Two hot retirement states, one expected, one surprise
- Thread starter GON
- Start date
Poverty rate of WVA is 17.10%. for comparison, SC is 14.68%, TN is 14.62%, and GA 14.28%. So yes there is a bit more poverty in WVA, but its not much more than some others. Another way to look at it is that 80+% of WVA is not impoverished. I am sure there are some excellent places there to live, just as in all states.
More like they are in top 5 states for highest poverty.
They need the state income tax to assist that larger population compared to other states.
How about what you play for insurance and property taxes? Are you getting any benefits from prop 13? I would assume property taxes, insurance and car registrations have to be near your top ten expenses.
I have Costco Connect for cars and home; prices are very reasonable IMO.
I purchased our main home about 1994 so my property taxes run only about $6K per year. I bought the worst house in a top area; the appreciation has been off the freakin' charts. If you bought our home today, you would on the hook for far more, so yes, prop 13 has helped tremendously in that regard.
My recurring costs are very low. The last few years have seen other expenses dwarf them.
West Virginia would be a terrible place to be old and to have a sudden heart attack, out in the boondocks.
If I lived there, I would consider Huntington or the Eastern Panhandle.
If I lived there, I would consider Huntington or the Eastern Panhandle.
AZjeff
$50 Site Donor 2023
The linked article said this:
Do people really retire then move to the cheapest place to live they can find?
So the state COL is 16% below national average but health care is lacking and the winters are cold with significant snowfall. Just what retired people are looking for.
Do people really retire then move to the cheapest place to live they can find?
GON
$150 Site Donor 2025
Cost of living is definitely part of the equation for some. Definity a criteria for my bride and me (actually me only- my bride doesn't care).
One can look at Billionaires that have recently fled California, Washington, and Illinois. They all have one thing in common, going from a domicile with state income taxes, to states with no state income taxes.
WV would be a balmy escape for retirees in the north.Some do, its called geographical arbitrage. Certainly not for everyone but its always good to have a choice. Its not confined just to retirees, people of all ages have exited states with runaway cost of living. This has been discussed a lot here over the past 1-2 years.
GON
$150 Site Donor 2025
The oft overlooked trend that during the pandemic a huge number of hedge funds and other financial firms moved from NYC - mostly to Texas or Florida. Could simply have been weather, but neither has a state income tax.
NYC won't recover IMHO. Or at least they will need to find different industries to move in because those won't return. It was likely a small number of people, but if your a trader making $1M + yearly, then a few percentage points state income tax is a lot of money, whether it affects there standard of living or not.
https://nypost.com/2023/08/21/new-y...in-wall-street-business-as-firms-flee-report/
AZjeff
$50 Site Donor 2023
Yeah you were looking nationwide for properties with specific criteria regarding financing. Are you truly location agnostic for your domicile if it meets other metrics? I remember you were looking at property in coastal Louisiana (?), a far cry from a property at Alamogordo NM. Couldn't be more different climate wise.
The COL is higher here than where we moved from 20 years ago but wild horses couldn't drag us back to NW Pa to live our retirement years even though we would be better off financially.
COL varies wildly within a state as well. There are affordable places in parts of California, and unaffordable places in South Carolina. Comparing at a state level isn't that helpful. Look even at little WV. You have counties that aren't that far from DC, and you have counties that really couldn't be much more remote.
I know, his income tax for one year is more than I will ever make in my life, I think close to a billion?
GON
$150 Site Donor 2025
New Mexico was an interim buy. We were essentially homeless, and felt the home in New Mexico was priced so favorable that we have other options for a long term housing solution without being under financial duress. We don't need to sell the new Mexico home in order to purchase a long term home.
Similar threads
