisiana and Arkansas.
Arkansas is especially good because the property taxes are very, very low, which is great for people on fixed incomes. The one drawback that I can think of in Texas is that property taxes are pretty high.
In fact, I just did a quick search and found that these are the states with the lowest property tax rates per value of property:
Louisiana - 0.18%
Hawaii - 0.26% Alabama - 0.33%
Delaware - 0.43%
West Virginia - 0.49% South Carolina - 0.50%
Arkansas - 0.52%
Mississippi - 0.52%
New Mexico - 0.55%
Wyoming - 0.58%
This makes a HUGE difference in budgeting by the way.
Here are the states with the highest property taxes per value of property:
New Jersey - 1.89%
New Hampshire - 1.86% Texas - 1.81%
Wisconsin - 1.76%
Nebraska - 1.70%
Illinois - 1.73%
Connecticut - 1.63%
Michigan - 1.62%
Vermont - 1.59%
North Dakota - 1.42%
Texas is the only state on the list. But wait - there's MORE - because Texas doesn't have income tax OR high sales taxes. States with no income tax:
Alaska
Florida
Nevada
South Dakota Texas
Washington
Wyoming
So - you really have to look at the total tax burden - not just property taxes. Here are the states with the lowest overall tax burden:
Alaska at 6.4% of income
Nevada at 6.6% of income
Wyoming at 7% of income
Florida at 7.4% of income
New Hampshire at 7.6% of income
And here are the states with the HIGHEST overall tax burden:
So - you just can't boil it down to THREE issues and use that to determine which states are the "best" or the "worst" to retire in. The implication of the OP is ridiculous.
It is a horrible article because it completely ignores cost of living/taxes. Forbes took life expectancy, crime rates, weather, AND economic factors into account and here is the list: Best: 10(tie)Texas, California 9 South Dakota 7 (tie)New Mexico, Florida 6 Colorado 5 Virginia 4 Arizona 3 Utah 2 Idaho 1 Hawaii So 5 solid red states, 2 generally leaning red states, 2 generally leaning blue states, and 2 completely blue states. Worst: 10 Rhode Island 9 Maryland 8 Maine 6(tie) New York, Ohio 5 Massachussets 4 Illinois 2(tie) Alaska, Pennsylvania 1 Michigan 1 red state, one 50/50 state(Ohio) and a bunch of totally blue states. Worst State For Retirement, Michigan - Best And Worst States For Retirement - Forbes
People are not friendlier in the south and the pace of life isn't slower there either. Why do people keep saying this stuff? It's RIDICULOUS!!
Small town life in Missouri is no slower on average than small town life in Pennsylvania. The friendliest people I've ever met are the folks met in Maine, Oregon, and Washington state...hands down.
The south does not have the market cornered on hospitality. I don't know why folks keep saying that.
I've lived many places and I find it to be true. I don't know about Maine, but I have been to Oregon and Washington and they did not impress me. And I have been to New York (Syracuse) and the ABSOLUTELY did not impress me there with regard to being friendly and hospitable. Quite the opposite, actually.
I have been to many places, and it has been my personal, first hand experience that people in the south ESPECIALLY LOUISIANA, are by far the most kind, caring, loving, generous, and wonderful people of all the states I have visited in my life. No contest. Texas is good, Alabama is good, Georgia is good, Florida is so-so, but nobody can beat Louisiana, not no way, not no how.
Funny thing about Texans and Californians is that both are very proud of their states. You'll hear: "Don't you just love it here" from both in equal amounts.
Californians follow it up with "we have the best weather" and "best nature" and Texas with the "most friendly people" and "great cost of living compared to our economy."
People from Michigan and Florida seem to hate their state. In Michigan it's all about the economy and how it's always cold. In Florida it's always about the rude people and how it's always hot (and COL compared to wages). People in Michigan seem to like romanticizing about what states they're going to move to.
In Georgia I didn't detect any strong state mentality. People from Georgia identified with the "South" and Georgia seemed to be no more important than your specific county (which Georgia has millions of).
Think that depends on where in Georgia. Atlanta area? Not so much state pride but South Georgia? You'll find plenty there. Was born and raised in Georgia, by the way. After spending most of young adult life living all over...about 13 states total, I came back to the South when it was time to have a family. Love the South and wouldn't want to live anywhere else again but I figured I should try out a bunch of places before I made that decision, hence my more nomadic nature of my 20's. Have noticed that South Carolina pride is very, very strong here. Been here about 20 years. Oh and Charleston residents pride themselves on being the friendliest people in the country. Must be one reason people are moving here in droves.
I find the OP's article extremely flawed and based on trends of retirees in moving to most of the mentioned states, seems like people's actions do not support the articles hypotheses.
That scenery isn't unique. Nice, but nothing you can't find anywhere else.
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