by Art West

Created on: September 30, 2008

There are several good places to live when you retire.

You have to take many factors into consideration. What type of climate do you like? Do you want to be around water? What type of health care is available? What are the housing costs? What will groceries and utilities cost? How much are taxes and what is taxed?

Those are just a few of the things that should be considered as you look for someplace to live in your retirement years. Some people may be happy where they are, but for me, I want to move to a warmer climate.

I have looked at several places and have narrowed my choices down to 2 states. South Carolina and Tennessee. South Carolina is attractive to me because of the beaches. I have looked at the Garden City and Murrell's Inlet areas lately. The problem with the South Carolina beaches is the risk of hurricanes. That doesn't really bother me, but it bothers the insurance companies.

I think, at least at this time, my top choice is Chattanooga, Tennessee. Chattanooga is in the USDA climate zone 7a. I know that probably doesn't mean much to most people but what it means is that Chattanooga has a climate that can grow hardy palm trees. You probably are saying "they don't grow palm trees in Chattanooga". There are a couple of people in the Chattanooga area that have had success growing palm trees and I will be another person that will be growing a Windmill Palm in my yard.

Besides the palm tree deal, Tennessee is one of the top 5 tax friendly states. Tennessee has no state income tax except on interest or dividends from companies that do not do business in Tennessee.

Chattanooga is a fairly large city with some good entertainment options. They have a very good aquarium, good restaurants, a beautiful downtown and of course some good tourist attractions. Since Chattanooga is a city of over 150,000 they also have some good health care.

Being in the southeast corner of Tennessee, Chattanooga has a good enough climate that you could golf year round; however, looking at their average high temperatures, I would probably rest from mid December until mid February.

Chattanooga is also only about 2 hours from Atlanta so you could fairly easily go see professional sports. You are also only 7-8 hours from several coastal cities including Myrtle Beach, SC; Charleston, SC; Jacksonville, FL; and Panama City, FL. Any of those cities would make for a nice long weekend trip in the winter.

Of course Nashville is also only about 2 hours away. You are also fairly close to Knoxville, Gatlinburg and The Smokey Mountain National Park. As you can see, Chattanooga has many opportunities for short trips, but there are also opportunities for entertainment in the city.

When you factor in the location, the climate, the healthcare, the entertainment, Tennessee's low tax rate and low cost of living, Chattanooga gets my vote for the best place to live upon retirement.

Learn more about this author, Art West.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.