Retiring, WHICH State?

[AMF]

Coming from someone who's lived virtually everywhere, it all depends on what's important to you.

If cost of living isn't an issue, and you can stand the liberalism and illegals, California (San Diego) is the place to be.

Florida is nice, but the weather is more humid, and the bugs are much more plentiful. The laws here aren't as redonkulous (as Cali). The illegals are only a huge issue down in SE Florida (the rest of the state is about the same as the rest of the country).

If you're looking to capitalize on a cost of living disparity, move to ND (highest number of millionares per capita)...if you can stand the weather. ND has low crime, low cost of living, low pollution, and is usually in the top 5 for education. Great place, if you can stand 7 months of Winter, 1 month of Spring, 3 months of Summer and 1 month of Fall.

Montana (Western) is much more beautiful and tends to be more expensive nowadays (all the bourgeoisie from Cali and such that have moved in). Eastern Montana is about as interesting as a parking lot.

The Pacific NW is my favorite. Nice people (comparatively), cost of living is average to high (depending on where you're at), immigration issues are moderate, crime is relatively low, taxes are hit or miss (depending on the state).

I'd take a serious look at some of the better cities around the country. St Louis, Cincinnati, Tampa, etc.....all are cities that are large enough to do stuff (sports, concerts, festivals, nightlife,) and have a major airport, but don't have the outrageous cost of living or rediculous traffic that some of the other huge cities have (like Chicago, LA, NYC, etc).

By the time I'm ready to retire, I'm going to want to be far away from everyone so I'll probably either retire in Montana or Alaska. I'll have a vacation home here in FL with a primary residence in MT/AK or vice/versa depending on the tax advantages.