Starting to think about where to move for retirement . . . .

I will look into the Manchester airport; It might be larger than I expected.

I'm not usually a big fan of NH, although I do like the Hanover area for the University amenities and stellar health care system. And no state income tax would be a plus. I'm all in favor of true New England values (we get a lot of that in our own county), but there is a "Live free or die" ethos in NH that can often border on the extreme, so I'm not sure it would be my first choice for a home.

Only downside is that it looks like flights out of Manchester are pretty pricey. I just priced my upcoming vacation trip flying out of Manchester NH versus flying out of Bradley, and Bradley was much cheaper.

Grand Junction does have an airport that serves some major airlines with limited flights and destinations, just fyi. It’s a cool area if you love mountain biking, and Powderhorn Ski resort is only about 45 min away. Plus that town, while still kind of blah, is getting better all the time.

But, it’s a more conservative area than the rest of CO. You sound like you have a liberal bent to you, which means these places mentioned here like TN and UT aren’t going to appeal to you. I do agree with the poster who mentioned the Cedar City and St. George areas as very cool with lots of outdoor adventure very nearby. I also like NM. You might do really well in a Santa Fe, though I’d prefer Angel Fire or Taos area myself.

I don't mind places/people with a true conservative bent. I'm pretty fiscally conservative myself. I do try to avoid people who fall into the "crazy" category. (But I feel that way about left-wing extremists as well.)

Grand Junction is at 4600', so I think I'd get in good shape! But just based on geographic location, I think it's a little too remote for me.

Yes. Don't automatically think CA is a hi state tax state. It is if you have a large income.

One of the reasons I'm sticking where I live now (Cupertino, CA) is because the state taxes here are actually very reasonable if you're 'low-income'. I investigated NV, AZ and UT and I'd be paying more in state taxes in AZ and UT than Ido in CA (I've been retired for 4 years). Of course, NV would be zero state taxes but ... NV. If you can structure your income to be low CA is good. I am not planning on taking SS until I'm 70 so I only have cap gains, dividend and interest income. I do convert an appropriate amount of IRA/401K to Roth every year but I manage it to keep taxes 'low'. We do our best, eh?

And not having to worry about blowing a connection because there’s a ground stop somewhere messing up the route network (yeas, I’m a longtime veteran of ATL summer weather chaos). Small airports often have limited competition among airlines, leading to higher ticket prices in both cash and miles. I’m sitting on a whole bunch of United miles right now because every time I try to price out an award ticket, the first regional jet hop to Houston makes the entire darn ticket price out at ‘standard’ award levels and it ended up not being worth it. I do like being able to roll up to the check-in desk 45 minutes before departure and have plenty of time to catch my flight, but have paid dearly over the years for that convenience.

I think we’re looking for some of the same things. We’re doing a revisit to Oregon this summer because it had a good vibe when we were there in 2019 and we want to do a recheck. (The Washington side suburbs of Portland seemed the be better from a taxes/crime/appropriate levels of weirdness for us perspective.) Will also spend a few days in Bend for purely vacation purposes because the tech bros discovered it during the pandemic and home prices have gone crazy in recent years. There will also be a day trip to Corvallis- the Spousal Unit has a cousin who lives there and really likes it and on paper it seems like a nice college town with a well-educated permanent resident base.

But Colorado will probably win in the end because the spousal Unit says that 45F and raining is his least favorite weather temperature, and the sunnier and drier parts of Oregon are too close to Idaho philosophically. (Idaho is a hard No for us- Spousal Unit is in higher ed now and the politics in Idaho are screwing with higher ed in a way he doesn’t even want to go on vacation there on general principle.)

Sounds like Portland will be perfect.

Too much time of the year when it’s 45F and raining is probably going to be the dealbreaker. Denver also offers nice non-stop flights to the two other places in the country we have close family.

Currently have main home in Western suburb of Chicago and a place on a large inland lake in SW Michigan near St. Joe. Plan in 12 months is to sell Illinois and make primary residence in The Villages FL. Largest retirement community in the world, extensive trail network, 55 golf courses, pools and rec ctrs everywhere plus 6 town squares. Golf car community. Will keep Michigan and spend late May thru late October there. Coastal areas are no longer viable after seeing the havoc caused by Ian. The Villages is Central FL, one hour from Orlando and far less susceptible to hurricanes. Good luck in your search, nothing is permanent so if it doesn’t work, move again.

According to flagpole, you’ll be close to Nordic skiing. Lol

The Spousal Unit and I traveled to Portland for a vacation in 2017, even then the filth and drug vibe made it unpleasant. Unit vowed never to go back. We now take a pass on any place that has seen similar moves to promote social causes over basics, like enforcing laws.

Just drive a few miles further north and settle in Montreal.

How's the Nordic skiing in the Villages?

Not sure I am in position to recommend Charleston, but it seems to have everything I am looking for (climate, easy beach access, Dining/cafes/shops). I was hoping someone here could provide info.

About what you’d expect fro the climate. However if you want to get into competitive speed rollerblading, there’s a club in nearby Ocala that is a huge pipeline into USA’s Speed Skating national team. Weirdly, a disproportionate number of America’s best speed skaters come out of Florida despite there being no long track speedskating opportunities down here.

OK, fair enough. It seems like the Coach was just a bit disingenuous. He questions whether Idaho would welcome a Jew, and mocks my post. Then finds Minneapolis acceptable when the city council comes out against Israel in the Hamas conflict. Seems weird to me. Anyway, I wish him well in his search.

Thank you ALL for your helpful comments. It really helped me to solidify some of my thinking.

And with one exception - who I blocked so I didn't have to see any further posts - - - the responses were uniformly thoughtful and gave me some good insights. That's a real rarity on these boards, so thank you again!

Good thread, and although I'm not moving I will look into some of the places mentioned for a long vacation.