What resources can you recommend for researching the best places to retire in the U.S.?

Whether you are considering seasonal escapes or a permanent change, there are a wide variety of digital resources that can help you find and research new locations. Here are some tips and tools to help you get started.

Where to Retire?

Deciding where to relocate when you retire is a big decision. There are many factors to think about to ensure the move supports your lifestyle, financial goals and overall well-being. To help you identify some favorable retirement locations you need to consider things like cost of living, climate, taxes, health care, housing, crime, access to social and recreational activities, transportation and proximity to family and friends.

If you are at the beginning of your search, you can start online. There are websites that compile regularly updated demographic data from numerous reliable sources where you can compare cities using different criteria, such as housing costs, climate, crime, religious practice, voting patterns and education level. Searching for key terms like “best places to live” can help you find these types of tools and resources.

There are also news and financial publications like U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, WalletHub, Bankrate and The Motley Fool that publish “best places to retire” rankings on their websites each year. These can give you an idea of popular retirement locations based on different sets of criteria. Once you identify a few good spots, here are some additional resources that can help you dig a little deeper.

Cost of living: Affordability is often the top priority when deciding where to relocate. To research and compare the cost of living from your current location to where you would like to move, you can use an online cost-of-living comparison tool and family budget calculators available through economic research organizations and personal finance websites. These tools help estimate differences in housing, food, transportation, healthcare and taxes. Using key phrases such as “retirement cost of living comparison” or “family budget map” can also help narrow your results to retirement-focused resources.

Taxes: Some states are more tax friendly than others. To investigate how states treat retirees when it comes to income, sales, property and other taxes, see Kiplinger’s retiree tax guide at Kiplinger.com, by searching “Taxes on Retirees: A State by State Guide.”

Crime rate: To evaluate how safe a community or area is, the FBI Crime Data Explorer at cde.ucr.cjis.gov, allows you to explore crime statistics at the national, state and local levels.

Climate: You can find U.S. climate and weather information at the National Centers for Environmental Information at NCEI.noaa.gov. Additionally, you can research climate risks like extreme temperatures, wildfires, floods, hurricanes, severe storms, earthquakes and drought across different locations using the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) website and its Resilience Analysis and Planning Tool (RAPT) tool at Hazards.fema.gov/nri/map.

Health care: If you are enrolled or planning to enroll in original Medicare, check the coverage and availability of providers in your new location. Search by ZIP code for health care providers and facilities at Medicare.gov/care-compare and check star ratings for quality of care. If you are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan and you move out of the coverage area, you will need to find a new plan in your new location.

Transportation: If you plan to travel frequently or expect regular visits from your kids or grandkids, convenient access to an airport or train station is a great advantage. You may also want to take into consideration the proximity of major highways and the availability of public transportation.

Visit: Once you have narrowed down your choices, spend a couple of weeks in each location at different times of the year so you can get a feel for seasonal weather changes, and then carefully weigh the pros and cons. You may find that you prefer the area more as a vacation spot than as a year-round residence. It is also wise to rent for a year before buying a home or committing to a retirement community.

Savvy Living is written by Jim Miller, a regular contributor to the NBC Today Show and author of "The Savvy Living” book. Any links in this article are offered as a service and there is no endorsement of any product. These articles are offered as a helpful and informative service to our friends and may not always reflect this organization’s official position on some topics. Jim invites you to send your senior questions to: Savvy Living, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070.