Arizona has been one of the country's top retirement destinations for decades now thanks to its sunbird friendly weather and low cost of living compared to other states. While residents of other retirement hot spots like Florida and California have to worry about natural disasters like hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes, Arizona residents generally have it easy (wildfires can be an issue, however). In Arizona, the climate is generally calm throughout the year, although summers can get very hot, it is a dry heat, lacking in the sweltering humidity that blankets Florida and the Eastern Seaboard in summer.
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"When people from the north want a warm, dry climate, they come here," Jeremy Kisner, president of SureVest Capital Management in Phoenix, told
MarketWatch.com. "I've never seen the migration go the other way."
For retirees on a fixed income, however, topping the weather is Arizona's affordability: the cost of living is about 5 percent lower than elsewhere in the United States. "One big reason we think you should consider Arizona for retirement is taxes. When living on fixed incomes, it's important you make sure you are living in a state where your money will last and the taxes are in your favor. Arizona is one of the most tax-friendly states and they don't tax your Social Security check," Moira McGarvey wrote for the
Huffington Post.
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When it comes to cost of living indexes, and which town to actually retire in, check out Bisbee. Located 90 minutes southwest of Tucson, Bisbee has long been a darling with Hollywood filmmakers, who can't get enough of its Wild West atmosphere and preserved Victorian architecture, not to mention the steep canyon walls boxing it in. Los Angeles producers aside, retirees love Bisbee thanks to its low housing prices.
"The median home is under $100,000, and the cost of living is nearly 10 percent below average. The local hospital has been surprisingly successful for a small-town medical center: it has procedures that let local doctors bring in specialists remotely, via video or Internet, so that patients don't need to go further away in an emergency,"
MarketWatch reported.
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