Top Retirement Spots With Today's Retirees
By
Kelly Greene
The Wall Street Journal Online 
Pete Lydens traveled around the mid-Atlantic states and the Southeast as a city manager and consultant for 50 years, so he was familiar with many of the country's retirement hot spots when it came time to decide where to land himself. But he eschewed the region's lush golf-course communities and mountain hideaways, instead choosing to return to a hamlet where he worked in the 1960s: Mount Airy, N.C., population 8,454.
"It's
almost mystical the way people here relate to friends and strangers," he says of the town, where actor Andy Griffith grew up and which still resembles the fictional Mayberry in Mr. Griffith's 1960s TV show. "It's the ideal place to retire." For
years, the search for a new home in retirement has been tied to weather and leisure. States like Arizona and Florida captured the lion's share of transplants, with good reason: They offer a warm climate, lots of sunshine and plenty of golf, tennis and water sports.
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 But
today, while weather and leisure remain important, retirees are telling builders, developers and researchers that they are looking primarily for what Mr. Lydens has found in Mount Airy: a community where they can make friends and connections quickly, whether it's a small town or a walkable neighborhood in a big city. A close second and third on the priority lists: a home that's near grandchildren, and a setting where one can indulge a post-work passion, such as a second career, a newly adopted sport or even, for a growing number of people, farming. "Moving
to a mixed-use development, a small town, or seeking an urban experience are all elements of the same thing: It's a community where you get to know each other," says John McIlwain, 62 years old, a senior resident fellow for the Urban Land Institute, a research group in Washington. He traded a Maryland suburb for a 1,000-square-foot loft downtown after his children left home. "You're walking around, and you get to know your neighbors, you get to know the shopkeepers, because you meet them on the street." Where
should you head? Here are some examples of nontraditional
retirement spots and the people moving to them:
Small Towns
• Mount Airy, N.C. Many
people who have spent their careers navigating suburban sprawl, leaving little time to get to know their neighbors, are drawn to the idea of living in a friendly town with a store-lined Main Street, a coffee shop, and a local theater and museum or two. The
impact of newly arrived retirees is already evident in Mount Airy, in the foothills of northwestern North Carolina near the Blue Ridge Parkway: There are no retail vacancies downtown, wireless Internet access abounds, and the Old North State Winery, a local operation, has set up shop on North Main Street. The Andy Griffith Playhouse hosts community theater productions along with frequent bluegrass jam sessions. And "The Merry-Go-Round," one of the region's oldest bluegrass radio shows, broadcasts live every Saturday from the Downtown Cinema Theatre. Mr.
Lydens, 76, first lived in Mount Airy while serving as city manager in the 1960s. He has lived several places since, but was drawn back by the town's friendliness, what he calls "the Mount Airy way." Mr. Lydens also was impressed with new greenways being developed that tie into a downtown recreation complex and riverside park with a good spot for fly-fishing. He and his wife, Linda Wright, bought a condominium in Mount Airy last year and plan to move there full time next year from Charleston, W.Va., after she retires as head of the local library system. As in many small towns, the cost of living in Mount Airy is still moderate, with home prices ranging from $90 to $125 a square foot and taxes on a $200,000 home costing less than $3,000 a year. One
caveat: If you move to a small town with a lot of retirees, you may find yourself mingling only with other transplants and having a tough time breaking into established circles of friends and family. But the transplant network has one advantage: It can offer easy routes to meaningful volunteer work. Already, Betty Ann Collins, hired to run Mount Airy's Chamber of Commerce in April, has recruited Mr. Lydens to find ways to answer the many questions the chamber gets from retirees considering a move to the area. Most of the calls come from the Northeast and Midwest, along with people in Florida seeking to escape hurricane-prone spots. Mr.
Lydens last year started assembling a relocation packet and now is gearing up to help train people who already have moved to Mount Airy to serve as a "retiree ambassador corps." Mr. Lydens was pleased that he was recruited to help, he says. "I want to live somewhere where I can be involved and do something meaningful." To
find your own Mayberry, you could start with a list of "micropolitan areas" -- a relatively new designation by the U.S. Census Bureau for nearly 600 places like Mount Airy with core populations of less than 50,000 people and relatively few commuters. Go
to the next page to find out about:
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