Looking to retire to Midwest uni/college town

Pittsburgh has a medwest vibe.

Flagpole wrote:

Knoxville or Nashville, TN - College towns, both. Low cost of living. Lots of Midwest transplants. Mostly mild winters, but if the cold is coming, there are VERY cheap flights to Orlando, FL. Get on one and stay in a hotel there for a week.

In my opinion, all three are better choices than any Midwest town for retiring in. Asheville would be my top choice if I were you.

Cost of living in Nashville has skyrocketed. Housing market has exploded. Hotel industry is absurd. Traffic is diabolical. Definitely wouldn't put it on any list.

not music city wrote:

Flagpole wrote:

Knoxville or Nashville, TN - College towns, both. Low cost of living. Lots of Midwest transplants. Mostly mild winters, but if the cold is coming, there are VERY cheap flights to Orlando, FL. Get on one and stay in a hotel there for a week.

In my opinion, all three are better choices than any Midwest town for retiring in. Asheville would be my top choice if I were you.

Cost of living in Nashville has skyrocketed. Housing market has exploded. Hotel industry is absurd. Traffic is diabolical. Definitely wouldn't put it on any list.

Oh, the weather is horrendous. Pretty much no spring or fall the last few years, and the summer is utterly oppressive. The heat and humidity are truly intolerable. Dew points 70-75 for two to three months. Forget running outside, or most any outdoor activity.

aktion t4 wrote:

Pittsburgh has a medwest vibe.

How about Provo, then?

You're too old to be making the bar scene, but the mountains are right there.

Madison housing is expensive for a midwest city. Property taxes are also high.

Donnie&Marie wrote:

aktion t4 wrote:

Pittsburgh has a medwest vibe.

How about Provo, then?

You're too old to be making the bar scene, but the mountains are right there.

Agreed, Provo/Provo canyon is real nice, but always having some random Mormon trying to save your soul gets old fast.

To the people dissing ‘Urbana Champaign’ you appear to know nothing, because NOBODY refers to it as ‘Urbana Champaign’ .

It’s Champaign-Urbana, with the hyphen. So you are clueless.

To others, Flagstaff and Colorado are not in the Midwest.

The amount of idiots chiming in on this site is amazing.

d3runneraf wrote:

I'm a college student at Grinnell in Iowa right now, and would really recommend Iowa City or Des Moines. The property isn't too expensive, there's lots to do, an active running and athletics community, and lots of value placed on education, arts, writing, etc. If you're at all politically invested, nearly every democratic politician comes through Iowa at least 3 times per election cycle due to the caucuses, which really spices things up here.

I recently moved to DSM. I'd say the running kind of sucks. No real trails anywhere. A lot of the paths are cement. There are a few good trail systems which are on asphalt.

I haven't done any races yet so no idea what the "scene" is like. housing, utilies, etc are pretty cheap though.

tarckstar wrote:

First off, you'll freeze. As pleasant as 'the Midwest' may be for a few days in the spring, summer, or fall, it's the damn Arctic for far too long in the winter. If you've never experienced ice that will entomb your car and make power lines fall down, you will.

That said, if you really want to experience this, and more (trust me), consider Lawrence, KS.

... and the gnats and black flies. MYGAWD, THE GNATS AND BLACK FLIES! Stay far away from the Midwest. Californy is the place you oughta be ...

elviejo wrote:

... and the gnats and black flies. MYGAWD, THE GNATS AND BLACK FLIES! Stay far away from the Midwest. Californy is the place you oughta be ...

California is not exactly Midwest, it's very expensive and now they have these compulsory power outages. On top of it lot's of wild fires every year. What fun that is.

You don't drive far do you?

Hunke wrote:

Other towns to consider that seemed pleasantly midwest in my passings through:

Decorah, IA

La Crosse, WI

Ashland, WI

Waverly, IA

Winona, MN

Dubuque, IA

My comments wrote:

To others, Flagstaff and Colorado are not in the Midwest.

You're right about Flag, yet Ft. Collins is closer to Nebraska culturally than it is to Telluride, Aspen, or Leadville.

Mojave desert sucks wrote:

Kingman, Barstow? Really?

You forgot Needles.

These are all shiteholes in the Mojave desert. I wouldn't wish my worst enemies there. This is hell on earth.

I be jus quotin' my song's lyrics. Silly person, you shouldn't have thought that I would really recommend those shiteholes in the Mojave desert. By the by, Needles isn't mentioned in the song, you silly savage.

I went to high school in Iowa City. It was okay. Nice town but couldn’t wait to get out of Iowa. Madison was better. I’ve been to Ann Arbor once it seemed pretty cool. Of those 3 Mad City, Ann Arbor, and Iowa City in that order.

My comments wrote:

To the people dissing ‘Urbana Champaign’ you appear to know nothing, because NOBODY refers to it as ‘Urbana Champaign’ .

It’s Champaign-Urbana, with the hyphen. So you are clueless.

To others, Flagstaff and Colorado are not in the Midwest.

The amount of idiots chiming in on this site is amazing.

I do know more than you.

Why not Evanston, home of Northwestern? Not too far from Chicago but far enough.

Champaign Urbana has absolutely nothing to offer besides the u of i.

Crime is rampant. Pancake flat. Concrete jungle.

I’m glad someone said it because it was bothering me to see Urbana-Champaign.

As someone who grew up in that area, I have to say the only reason I would consider moving back now is because I still have family there. There is definitely no draw for me otherwise.

Boulder