Best places to settle down/relocate

[lannisz]

I would love to get some input from everyone and hear about great small towns to live and work in? My husband is retiring from 25 years of gov't service next year and I will have completed my FNP/MSN program at that time. We are very interested in relocating to a small town, country, rural type setting. The kids are grown, so it would just be the two of us and our little pug. Any ideas folks?

(if you are worried about giving away one of those "best kept secret" places that hasn't been discovered yet, feel free to PM me. Thanks!)

[kearnicu]

We are in Huntsville, AL. It is one of the best kept secrets. It is very military oriented due to the orificenal being here (not sure if your wanting to get away from that or not) but coming from bigger city life 2 years ago, this slow pace is just great. The housing prices are incredible and you still get some of the big city benefits with Birmingham and Nashville both being 1 1/2 hours away and Atlanta only 3. Check it out.. Everyone said "ALABAMA" why on earth would you want to move there... Once here, it IS one of the best kept secrets around.... Good luck on your journey...

[NaomieRN]

I read Cary, North Carolina was the best city to live. Fairfield, Connecticut was rated number 9. There were other cities in Texas that made it to the top 20.

[tntrn, ASN, RN]

i'm thinking about settling in san francisco or seattle.

getting out of the desert and into a city where they pay nurses really, really well.

Well, better look into the taxes in Seattle before you decide to live there. The mayor of Seattle and the King County Executive announce plans on a weekly basis that would require another tax increase. Nurses do get a good wage, but if all those proposed projects get voted in, people there will soon be getting paid in dimes and quarters.

Actually most of the Puget Sound area is like that. We live in Pierce County and in 4 years we've decided we must sell our 5 acre dream home because the property taxes are nearing $9,000 a year and once my DH retires (iin 18 months), that's going to be too much of our retirement income for us to have any kind of real life.

[Midwest4me]

Yeah, they sure do pay nurses well in the SF area, but the average cost of a house where we live is over 600,000 and I think Phoenix is about half of that.

Although I don't live there now but have visited within the past few years and am a "midwest girl/Bible belt-kind-of girl" at heart, I would recommend some small towns in Illinois and Iowa. Something like Hoopeston, Illinois("sweet corn capital of the world") or Whittemore Iowa or Algona, Iowa. These are very nice towns with good, solid, friendly people and home prices are a TENTH of what DougRN2BE is looking at--(I cannot imagine paying 600,000 for a home and it not be a mansion)----that's right--they range from 60K on up---for HUGE houses, some with pools, some often out on farms!!!!

[lannisz]

Wow!! $60,000 for houses? That's incredible. We have been in Oregon for so long - fast approaching California prices - that we've forgotten there are actually nice places to live with affordable housing WITH acreage. My parents moved here thirty years ago and bought 20 acres for $20,000. They built their dream home on the land. Their property is now selling for over 1 million dollars. If they turn around and try to find another home to spend their twilight years, at least half a million will be gone. Isn't that ridiculous?

We can't retire here at these prices - nor would we want to, it's way too crowded and people aren't so nice anymore

Thanks everyone for all your replies! I'm excited about checking out all these areas, and looking forward to slow pace, small town life where we can afford to retire.