10 Best Cities For ‘Successful Aging’

I guess all those retirees living in NYC and Boston don't exist? They have great public transit, you don't have to travel far to get places if you don't want to, and there are plenty of things to do. Also, if you lived and worked in one of those areas prior to retirement money probably won't be that much of an issue.

Ken: I've lived here for 20 years. I have seen many people attempt to retire here only to discover how expensive it is to live out here in the middle of the ocean. Hint: Bring lots of money!

mstipton–Good point. Seattle has world-class medical facilities plus if you are not retired you probably can get health insurance in Washington with a health questionaire that most can pass... very generous. According the one of the online insurance companies there are only 7 or 8 states that most can obtain health insurance.. Washington, NJ, NY and others. This has to be a consideration if you are under 65 and retiring early and will need to buy your own private insurance. You do not want to move and be surprised when you apply for insurance and do not qualify.

Madison metro area (Dane Co) has a million residents. Cost of living isn't bad if you don't need to live in close proximity to the University. Shop wisely (Copp's, not Whole Foods) and you'll do fine. But PLEASE don't come here to retire. We need a mix of ages and ethnicities and don't want to end up being a "retirement village" like so many of those places in the sun belt.

Thanks for having the courage to tell the bitter truth. Unfortunately, too many folks will disregard what you have written or choose to ignore it as it is painful to read. But you said it and we needed to hear it.

Hyperthermia (hot) is more likely and more dangerous for the elderly than hypothermia (cold). In the US, many more elderly die in heat waves than die in cold snaps, every year. In extreme outdoor temperatures, it's easier to warm up than to cool down. Try visiting those "dream" temperatures first. Otherwise, be careful what you wish for, you may not actually like it in the long run. There are substantial reasons for the fact that 70% of the population of California, easily our most populous state, is clustered in the temperate coastal areas; it rarely snows and it's rarely as hot as the inland regions. Florida, except for hurricanes, has the same attraction.

for me this could be called "20 places I don't ever want to live (especially Utah)"

...says the person who's obviously not elderly, and has never lived in any of them.

Broken hips for elderly people are not their preferred choice I bet!

Congratulations CNN, this story is the funniest thing I've ever read!

There are a lot more factors than weather. I live in Pittsburgh and from a weather and terrain standpoint I completely agree. However, PA is a very good retirement state because they have lots of public support for them. Something like 30% of lottery sales go directly towards programs for the elderly. Pittsburghs crime rate is low and people are generally friendly. UPMC and WPAHS are some of the best health organizations in the country. And you get to root for the Pens and the Steelers

I work in the senior healthcare industry, and you would be surprised to hear how many people call in asking if the company that I work for has facilities in the northern part of the states. I just spoke with a woman last week who told me that she can't wait to live somewhere that isn't summer year round. She told me that she had her snow boots and winter coat ready to go.

I kissed my way up to VP at a health insurance company. Now I take over $500,000 of your health care dollars for NO VALUE ADDED to your health care. And that’s just me. Now think about how many other VPs, Directors, Managers, etc. are at my company alone. Now multiply that by thousands of others at hundreds of other health insurance companies. From 10 to 25% of your health care dollars go towards administration that adds NO VALUE to your health care. But my company’s PAC dollars will continue to fool you little people into thinking that a single payer system will be bad. Little people like you are so easy to fool. Little people also don’t realize that a single payer system is the ONLY system that would allow little people (as an entire country) to negotiate better health care prices. Little people don’t realize that the Medical Cartels already know that. And that is the reason why the Medical Cartels spend so much PAC money from the hospitals and doctors lobbying against a single payer system. Some little people say that a single payer system would cost you little people more. But if that were true, then wouldn’t the hospitals and doctors WANT that extra money? Yes they would. So why do the Medical Cartels lobby against a single payer system? It’s because the Medical Cartels know it would allow little people to negotiate better health care prices. And that’s what the Medical Cartels are afraid of. Period. But us big wigs at insurance companies, hospitals, and pharmacy companies don’t ever need to worry about health care no matter what it costs. We get our health care paid for one way or another by you little people. And we get the little people that work at our companies to contribute to our PACs. And us big wigs say it’s to protect the little peoples’ jobs. But in reality it would be in the little peoples’ best interest to NOT contribute to the PAC. Again, little people are so easy to be fooled. I won’t ever have to worry about losing my job with so many little people being brain washed by the Medical Cartels’ PAC money. Not only that, the Medical Cartels’ PAC money is used to elect so many republicans that will never allow a single payer system. Republicans have always fought against any meaningful health care reform. But that’s what our Medical Cartels’ PACs pay them for. Politicians can be bought so easily. Pretty soon the only people that will be able to afford health care is us big wigs. And that’s the way it should be. We don’t want you little people using up the resources when we need them. And once again, I thank you little people for capping my SS tax at the $106,800 level. Now I only pay 1.3% SS tax and you little people pay 6.2%. Also, thank you for extending my tax breaks. I’m using the extra money on my vacation houses.