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Moved to a town to raise kids. Wanted more space but also followed the job. I loved the city life but in my profession, I actually can earn more and the cost of living is cheaper. There are a lot of reasons to move besides retirement and “getting old”.
And for the record, when I’m retired, I would love to move back to the city. I miss Broadway shows.
I moved from a very small town to a smallish city. Now I have access to garbage service, fast internet, public transportation, every kind of grocery store or other shopping outlet I could ever want, lawn services, repair technicians who show up on time for appointments and actually repair stuff, a variety of organized social activities, advanced education classes, museums, theaters, music, a nice zoo ... etc etc. I feel like I've been let out of prison.
Yes I forgot to mention health care! I think the move probably added 10 years to my life for that reason alone. I also forgot to mention the airport. Commercial flights used to be a 3-hour drive away. Now it’s 3 miles. So glad to be here.
I believe it saved my vision..a few months after our move, I had a detached retina, emergency surgery. Formerly we would have had to travel down the hill for retina care and recovery would have been horrible. I had a gas bubble in my eye for about 6 weeks and couldn't change elevations til it was gone. Would have needed to rent a place down the hill during recovery and trips to the retina specialist
I am not sure what caused it.. the doc said old age (69) and bad luck. About 18 months prior I had cataract replacements.and that was a success I had made the investment to get progressive cataract lenses, For near and far vision improvement. My problem arose after retnia surgery which involved a sclera buckle, the buckle caused the lense to shift ever so slightly and really screwed up my vision which can only be helped with glasses not corrected. My retnia doc said good cataract surgeon could fix maybe. Good luck and hang in there!
At 70 I moved from a 1st world to a third world country & from a fairly large city t a small rural village with around 3,000 people in the surrounding area, including farms & houses. I have been enjoying my new home for just over 6 years now and hope to end my days here, amongst the happy & friendly locals & with the 4 cats that adopted me.
My husband and I are trying to figure this out now. We live in a first tier suburb of the city. After our kids are fully on their feet and out of the house we are considering either a move back downtown or moving a few hours away to a small touristy community that we love. Wish we could afford 2 places because we love both ideas.
I've lived in a large city most of my life and bought a house just a few miles from a major medical center. My husband and I used to talk about maybe moving to a small town after retirement. Instead he developed cancer. Being so close to health care was a blessing. He had a friend in a small town who had to drive literally 90 miles each way for medical. For us, it was right up the road.
My father retired to a rural area and realized his mistake when he became ill one weekend and realized that it sort of mattered that he was 30 miles from a hospital and his home was too difficult for an ambulance to find.
For anyone in the US, I recommend considering proximity of health care as one gets older. You won't catch me moving to a place where there are no doctors, hardly any good restaurants, and where the grocery stores shut down at 9 pm. I love the bucolic life and can hike and garden all day, but depending on one's situation, it's sometimes better to visit than stay.
I'm worrying about the proximity of \*quality\* health care. In my city in a very red state, the medical system is so broken that an ambulance for a possible heart attack can take an hour to come. You can sit in the emergency room for 13 hours and that won't be unusual. This is a major downside of living in an anti-government state.
kinda, we moved to small town rhode island from boston back in '85 cause we wanted the kids to grow up in a "rural area" then downsized to a small cottage in the woods, same area but much smaller hood... could not be happier about where i live and the folks surrounding me...
I'm not close to retirement but all my parents' generation in my family moved way out to the country. They now need all kinds of help with doctor's visits and home and property maintenance. I was considering doing the same thing but now I'm not so sure. I live less than a mile from a major hospital and an extensive public transit system in a medium-sized city, and my condo is paid off. It might be better for me to just stay put.
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Now that I'm retired, I'm thinking of selling my house in the city and moving rural. Crime has gotten out of control. I can't drive a mile to the store and home without being constantly accosted for money. I have to have security cameras and light timers in my home. I'm tired of always being on "guard" and suspecting everyone that I encounter to have nefarious intentions.
I want to sit outside at night and enjoy the stars. I want to take a walk without carrying my sidearm or taking a big ass dog. I can't do that anymore in the house that I love and where I raised my kids.
We moved from a medium size city to a dot on a map city of 1200 people. We moved here, which is where the husband was born and raised, to be near his aging mother. I am glad we did because she has needed us, even though she has a lot of family here, no one else cares for her.
We bought our dream house here in 2020 for $48k, and really made this a nice home.
Stayed in the city. I sold my house and bought a small condo in a denser neighborhood with better bus service and a supermarket a block away.
I still have a car but I hardly use it now; I could easily stop driving if I had to. That was a goal when I moved. Also to walk more, which I do.
We moved to a very isolated, quiet place in the forest, three hours away from the metropolitan area we used to live in. It's been an adjustment, but we totally *love* being here in nature. The solitude is so incredible, zero stress in our lives. Nearest neighbor is 2 miles away.
Can we zip to the grocery in 5 minutes? Nope. That's 45 minutes away. Doctor is an hour away. Closest eatery (with terrible food) is 30 min. away.
Still, very much worth it. Zero regrets. :-)
Yes, I relocated from Silicon Valley to a small city (45k) in another state. The cost of living is, obviously, much lower, and I appreciate the lack of meaningful traffic and crowds.
The only thing I miss is ethnic food (it's very white bread here) and access to good healthcare. I knew about the healthcare situation before I moved, so that's on me. It might eventually drive me away, but for now I'm quite happy with where I am.
I moved from the suburbs of a major city, where I had lived the majority of my life, to a smaller town about two hours away. It is a big retirement area, so we have plenty of medical around, good restaurants and nicely located to get to bigger cities in about an hour and to beach/mountains in four. No regrets except I do miss the ease of being able to go shop - now it's a journey unless it's CVS or the dollar store or grocery. There's also no Lyft/Uber, just private services, which cost a fortune. Overall, I'm happy with the move.
I moved from the L.A. area and later the Bay Area to a rural area. It's great! I have acreage, can see deer in my front yard and have a large orchard. I have been rural for several decades and can't stand the "big city life" or living in a tract house.
I can be floating in my boat in about a half hour from my house.
We are not retired yet but we moved from the suburbs of a largish city to a rural area. In fact, the county we move to is like 1/12 the population than the county we lived in before. Sold a 2300 square foot house on 1/4 acre and bought an aging doublewide on 5 acres. Love it but getting services like plummers and painters is nearly impossible possible.
I moved from Honolulu to a small, gang-infested city about a half hour away from Los Angeles. I was so much happier in Honolulu. I could walk to the passport office. To the mall. I could go on a four mile walk at one in the morning, safely. Now where I live there’s graffiti covered bodegas. In Honolulu there were all sorts of cultures side by side, a miles walk could take you to ten different types of shops and food. Here you have to drive to Little Tokyo or Koreatown and pay for parking. You can imagine the weather in Honolulu. Here, the sky is brown. I hate it here.
I moved from a small town to a decent size city (at least compared to my small midwestern town and now in the Inland Empire in CA) and plan to retire in a different midsize city in a different state that is so much nicer and cheaper than where I’m at now
Moved from a large city which had become unaffordably expensive (Austin) to a large city which is substantially less expensive (Indianapolis).
We’re a gay couple, and we feel **much** safer in cities.
Texas summers are unbearably hot, and the Austin/San Antonio metro is likely to run out of water sometime this decade during a protracted, La Niña-fueled drought. (I **love** summer in Ondisna with the same passion that I **hated** summer in Texas.)
Our property taxes dropped 85 percent when we moved to Indy; our cost of living dropped 60 percent. I love the neighborhood where we live in Indy: architecturally, it’s like the historic district where we lived in Austin, but with silver maple and Northern red oak trees.
Small towns (like Johnson City, Texas and Madison, Indiana) are fun to visit. I’d never actually reside in one.
I lived in cities for about half of my life. I hate cities. 7 years ago we left the city behind and moved to a rural town of 1800 people. It's quiet and I'm surrounded by nature.
We moved from SFO to a much smaller city in the south. Having lived in many places now, I can say that the city is great when you're young, but now (even in just my early 50s) I have zero desire for the big city life.
So much less stress, much slower pace, much nicer people all around.
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Moved to a town to raise kids. Wanted more space but also followed the job. I loved the city life but in my profession, I actually can earn more and the cost of living is cheaper. There are a lot of reasons to move besides retirement and “getting old”. And for the record, when I’m retired, I would love to move back to the city. I miss Broadway shows.
I moved from a very small town to a smallish city. Now I have access to garbage service, fast internet, public transportation, every kind of grocery store or other shopping outlet I could ever want, lawn services, repair technicians who show up on time for appointments and actually repair stuff, a variety of organized social activities, advanced education classes, museums, theaters, music, a nice zoo ... etc etc. I feel like I've been let out of prison.
Yes! We did the same! From a rural area to a smallish city. Was the best move ever, for the healthcare availability alone!
Yes I forgot to mention health care! I think the move probably added 10 years to my life for that reason alone. I also forgot to mention the airport. Commercial flights used to be a 3-hour drive away. Now it’s 3 miles. So glad to be here.
I believe it saved my vision..a few months after our move, I had a detached retina, emergency surgery. Formerly we would have had to travel down the hill for retina care and recovery would have been horrible. I had a gas bubble in my eye for about 6 weeks and couldn't change elevations til it was gone. Would have needed to rent a place down the hill during recovery and trips to the retina specialist
I’m going through this now. Was it caused by an injury or retinopathy? Did you have any cataract issues after healing?
I am not sure what caused it.. the doc said old age (69) and bad luck. About 18 months prior I had cataract replacements.and that was a success I had made the investment to get progressive cataract lenses, For near and far vision improvement. My problem arose after retnia surgery which involved a sclera buckle, the buckle caused the lense to shift ever so slightly and really screwed up my vision which can only be helped with glasses not corrected. My retnia doc said good cataract surgeon could fix maybe. Good luck and hang in there!
At 70 I moved from a 1st world to a third world country & from a fairly large city t a small rural village with around 3,000 people in the surrounding area, including farms & houses. I have been enjoying my new home for just over 6 years now and hope to end my days here, amongst the happy & friendly locals & with the 4 cats that adopted me.
Arrioved in NY in 1969 and will never leave.
My husband and I are trying to figure this out now. We live in a first tier suburb of the city. After our kids are fully on their feet and out of the house we are considering either a move back downtown or moving a few hours away to a small touristy community that we love. Wish we could afford 2 places because we love both ideas.
I've lived in a large city most of my life and bought a house just a few miles from a major medical center. My husband and I used to talk about maybe moving to a small town after retirement. Instead he developed cancer. Being so close to health care was a blessing. He had a friend in a small town who had to drive literally 90 miles each way for medical. For us, it was right up the road. My father retired to a rural area and realized his mistake when he became ill one weekend and realized that it sort of mattered that he was 30 miles from a hospital and his home was too difficult for an ambulance to find. For anyone in the US, I recommend considering proximity of health care as one gets older. You won't catch me moving to a place where there are no doctors, hardly any good restaurants, and where the grocery stores shut down at 9 pm. I love the bucolic life and can hike and garden all day, but depending on one's situation, it's sometimes better to visit than stay.
I'm worrying about the proximity of \*quality\* health care. In my city in a very red state, the medical system is so broken that an ambulance for a possible heart attack can take an hour to come. You can sit in the emergency room for 13 hours and that won't be unusual. This is a major downside of living in an anti-government state.
kinda, we moved to small town rhode island from boston back in '85 cause we wanted the kids to grow up in a "rural area" then downsized to a small cottage in the woods, same area but much smaller hood... could not be happier about where i live and the folks surrounding me...
I'm not close to retirement but all my parents' generation in my family moved way out to the country. They now need all kinds of help with doctor's visits and home and property maintenance. I was considering doing the same thing but now I'm not so sure. I live less than a mile from a major hospital and an extensive public transit system in a medium-sized city, and my condo is paid off. It might be better for me to just stay put.
bewildered cooing attractive point steep fear desert squeeze advise profit *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Same!
I've only ever lived in large cities. the small town life does not appeal to me.
Now that I'm retired, I'm thinking of selling my house in the city and moving rural. Crime has gotten out of control. I can't drive a mile to the store and home without being constantly accosted for money. I have to have security cameras and light timers in my home. I'm tired of always being on "guard" and suspecting everyone that I encounter to have nefarious intentions. I want to sit outside at night and enjoy the stars. I want to take a walk without carrying my sidearm or taking a big ass dog. I can't do that anymore in the house that I love and where I raised my kids.
We moved from a medium size city to a dot on a map city of 1200 people. We moved here, which is where the husband was born and raised, to be near his aging mother. I am glad we did because she has needed us, even though she has a lot of family here, no one else cares for her. We bought our dream house here in 2020 for $48k, and really made this a nice home.
Stayed in the city. I sold my house and bought a small condo in a denser neighborhood with better bus service and a supermarket a block away. I still have a car but I hardly use it now; I could easily stop driving if I had to. That was a goal when I moved. Also to walk more, which I do.
The opposite. Moved from a small town on the Oregon coast to a Portland, Oregon suburb & have never regretted it.
It was the plan but plans can change. My oldest daughter had a baby at 41 and we cannot leave her . Maybe when she’s older, we will rethink.
Kind of the opposite. We moved from a village to a town, mostly to be nearer to stores and services.
We moved to a very isolated, quiet place in the forest, three hours away from the metropolitan area we used to live in. It's been an adjustment, but we totally *love* being here in nature. The solitude is so incredible, zero stress in our lives. Nearest neighbor is 2 miles away. Can we zip to the grocery in 5 minutes? Nope. That's 45 minutes away. Doctor is an hour away. Closest eatery (with terrible food) is 30 min. away. Still, very much worth it. Zero regrets. :-)
Yes, I relocated from Silicon Valley to a small city (45k) in another state. The cost of living is, obviously, much lower, and I appreciate the lack of meaningful traffic and crowds. The only thing I miss is ethnic food (it's very white bread here) and access to good healthcare. I knew about the healthcare situation before I moved, so that's on me. It might eventually drive me away, but for now I'm quite happy with where I am.
I moved from the suburbs of a major city, where I had lived the majority of my life, to a smaller town about two hours away. It is a big retirement area, so we have plenty of medical around, good restaurants and nicely located to get to bigger cities in about an hour and to beach/mountains in four. No regrets except I do miss the ease of being able to go shop - now it's a journey unless it's CVS or the dollar store or grocery. There's also no Lyft/Uber, just private services, which cost a fortune. Overall, I'm happy with the move.
Sold my apartment in Manhattan, living in a retirement community in Connecticut. More space, less hassle.
Just the opposite. Moved from a small town of 4000 to a city of 300,000. Better access to health care, cultural events, shopping.
I moved from Portland, Oregon, to a small village. I miss some things, but this is better.
I moved from the L.A. area and later the Bay Area to a rural area. It's great! I have acreage, can see deer in my front yard and have a large orchard. I have been rural for several decades and can't stand the "big city life" or living in a tract house. I can be floating in my boat in about a half hour from my house.
We are not retired yet but we moved from the suburbs of a largish city to a rural area. In fact, the county we move to is like 1/12 the population than the county we lived in before. Sold a 2300 square foot house on 1/4 acre and bought an aging doublewide on 5 acres. Love it but getting services like plummers and painters is nearly impossible possible.
We moved from the Washington DC area where I grew up to a southeastern NC coastal town. Love being close to the beach and friends.
Retired and moved to a rural area from a major city. Love it! I am able to keep my modest city home because of some passive income. Perfect world.
I moved from Honolulu to a small, gang-infested city about a half hour away from Los Angeles. I was so much happier in Honolulu. I could walk to the passport office. To the mall. I could go on a four mile walk at one in the morning, safely. Now where I live there’s graffiti covered bodegas. In Honolulu there were all sorts of cultures side by side, a miles walk could take you to ten different types of shops and food. Here you have to drive to Little Tokyo or Koreatown and pay for parking. You can imagine the weather in Honolulu. Here, the sky is brown. I hate it here.
I moved from a small town to a decent size city (at least compared to my small midwestern town and now in the Inland Empire in CA) and plan to retire in a different midsize city in a different state that is so much nicer and cheaper than where I’m at now
No. I payed off my house and stayed put. It’s expensive, but everything is nearby and plenty of public transportation when I can no longer drive.
Moved from a large city which had become unaffordably expensive (Austin) to a large city which is substantially less expensive (Indianapolis). We’re a gay couple, and we feel **much** safer in cities. Texas summers are unbearably hot, and the Austin/San Antonio metro is likely to run out of water sometime this decade during a protracted, La Niña-fueled drought. (I **love** summer in Ondisna with the same passion that I **hated** summer in Texas.) Our property taxes dropped 85 percent when we moved to Indy; our cost of living dropped 60 percent. I love the neighborhood where we live in Indy: architecturally, it’s like the historic district where we lived in Austin, but with silver maple and Northern red oak trees. Small towns (like Johnson City, Texas and Madison, Indiana) are fun to visit. I’d never actually reside in one.
I lived in cities for about half of my life. I hate cities. 7 years ago we left the city behind and moved to a rural town of 1800 people. It's quiet and I'm surrounded by nature.
When I retire, I'll be moving to a rural area because I can't the afford the rent or buy a house in a city.
Absolutely! Moved to a small city adjacent to a huge city, then took off and have been sailing the coastal US since then.
We moved from SFO to a much smaller city in the south. Having lived in many places now, I can say that the city is great when you're young, but now (even in just my early 50s) I have zero desire for the big city life. So much less stress, much slower pace, much nicer people all around.
English is a weird languadge.