We are looking for a place to retire, low taxes, friendly people, healthy living, low crime..NOT in the South!

Need a place with active, thinking, young minded early retired folks not the dead zone! Want the area to be affordable and not the country club set (been there, done that). Weather is not a big deal but within reason. If you need your own snow plow to live there, it will not work. I understand boomers are redefining areas to retire in soooooo, please share your ideas. College towns are good but population should be no more than 60 thousand as some level of quaint would be nice. A active downtown with cafe's, shopping, stores, galleries, evening entertainment (as well as local malls or strip malls) but a nice downtown would work for us. Please share your ideas as this may be YOUR question one day! Thanks.

Public Comments

1. How about San Antonio, TX or do you consider that to be part of the south? I've never been there but from what I've seen in brochures, newspaper articles, and the internet. It looks like a beautiful place. I've been to Houston and was reasonably impressed with the people there. I live in Massachusetts. (taxachusetts) You don't want to move here. Snowplow optional. It's probably required though. We have one. I have lived in Charlotte, NC. It's a nice city. It's affordable but it's in the south so.... I love San Diego. Maybe Palm Springs, CA? I don't know what the taxes are like there. I'm sure they are high. Maybe Scottsdale, AZ? I know some people that moved out there and they love it. I've heard great things about Denver, CO. I don't know if you would need a snowplow. I know that it's not in the mountains and not what you think of Colorado normally. It might be worth checking out.
2. Lafayette, IN is a college town with basically everything you described. We've got a great downtown scene, lots of great shops and galleries, great music (all kinds) - we even have a silent theater that has its original organ! The weather here can get pretty cold and snowy, but you'd never need your own snowplow. Good luck on your search!
3. San Jose, Costa Rica.
4. Look into Delaware. Taxes are cheep as heck on homes, no sales tax, you have the beach to the south and Philly to the north. Good luck! If you go to the midpoint and move to Dover you have college and military town! Fun but safe!
5. I'm attending college in Pittsburgh, PA and I've noticed that western PA is very inexpensive. I'm originally from NJ where home prices are very high and I was astonished at how low prices were over here. My fiance and I are in the process of buying a 2800 sq. ft., 4 bed, 2.5 bath foreclosure property in a very nice neighborhood for $25K. There are a lot of new houses, townhouses and condos being built around for as low $120K or you can opt to go the foreclosure route like my fiance and I have. A couple of nice towns around here are Cranberry Twp., Moon Twp., Coraopolis and Wexford.