Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire What state would you retire in?

I don't know where you live now or exactly what your expectations are but "tromping around the desert" in the winter in either place is not really realistic, both can be too cold and windy to do much of what you are proposing. I am basing this on having spent quite a bit of time in winter in both areas. There is a reason that so many folks retire to Arizona.

My advice to anyone who is thinking of retiring to a different locale for retirement is to spend at least a year living there before buying and settling in permanently. Even a year can fool a person though, in 2017 we had about 3 ft of snow on the ground with continuous overcast and snow all winter, the last two winters we never had more than 4 inches and most of that was intermittent. Which was normal? - Neither, usually it is somewhere in between the two extremes.

I have seen quite a few folks move to this area based on their summertime experiences here, when winter came they found out it was a whole different ball game.

Another thing to keep in mind is your health - once you get away from major metropolitan areas health care becomes a real issue.

Just some things for you to think about when you picking out your place of dreams.

drover

Cool, I wondered about that after I posted. Minnesota has got a tiny elk herd, I'll never get drawn.

I plan to retire in Alaska.

Good answer. I "retired" to Northern Michigan when i was 30. The only reason it took so long was waiting for my wife to find work up here. Best move i ever made. I love the northwoods...and have never found anything else that compares for me. Oh yea...inland freshwater oceans arnt bad either.

Michigan below 10 is an absolute $hithole though.

The north country is groid free and devoid of humans for the most part. To be fair the Finns are a little odd

Funny someone mentioned elk...Michigans elk heard is doing well but it takes a while to get a tag. I have 2 friends that shot monster and i mean monster bulls in the past couple years. Hoping for one before too long myself. I get a bear tag every couple years and have always been able to get 300lb plus bears on the bait.

You got that right!
I finished up a 39 year corporate career that had me in Minneapolis the last 30 years.
Moved to Colo a year ago.
Cut my state income tax in half. Mn has a progressive tax that punishes successful people.
Cut my real estate tax roughly in half.
Mn has a very high estate tax, Colo has none.
I do miss the long and oppressive winters and humid mosquito laden summers though.
I have many friends that were seven or eight figure earners (annually). I can easily name a dozen that retired and left Mn for more tax friendly states. That would include, Tx, Fla, Tn, Wy, Az, NM, and Colo.
Someone mentioned Colo politics, yes, they are liberal, but not nearly as bad as Mn.

I'm already living there but if I had to make another choice, it would be Idaho.

What Drover sez. Wyoming is a wind tunnel. That's not so bad in the summer but is hell in the winter. Drive down I80 and look at all of those trees growing sideways. Semis always flipped on their sides. There's a reason Wyoming (as big as it is) has a population of only 500,000.
And forget being a wedo coming in from out of state to New Mexico. You aint going to find many friendly faces.

Number 1a on our list.

nealglen: VERY sound advice from drover.

Have a place in Northern Idaho, Athol

Dood... All Ya' all gots enough whigger methicans up there to fill the void. 😉 🤣

Just sayin...

I’m within 5 years of retiring now (I can go in 2 but momma has 5). Right now our sights are set on Florida but it all depends on what real estate does price wise in the next 5 years. I have got to have things to do in retirement or I’ll go stir crazy and fishing seems to be the best balance. Nice weather year round for inshore/offshore and operating costs will be low. I’ll pretty much put an end to hunting in my life though which sucks. The west is just not what I thought it would be and Colorado has so many cons for a retiree that within 6 months of living here we knew this wasn’t a place to live that was sustainable on a retirement budget. Not to mention the liberalism here is nauseating! Momma won’t go north of Colorado (hates the cold) so Idaho,Mt and WY are out. AZ and New Mexico don’t even speak English anymore. Southern Utah is home to her but there’s just not much to do there IMO, and hunting opportunities are so limited. Our plan is to take several months and travel around to a few different parts of Florida before we decide where we’ll call home.

Alaska cub,
Good plan, traveling around a while to look at the options.
Friend of mine mover to Pt Charolette Fla two years ago.
He’s now looking for a new retirement state. No hunting, and lots of bad weather in the summer.

I am 3 +years from retirement, but my work offered to let me tele-work, so I am doing it from WY!

I STONRGLY reocmmend the rent before you buy plan. That's what we are doing and it's been good so far, HUGE adjustment, but good.

The REDDEST one, already there.

Also never understood living, working and building a family in a state you don't like and plan to leave someday. and yes, I can say wastefully stupid Forest!

check out little burg called Queen NM

I picked MT

I plan on staying in MT, but taking a couple months off in winter to terrorize warmer climates with my pasty white skin . I've thought about AZ or Hawaii. Hawaii has the advantage of being able to VRBO a condo when I'm not using it. Plus fishing where you don't have to bore a hole first in January is nice. AZ I can drive too and don't have to fly which is handy.