I’m not sure - I’ve never gone beyond Fair Hill.
What about New Mexico?
Agreed with Ocala/Gainesville/The Villages areas. Summers being miserable is completely relative. I don’t find them miserable at all, I find them AMAZING. What I find miserable is weather < 50°F.
Yes, states without income taxes do make up for it in other ways. For instance, when I moved to Florida I knew there was no state nor local income tax. What I didn’t know is it costs $425+ to register your car the first time in Florida, compared to like $50 in Ohio where I moved from.
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Texas doesn’t have a state income tax. Obviously it’s a “red” state overall, but some of the bigger cities are pockets of “blue.”
I’m in North Texas, just east of Dallas. DFW Airport can get you anywhere in the world or easily bring in your friends & family. You’re driving distance to both rolling countryside and bustling city life, cowboys and socialites, high-end food & fashion and sweet tea sipping country folks. I can easily drive to numerous horse show venues, trails and parks (I don’t camp, but some of my friends love horse camping, lol.) There is access to thousands of medical doctors, but you will need good insurance to handle the increasing costs. Property values are rapidly increasing due to population growth, but I’m told the senior homestead exemptions are really good on property taxes.
It does get HOT as Hades, and there are biting insects, snakes, and plenty of thorn-bearing plants. But there are more “useable” outside months than many other places (I grew up in snowy SW Michigan and northern Ohio.) My veggie garden produces something all year round. This was a particularly cold winter in Dallas, with frozen water buckets 12 nights. But I also rode in a t-shirt on 75° Christmas day, because cold snaps are rarely more than a few days at a time. I typically have lush grass March thru September; that does mean lots of time on the mower, but I also only use ~60 square bales of hay per year for 2 horses.
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Summers in Florida didn’t used to bother me so much, but once I reached a certain age, my heat tolerance pretty much disappeared. I guess with the hot flashes, I can’t handle any additional heat. :lol:
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Yep. definitely don’t do heat anymore!! :lol:
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I thought about moving from Connecticut when I retired, but I didn’t. `I have lived in other places, but CT seems to suit me socially and in many non-horsey ways. Taxes are annoying but doable and I appreciate the services.
I used to say I don’t mind the winters, but this one has tested my resolve! Still, my sister in Houston runs on reverse seasons as it is too hot and humid in the summers to do much outside. Now if I was rich enough to be a snowbird and stay South for the winter (with my horse!) that would be ideal.
Waiting on that Powerball win…:winkgrin:
It was in the 70’s and 80’s but when silicon valley moved to the Austin changed, it’s not what it used to be.
Does anyone have opinions on Kentucky? I would imagine it would be similar to Tennessee, only not as hot. Thoughts on the tax situation? Is it as humid as the east coast?
This made me LOL, since it’s currently raining (but YAY, it’s 39 degrees so it feels warm) and we are supposed to get 6-10 inches MORE of snow in the next day or two… When I read the OP, my first thought was NOT Minnesota! I love it here and will only head somewhere warmer during the winter months when I retire, but you really can’t beat the summers. 
And I’ve lived in warmer climates so I’m not just basing my opinion on MN. I grew up in Southern California and also spent 4 years in Phoenix.
Last time I looked, Kentucky didn’t tax social security pensions, but other types are partially taxed. However, they are one of the states with severely underpaid teachers.
Here’s an article about taxes:
https://smartasset.com/retirement/kentucky-retirement-taxes
Here’s another article about vehicle and income tax:
https://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/state-taxes-kentucky.aspx
Lol! Yes, MN is cold!! But beautiful summers for sure :).
Stop in the upstate of South Carolina on your way down. Anderson is second in the state for horse population. We are close enough to Aiken/GA/Asheville/Tryon that a day trip for a trail ride is an easy drive but we also many trails within a 15-20 minute trailer ride. We usually only get snow for about 5 hours (not kidding - it melts very fast) about once every couple of years. We do get a few wicked spring storms but they pass quickly also. The summers can get warm with some humidity but with the mountains in your backyard it is not as bad as other places in the Carolinas. Taxes and cost of living are much cheaper than any other place I have lived (VA, MI, FL, DE). Might be worth a look,
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What area of TN? How hot does it get there?
We are in Middle TN, just off the Cumberland Plateau. Our summer temperatures will get into the low 90s and it can get humid, but that is usually just in July and August. Our spring and fall are much longer and more pleasant that what we experienced in the Northeast.
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I’m from Canada but lived in both Baltimore MD and Tennessee for a few years each. They definitely have 4 seasons, but I didn’t consider either of them to have a cold winter. On the other hand, my idea of cold winter is Montreal.
I did find both Baltimore and Tennessee to be hot and humid enough in the summer to curtail outdoor activities. The Chesapeake at Baltimore is very landlocked so you don’t get real ocean breeze until you are over on the open Atlantic on the Eastern Shore.
Baltimore however is tidewater MD. I don’t know about the winter weather as you go up west into the foothills. Its bound to be colder with elevation. But never as cold as Montreal!
My real standard for moderate year round comfort is the PNW because that’s my home town but the very wet climate is not ideal for horses. My guess is the best country for horses is the kind of terrain where mustangs traditionally thrived, rangeland or even semi desert.
If you move somewhere for a career you end up somewhat insulated in a community of interest that buffers you from the prevailing reality (particularly if you are an academic skipping between college towns).
It would be quite a challenge IMHO to move somewhere cold turkey with no contacts or friends or relatives.
My impression of Tennessee was that the basic social unit was the church, and if that wasn’t part of your life it might be hard to meet regular folks.
But also “socially liberal” (or conservative) rarely applies to a whole town or region. If I relocated 200 miles up into the ranch country, attitudes would be quite different from where I now live in metropolitan sprawl.
Also even in the burbs I find horse folk a mixed bag! All we share in common is a passion for horses. Not care standards or philosophy, education, wordly knowledge, riding ability etc. Of course if you have your own property you will be insulated from much of that which would need to be navigated at a boarding barn.
So I’d add that you should find a place where folks ride in at least the same general style you do. If a place has gone over to arena based showing, there is no one left to advocate for trail systems and they decay or ban horses. Likewise if everyone is ranching and trail riding there may not be much in the way of coaches. Etc.
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Kentucky and TN are places I have considered, I’d like to get away from the long winters here but I also don’t want to go where it’s hot and/or buggy much of the time. Considering southern Indiana too. There are also some beautiful riding areas around SE Iowa and central/southern Indiana, so those are on my list of possibilities. Much also depends on how “developed” things become here, which usually means the area is trashed when it happens anywhere too close to Chicago.
I have said in other threads, for the most part I really like living on the Cumberland Plateau (Crossville specifically) in Tennessee. We actually have a huge retirement population here with Fairfield Glade. I have enough land and few enough horses that my main herd is on pasture year round and doesn’t need hay. Happy to answer any specific questions you might have
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What kinds of equestrian venues/activities are around there? It looks like a nice place to live from what I could Google, but looking at the trail systems around there, I didn’t see any mention of equestrian use.
I have wondered about Kentucky also. I’m always surprised it doesn’t come more often in these threads. Is it just that the Carolina’s are so popular?
