"The Most Livable Places at 50+", from dead tree AARP Bulletin for this month

[steve2470]

Last edited Thu May 7, 2015, 12:33 PM - Edit history (1)

*heavily edited*

Most livable neighborhoods

1- Mifflin West, Madison, WI

2- Upper West Side, Manhattan

3- Downtown Crossing, Boston

4- South of Market, San Francisco

5- Washburn, La Crosse, WI

6- Downtown Sioux Falls, SD

7- Southside, Virginia, MN

8- Downtown Bismarck, ND

9- Downtown Seattle

10- Downtown Los Alamos, NM
***************************

Most Livable Cities, Large

1- SF

2- Boston

3- Seattle

4- Milwaukee

5- NYC

6- Philly

7- Portland, OR

8- Denver

9- Washington DC

10- Baltimore

**********************

Most Livable, Medium

1- Madison WI

2- St. Paul, MN

3- Sioux Falls, SD

4- Rochester, MN

5- Minneapolis, MN

6- Arlington, VA

7- Cedar Rapids, IA

8- Lincoln, NE

9- Fargo, ND

10- Cambridge MA

*************************

Most Livable Cities, small

1- La Crosse, WI

2- Fitchburg, WI

3- Bismarck, ND

4- Sun Prairie, WI

5- Duluth, MN

6- Union City, NJ

7- Grand Island, NE

8- Kirkland, WA

9- Marion, IA

10- West Bend, WI

**************************

This is done by AARP via their "AARP Livability Index". I don't know if this is online or not.

eta: http://www.aarp.org/home-family/your-home/best-places-to-live/?intcmp=BUBB3

[hfojvt]

1. and there was my grandmother

on East Mifflin.

Silly to include Minneapolis and Saint Paul as medium cities when it's the 16th largest metro area in the country - over twice as large as Milwaukee, which is called a large city.

From personal experience, I'd stay away from anything in Iowa, although the weather is generally nicer than Wisconsin - thanks to the proximity of lake Michigan, Wisconsin (and the Twin Cities) are quite cloudy.

Be interesting to see what their metrics are for "liveability".

[steve2470]

2. here it is

https://livabilityindex.aarp.org/

[hfojvt]

8. still kinda hard to measure

1. housing affordability (based on what income?) - is that rent or ownership?

2. neighborhood - access to work, life and play. Not sure what that means although it seems like a metric that would favor large cities over small towns

3. transportation - safe and convenient options. Uhm, cars are sorta available everywhere. Also, I'd rather bicycle in a small town than a large city

4. environment - clean air and water. Well, that should favor small towns over large. Are there really places in the US that do NOT have clean water?

5. health - prevention, access and quality

6. engagement - civic and social involvement. Meaning what?

7. opportunity - inclusion and possibilities. Measured how?

[steve2470]

9. yes, exactly

I'm sure someone would love to retire in the middle of a forest somewhere. It's all subjective. Some love AZ, some love FL, some love Alaska, etc. The one huge flaw in their index is AFFORDABILITY. Upper West Side Manhattan ? WTF. You have to be high income, wealthy, or just luck out on a rental to live there, from what I know.

[hfojvt]

13. there could be some objective measures

What about sunshine? Most people prefer sunshine to scud (then again some people like to garden, either flowers or vegetables and would probably like some rain)

What about crime rates?

One thing about places like Fitchburg and Sun Prairie is that they are ex-urbs - a fairly short drive from a major metro area. So to some degree they have the advantages of small towns and big cities.

[KG]

3. Livable if you retired with a CEO's pension plan

[Coventina]

4. Hooray! I don't see AZ on any of those lists!!

Maybe people will stop coming here to die and skewing our demographics.

Joe Arpaio's biggest support comes from our retiree enclaves.
THEY are the ones who keep re-electing him.

[WinkyDink]

5. I'm 65, and I'll stay right here in my beloved Lehigh Valley, PA, with a kazillion health-care

places (hospitals, urgent care, doctors consortiums, etc.); art museum; airport; music galore (Easton State Theatre; Bethlehem Sands Casino Event Center; PPL Arena; Allentown Symphony Hall; etc.); festival and fairs; parks, pools, golf courses; real walkable downtowns; historical areas; colleges and universities; and lots more!!

http://www.discoverlehighvalley.com/

[hfojvt]

10. that's not what Billy Joel says

(avoids posting a link to Allentown)

340,000 people in Lehigh County.

To me, that's practically the population of a STATE. Lebanon looks nicer to me, or Williamsport. Get me away from metro areas.

[Greybnk48]

16. Beautiful area for sure!

I lived in Catasauqua for several years when I was very young and I loved it there. I've been back once as an adult and it's beautiful around there.

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. Here is what AARP Livability Index is all about.

We surveyed 4,500 Americans 50 and older to determine the aspects of community most important to them.
We then developed seven categories around those results—housing, neighborhood, transportation, environment, health, engagement and opportunity,
taking into account 60 different factors to rate communities in those categories.

So their criteria would depend on what one values.
San Francisco, for instance, IS a "good" place for....." The city is on track to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2017."

Yep..that is what AARP counts.

Meanwhile, real seniors are voting with their wallets and their feet, which is why the SE states, esp. Fla. is a retirement haven.
Expenses are cheaper, health care is access is good, weather is usually good.

btw.....AARP has developed into a huge marketing arm that sells every bit of information from its subscribers and hawks insurance and senior citizen merchandise heavily in its magazine.
The once famous discounts are easily available from other sources, like your credit card company or insurance company.

I admit to prejudice..been trying to get AARP to stop mailing me crap since 1995.
No matter that I moved across the continent, they find me and continue the mailings.

[steve2470]

7. yea the insurance thing does get on my nerves! nt

[KamaAina]

11. South of Market? Ha!

That's Techie Central, along with the Mission. I doubt there are very many people over 40 down there, let alone 50!

[kevinbgoode1]

12. I rather like my small midwestern town

Affordable rentals, medium-sized regional university, no shopping mall. We only have about 20,000 people, the town is like 2 miles by 2 miles. Free bus service - that's right - FREE. As a county seat, a hospital and a pretty good array of medical professionals. At least two supermarkets which deliver - one does it free every Friday. City swimming pool, nice parks, two lakes within ten miles.

On the down side, there is limited retail and entertainment opportunities, but for a senior, we have a movie theater, bowling, university events, a cute downtown park and shops around the square, a half-Penney (that's a JC Penney that's kinda half the normal size), the obligatory WalMart, Farm King and KMart. And how easy is it to shop online nowadays? We have Amtrak service to Chicago twice a day.

When my car died last November, I went through winter without wheels - and did just fine. I was able to get to the market (on the bus), plan out other shopping ahead of time, and get more walking exercise in during the week. Sadly, there is no bus service to my neighborhood on weekends (I'm on the edge of town) but with good planning, I had plenty of outings and met plenty of locals. I was grateful when I bought a new car this spring, but didn't feel rushed to do the deed.

Of course, the closest cities of any larger size are at least 50 miles away.

[seabeyond]

14. has anyone been to los alamos? i am thinking a quick easy trip there this summer? worth it? nt

[SheilaT]

15. I live in Santa Fe, about 45 minutes south of Los Alamos.

Los Alamos is, for all practical purposes, a company town. The company being the federal government in the guise of Los Alamos National Labs, LANL.

It's a beautiful location, location, in the middle of the Jemez Mountains. Norther New Mexico is gorgeous. Clear skies, meaning you cam REALLY see the stars at night. I love this desert. Los Alamos itself is in a heavily wooded area; in 2000 the Cerro Grande Fire, and in 2011 the Las Conchas Fire both threatened Los Alamos. The first one destroyed about 400 homes, and the second one didn't quite reach Los Alamos, although at least part of the city was evacuated.

Because of the Labs, Los Alamos is populated mostly by very highly educated people. It has by far the best public schools in the state because of that.

There's plenty of hiking if you like that sort of thing. Skiing in the winter. Your within easy driving distance of Taos, Santa Fe, and Albuquerque. Bandalier National Monument is nearby. It's the site of an old, long abandoned Pueblo.

Do check it out.

[seabeyond]

17. thank you so much. we often got to red river and then to taos. we love the feel of both. but, ...

here is my problem. mountain driving. my son swears i got ptsd driving the silverton, co. hwy. million dollar hwy. a horror story. death to us all. two itty lanes, no rail, no sides, 15,ooo foot drop offs. lol

colorado and some places in california are horrible with the drop offs. i am finding them a real challenge. so far, i have not had that issue with new mexico. there is more space, and not the same style drop offs. i can easily get to santa fe. what is the rod like from santa fe to los alamos? think bad. really really bad with heights. i think i am going to steer off bad. lol

also.

good with hiking and tourist town, how about lakes or whatever for fishing. and... we can spend a day in santa fe, boys have not done that yet, and we want to.

thank you so much.

[SheilaT]

18. Unfortunately, there's a degree of mountain driving

no matter how you get into Los Alamos. From the south there are drop-offs, but I don't think they're that bad. Don't know what you'll think. Do not be driving in that way towards sunset, because you'll round corners and the sun will completely blind you. However, driving there around sunrise is one of the most glorious drives there is, in my opinion. Anyway, the first two thirds of the drive are on relatively flat land, but the last ten or so miles you're getting into the Jemez mountains. Any chance you have a second driver available?

I am slightly familiar with some of the mountain driving in Colorado, and the road into Los Alamos is no where near that scary.

Since I don't fish myself, I haven't a clue about that. I don't really hear people talking much about it. However, there are any number of companies that provide white water rafting in that general area, so research them on the internet. It's another thing I've never done, so I can't be very helpful.

[steve2470]

19. kick for overnight crowd nt

[ananda]

20. But are those livable places affordable?

???

[PasadenaTrudy]

21. Santa Fe, NM

would be my pick. Beautiful city, good food, art, scenery. And much more affordable than my current location.