Benefits of Retiring in North Carolina

North Carolina has become an increasingly popular choice for retirees looking to find a more relaxed lifestyle and lower costs to accommodate on a fixed income. While many other states have lower income and sales tax rates—or none at all—they are often regions with dismal economies, such as Mississippi, or are simply far too remote from the rest of America to satisfy all but the hermit-minded. Florida's warmer, Wyoming is cheaper, but North Carolina is drawing more and more of the recently-retired who are looking for a comfortable place to live out their Golden Years. Here are some of the benefits of retirement in North Carolina.

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• Low Housing Costs - This does not apply statewide, as there are municipalities, such as Highlands, that are definitely on the ritzy side, with prices to match, but there are many charming cities, towns, and villages where a house can be bought for under $150,000. One of these is New Bern, described in a Market Watch article as "the quintessential charming small town near the sea." In fact, the Tar Heel State is chock-full of towns of very imaginable character, from bustling cities such as Asheville to beach towns to hill villages, and most of them are eminently affordable to refugees from the workaday world.
• Charming Architecture - You may not think about it much while you're sitting in your office, but after you've retired you will spend a great deal of time strolling the streets of your chosen sanctuary, and you want it to be a place worth looking at. Again, tiny New Bern serves as an example: it boasts no fewer than four historic districts, comprising some 160 homes listed on the National Historic Register. Who wants to spend their last years surrounded by cinderblock and stucco?

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• A Vivacious Cultural Scene - The North Carolina College Finder lists no fewer than 54 institutions of higher learning in the state. Not only do they provide elders with a chance to broaden and exercise their minds with adult classes, it also assures a constant ferment of art shows, concerts, theater productions and more to keep them entertained.
• Seasons and Geography - The Tar Heel State has generally mild weather, with some snow in the hills and uplands, but rarely anything on the level of a winter storm in Boston or Chicago. In effect, you have "seasons lite," - just enough change to make you appreciate each stage of the year, without burying your doorstep in white stuff. It almost never snows along the coast. Furthermore, with beaches, islands, and world-renowned mountain ranges all at hand, North Carolina has something for everyone—except desert rats, but they're already in Arizona anyhow.

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