I think I'm going to move to Springfield, retire in my grandparents' house and die in it.

The housing prices there are the bomb

I've only been to Seattle and the Olympic peninsula. Seattle has been a traffic nightmare both times, so I'd prefer Denver. But the Olympic peninsula would be nice. I thought Port Angeles was very nice in the one hour I visited. I'm not sure if it's too small for the long term, though. I like big-city amenities.

Pick a place where kidnapping Americans isn't the leading industry for the area.

I've lived many places in the US. I've lived in KC area, Texas, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois, Northern Cal and Southern Cal. I've spent lots of time in Florida also. The best place I ever lived was Okinawa, Japan. Great weather, great food, beautiful land, oceans, beaches, fresh fish and vegetables, nice people, and almost non existent crime. I'd go back and retire there in a heartbeat. From there its fairly easy to travel to SE Asia, Austrailia, etc.

Then may I suggest Jupiter, FL?

To be honest I’ve never set foot there

But I love being near the ocean, just that whole beach culture thing

It’s the perfect size for me at 50k, but probably feels much bigger with the military presence as well as being a hub for the surrounding area... big enough to have everything I need, but not so big that it takes me an hour to get to work 5 miles away

I narrowed in on the panhandle because of cost of living concerns, as well as seeming to have a less hectic, more country vibe than the overcrowded peninsula

Love to fish, love hot n sunny weather, love the ocean.. it just seems perfect for me

From parent's basement to grandparent's house. Your journey will be complete.

:D :D :D

/joking

What are housing prices like? I like the Japanese.

Looking to buy something nice on the north shore of Oahu for that exact reason.

I don't believe in retirement. Retirement kills.

I don't plan on moving unless I need a survival bunker in case of a war. I've been looking into locations for that.

Agreed on Seattle, it's a nightmare and I only go there when I need to. Port Angeles is tiny, if you wanted to live on the peninsula I'd recommend Port Townsend (lots of historic buildings) or Bainbridge Island. Bellevue and the surrounding towns are big-city-esque without the issues of Seattle, mainly because they still enforce the laws there. Parts of Tacoma are surprisingly nice, especially by the water (Dash Point, Ruston).

When I moved here I always thought it would be temporary and I'd end up moving back to Colorado. Now it's grown on me and I would probably have a hard time leaving.

I bet rub and tugs are hard to get there right now.

I plan on semi-retiring and traveling the world a digital vagabond - living wherever I feel like as long as like, then moving on to the next place - hopefully in a year or two.

I'm not sure but I'll bet most are pretty inexpensive. There were some guys I was stationed with that lived there much longer and bought homes. They were nice homes and there is no way they could have afforded them on what we made if they weren't reasonable.