You wanna live where ????

Two words..........Less pain!

Where there are no signs that say "bridge ices before road does"

Tax friendly is just one part of it. Climate, physical setting, culture, jobs, and cost of living factor in, and each person weights these differently. Taxes are also just one part of a total cost, so it can be self defeating to go somewhere with low tax rates only to spend several times as much as your tax savings in higher rents, insurance costs, and health care costs.

Some of the most expensive places to live are expensive because they are densely populated, and it is things other than taxes and living costs that draw people to major cities, warm regions of the country, and the coastal counties (about 80% of U.S. population now) where they must pay a lot more to live, compared to living in empty areas like the northern Great Plains.

I'm pretty sure there are some forum members that would be very surprised to see Washington state on the "friendly" side of that list. We've been planning on moving back there in the near future.

I believe folks should retire to an area they really love not just which one they can get the best deal in. Unless you've spent time somewhere you just won't know if you will like it so a hasty decision would not be wise.

Fulltimers who only claim a state of domicile can move around at will.

We chose to retire to a hometown locale and have never regretted it because if we desire to travel that option is always open to us.

For me it would be where water doesn't freeze.

I"m a little surprised that Kiplinger did not know that in GA after 62 there is no income tax on the first $32K of income/person. At 65 it goes to $65K/person. At least they got the low property tax correct and they have done away with the yearly tax on a RV which used to be at the same rate as your home...$$

I agree Mel.... sometimes it's a shell game with smoke-n-mirrors.
Every state has to generate revenue streams from some source. It
is difficult to make an informed decision but these kind of
simplified "tools" do help get you in the ballpark. I would
of course do much deeper research.

..of interest to many is how Military retirement is handled...many
states seem to vary in their handling of those...

Charles

When states don't tax in one area they get you in other areas. For example in WY, the friendly tax state, nails you on vehicle license plate fees about 2% of value every year.