Where to retire?

There are many of us who are happy where we are. There are others who are ready to get away. And there are others (like me) who are thinking about it.

There is not a week that goes by that one popular website or another doesn't publish a list of the best places to retire. Less frequently, we will see reports on the best schools in the country. For most of us with limited retirement income, we need both features. And a place with good schools is probably also a good place for kids for other reason - an active little league, friends to play with, nearby beaches or swimming.

Topretirements.com has posted a list of the "100 best places to retire for 2010." Neighborhoodscout.com has posted a list of the "Top 100 Best Performing Public Schools in the US." I've compared both lists. Surprisingly, there are only two perfect matches. One with a best performing elementary school and one with a best performing high school.

So if your kids are young, the place to move is Jacksonville Beach Florida. The Jacksonville Beach Elementary School is ranked 81st on the best performing school list and Jacksonville is number 49 on the top retirement spots list. The Elementary school is part of the Duval County School system although Jacksonville Beach (obviously closer to the beach than Jacksonville proper) is separately incorporated for municipal services. Take a look at the links. See if it might be right for you.

In my next posting I will report on the high school match. There were no pure matches on middle schools, although there were some close calls which I will also report on later.