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Originally Posted by Bearcat
So, there have been some mild surprises so far (thanks for continuing to share)....like Vancouver, yet understandable with the mild summers. Laguna Beach being so low, and Durango (I've just heard good things).
But.... WTH?! Never knew this place existed, much less having to spend half a million on a home. Yeah, its backyard is Yellowstone, but you could buy the same house in Hawaii or several other places for the nature for that price or lower.
Hell, Laguna Beach sounds infinitely nicer, even though I'm sure taxes far exceed Wyoming.
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Yeah, Jackson is an odd place. I did a study in Wyoming about housing once, and something like 20 of the 23 counties had below-average costs for the state. I figured I'd screwed up a number somewhere, but I hadn't. Jackson is so expensive that it drives the statewide average cost up to the point where nearly everywhere else in the state is below average. And it's not like Jackson is a big town, either. It's just ludicrously expensive.
I finally visited it last year, and it's a really charming town. It's near the Jackson Hole ski resort, Yellowstone, and Teton National Park. And the tax structure in Wyoming is really, really friendly for retirement. But I'd much rather live in Laguna Beach given the weather and the access to stuff. And I'm usually a guy who like the mountains more than the ocean.
Laguna Beach is a pretty awesome place, but there's just no way to retire there on a reasonable income. You combine the cost with California's tax structure, and it's so infeasible that it has to be at the bottom of the list.