Bravo35223

I would recommend Birmingham, Alabama as a good place to retire:

1) Medical. The UAB Medical Center is widely recognized as one of the top academic centers in the U.S. In addition the city has several other highly rated hospitals including St. Vincent's (Daughters of Charity), Brookwood (Tenet) and Baptist.

Here are the rankings of UAB Hospital by U.S. News and World Report...

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/health...osp_6530304.htm

2) Cost of Living. Alabama is rated #1 in the United States in terms of total tax burden.

Here is independent data that indicates if you lived in Chicago and made $100,000 per year - you could live equivalently in Birmingham for $54,000 per year.

http://www.homefair.com/homefair/se...000&ownrent=own

3) Cost of Housing. Birmingham was recently rated as one of the most undervalued cities in the U.S. You can buy a lot of home here.

4) Climate. The city has four legitimate seasons - which follow the earth science calendar. Spring is three months long and starts in mid-March. Summer (is admittedly hot) but does not start until Mid-June and ends in mid-September. A long, beautiful, dry Fall season that ends between Thanksgiving and Christmas. A short mild, winter with highs averaging in the low 50's.

5) Education. While Birmingham's city schools are typical of most public schools in the country (average test scores and graduation rates) its suburban public schools are among the highest in the nation. Mountain Brook High School's SAT scores are in the top 20 in the United States.

Check these rankings...http://www.mtnbrook.k12.al.us/archives/compare.pdf

Several other suburban towns have systems very close to this. These schools produce graduates who are admitted to Ivy League schools each year as well as other top universities in the US. No city in the Southeastern US has pubic schools as good as Birmingham's suburbs and there are test scores and other data to verify this.

6) Culture. Birmingham has one of the finest municipal art museums in the US for medium sized cities.

http://www.artsbma.org/

And has an excellent symphony orchestra.

http://www.alabamasymphony.org/about.html

7) Restaurants. Highlands Bar and Grill was rated the #5 restaurant in the United States by Gourmet magazine.

http://www.highlandsbarandgrill.com/press/index.html

There are numerous others that are excellent as well.

8) Recreation. The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail was rated by the New York Times as one of the Top Ten Golf Destinations on Earth. Rated one of the Top Ten Trips in the World by Frequent Flyer Magazine.

http://www.rtjgolf.com/

Also, a new Marriott resort opens in June 2005 that is already garnering national attention. Click the images below to see the reality of what Birmingham looks like...mountainous. Beautiful.

http://www.rossbridgeresort.com/photogallery.cfm

9) Air travel. The Birmimgham Airport is served by Delta, American, Continental, United, US Air and Southwest. It has non-stop service to NY, Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Las Vegas and many other cities. It is rated as one of the lowest cost airports in the United States and has 100% jet service.

10) Natural Beauty. I can see 11 miles from my front door here in Birmingham. It is located in the Appalachian Mountains.

11) Large Retirement Community. Couples who have lived here all their lives rarely retire elsewhere. Why would they? This means the metro area has a large percentage of individuals over 65...