25 Best Places to Retire 2016 (Forbes Magazine)

Forbes

[With DonDiego's comments]

1. Walla Walla, WA [What! Really! #1!]
2. The Villages, FL [DD doesn't think so.]
3. Traverse City, MI
4. Smyrna, TN
5. San Marco, TX [Many years ago DD visited San Marcos and nearby New Braunfels; he found both pleasant; very warm Summers, but near San Antonio.]
6. Pittsburgh, PA
7. Mount. Airy, NC [The inspiration for Mayberry on the TeeVee.]
8. Meridian, ID
9. Lincoln, NE
10. Lexington, KY [DD has spent several enjoyable days in Lexington; he'd endorse this little city.]
11. Largo, FL
12. Grand Prairie, TX [W-a-a-a-a-y too close to Dallas.]
13. Fargo, ND [W-a-a-a-a-y to close to The Arctic.]
14. Corvallis, OR
15. Columbia, MO
16. Colorado Springs, CO
17. Clermont, FL
18. Cape Coral, FL
19. Brevard, NC [near the Great Smokies]
20. Bluffton, SC
21. Blacksburg, VA [Pretty Country]
22. Belle Vista, AR
23. Athens, GA [Awfully warm Summers]
24. Apache Junction, AZ
25. Abilene, TX [Too far from, . . . well, everything.]

Looks like reverse alphabetical order. Anyway, when I retire I'm done shoveling snow. That eliminates quite a few on the list.

Interesting about "The Villages": “Everybody always talks about the joke of going to The Villages, and the Senior STD rate being so high there," says fourth year med student Cody Davis, who visited a friend’s grandmother at famed central Florida retirement community The Villages.
"They're at a constant senior spring break sort of thing, so they're always partying and who knows what's going on there, but their STD rate for seniors is very high in The Villages," Davis says.

https://www.mysuncoast.com/health/sexually-active-seniors-facing-increased-risk-of-stds/article_e0b4b284-ae26-11e4-b72f-3b65d1ef5ff3.html

My (STD Free) parents live in the Villages. They love it. I hate it. But I get it.

They have more activities and social groups than a cruise ship...if you couple that with Viagara you can understand the STD problem that is very real =) There's lots of old-people money and even more gold diggers trying to get their hands on it.

- 65 year old men play softball in a stadium that rivals that of most minor league teams.
- Golfers can choose from over 30 courses to play at free or heavily discounted.
- Live music in the downtown area(s) happens nightly in addition to many scheduled concerts.
- They have an equestrian field with regularly scheduled polo matches.
- a thousand restaurants, pubs, shops, private clubs, galleries, and discounted movie theaters
- I don't care what hobby you are interested in - they have a club that centers around it. Gardening, poker, pottery, playing the accordion, hating Obama....
- And everything is accessible with your golf cart in a loosely gated community

Personally I find the whole place to be pretentious and over-commercialized. They used to have lots of single proprietorship businesses but now its mostly chain restaurants and national retailers...plus its about as geographically far from a beech as you can be in Florida. I'd choose Vegas over the Villages and I'm not interested in retiring in Vegas, either.

Pittsburgh?

Now how did poor old DonDiego not notice that?
(DonDiego retracts his astonishment at Walla Walla being first.)

Pittsburgh has ranked fairly high on lots of "where-to-live" lists over the last few years. The chilly, wet Winters are the major downside.

Here's a site that extols the virtues of Life in The City of Bridges; Pittsburgh is Better Than Any Other City

Oh, and Pittsburgh is the largest metropolis in Appalachia.

I doubt your parents would share STD information with you. I know I would not share it with my kids if I had an STD.

Santa Fe, NM is currently at the top of my list.

The Villages is Stepfordville for seniors

">https://www.mysuncoast.com/health/sexually-active-seniors-facing-increased-risk-of-stds/article_e0b4b284-ae26-11e4-b72f-3b65d1ef5ff3.html[/q

That's hilarious. I actually saw The Villages while I was looking at warmer places for my mom to move to. I've been trying to get her to move from Ohio to somewhere more southern, The Villages were one of the first that popped up. STD's?? Again, pretty funny.