You’re looking for the best places to retire in North Carolina.
Letting an algorithm tell you where to live is a great way to end up in a town that you hate.
- You spend months researching the best place to retire.
- And find the perfect place.
- You buy a home, move there and realize… this town isn’t at all what you thought it was.
- You put your house on the market and move. Again.
Over the last few years I’ve gotten dozens of calls with this same story. . . people asking me to help them out of a big mistake.
Jump to:
- Why you should be skeptical of computer generated relocation advice
- Best NC Mountain Town for Retirement
- Best NC Coastal Town for Retirement
- Best NC Overall Pick
- Best NC Small Town for Retirement
I saw an article last week on the best places to retire in North Carolina and some of the recommendations were awful. Because they were generated by a computer, not by someone who knew the area and had actually been to these places.
Let’s look at where the computer got it wrong and then at four genuinely good places to retire in North Carolina.
Maybe you’ve seen and used some of Smart Asset’s retirement resources. I actually love the tools on their site. They are really good and a helpful place to start your financial planning for retirement or life in general.
Not the best places to Retire in North Carolina: Bad Recommendations
But look at this map with their list of suggested retirement locations.
Raleigh and Charlotte, by far, have the best resources for retirement of anywhere in North Carolina. But neither one made their list.
This was my first clue that something was wrong with their algorithm.
The criteria they used to formulate their list for the best places to retire in North Carolina was:
- tax friendliness,
- medical care
- social opportunities
- and the percent of the population that were seniors
All good things (Except for that last one! I’ll talk about that below.)
Taxes
For tax friendliness, pretty much every single location was the same… Let’s set that aside because there isn’t a ton of variation in the tax rates within the state of North Carolina.
Medical Care
The second criteria, medical care, was where I found my first red flags.
In order to rate the medical care, they looked at the ratio of doctors to residents.
But they didn’t look at the quality of care.
This map shows doctors per capita.
BUT THEY DIDN’T CALCULATE QUALITY OF MEDICAL CARE, ONLY THE NUMBER OF DOCTORS PER RESIDENT!
The darker the blue, the more doctors. With all those doctors, the medical care must be great, right? Maybe not…
Wake County is dark blue, so we do have a high concentration of doctors, but not as high as these western towns out here which is why the algorithm missed us.
But here’s the thing. If you get cancer, or have a heart attack or diabetes and need to be hospitalized for any of these things, the treatment you will get here in the Raleigh area is so astronomically different and better than what you will get in any of these recommended cities.
Yes, you can find doctors in the recommended cities and there are enough of them to make appointments. But if you get cancer, you don’t just want a doctor that has appointments available.
The best places to retire might be the places with the best medical care.
When you look at health outcomes rather than just the number of doctors, the differences are stark.
Their 30 day survival rates are moderate to poor, they don’t have enough nurses, they don’t have critical care doctors, they have poor outcomes for patient management including pain management and palliative care.
Most don’t have cardiac ICU’s or share their data with the American Heart Association, which seems a little sketch to me.
Comparatively, Duke in the Triangle area has some of the best care in the country for cancer, for cardiology, for diabetes. Again, these scores are based on survival rates.
The Importance of Social Life in Retirement
If medical care was the only thing that wasn’t good, maybe you could have a nice quality of life in these places. If you’re very healthy and do a lot of yoga, maybe hospitals aren’t a concern to you. But it’s not the only hiccup in the algorithm.
The second criteria they analyzed was social life.
To rate social life, they looked at the number of recreation and retirement centers per thousand residents, just like they did with medical care.
Which left them open to the same flaws… quality VS quantity.
The best places to retire in North Carolina are not just the places with the most senior centers.
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Recreation Centers
Many small rural towns and counties have shrinking populations in North Carolina.
And if a town is shrinking, that usually means it’s dying.
And when I checked, 3 out of the top 5 counties recommended by the algorithm, Chowan county, Transylvania county and Polk County, have shrinking populations.
I do want to clarify that not all the communities they recommended were bad. There were actually some gems on the list that made it into my list as well. But that doesn’t mean you can trust an algorithm wholeheartedly.
As I dug into the information about social activities, I found some clues that made me pause.
The first retirement center I researched was in McDowell County.
And this made me realize that there is a big difference between rural senior centers and the things retirees ask me about when they call me.
Relocating Retirees want an Active Lifestyle
Some rural senior centers are not geared toward retirees, looking to enjoy their retirement years after a successful professional life.
Some of these areas, particularly the ones with declining populations, are poor and their resources are geared towards seniors who don’t have the family and financial support they need.
Also, in poor communities, older people may be less healthy than in the more populated areas, which means services are more geared towards people who can’t get out of their homes easily or need more support in terms of living with chronic illnesses, than the more fun retirement activities people ask me about like pickleball, golf, and restaurant options.
If you look at these two maps, you can see that the counties in the northeast that are recommended by the algorithm definitely have some worse health outcomes, which again, is going to impact the type of activities that are available for retirees.
An Active Retirement Lifestyle Requires Resources
And so I wasn’t surprised when I went to Bertie Counties Senior center website and read this:
“Bertie County is home to roughly 3,947 older adults. More than 31% of our county’s seniors are at or below the poverty level. Through the Council’s programs we serve between 400-500 seniors and their family caregivers during a year.”
The senior center also plans day trips, they host 2 exercise classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. And several arts and crafts classes are held in the fall, winter and spring.
I’m not disparaging these services at all and I know they provide incredible value for their aging populations.
My question is with the websites that use algorithms to help people looking for places to relocate for retirement.
Because from the hundred or so people per year that I speak to about relocating, I think those with the means to relocate probably want to go to a town that is much more active than something like Bertie County.
The biggest town in Bertie is Windsor. Almost every storefront in downtown Windsor is empty. There isn’t even a Walmart in the entire county. I don’t think anyone is going to be attracted to Bertie County for retirement.
The Retirement Criteria they shouldn’t have used
Now if it were only these two criteria that the algorithm didn’t get right, you still might be able to find something of value in these retirement locations. But there was one last criteria they used.
Their final criteria was percent of the population that are retirees.
This seems like it would be something good to measure, because the more retirees there are in a location, the more variety there can be in activities and resources for them.
But as we’ve just seen, a town with lots of seniors, can also mean that the younger people are all leaving for better opportunities, and the seniors who don’t have the means to leave, are staying.
This isn’t good because it’s the younger people that start businesses and run restaurants and provide a lot of those amenities that people want when they don’t have to work anymore.
I don’t think that metric is helpful at all in determining a good place to retire. In fact, my favorite spot only had a 13% retirement population, nowhere close to the 20-30% in many of the algorithm recommended places.
Four GREAT Place to Retire in North Carolina
And now for my top four retirement locations.
Whether you’re a beach bum, enjoy the amenities of a larger city, an avid golfer, or love the mountains, there is a place for you in North Carolina.
Best Place to Retire in the Mountains: Hendersonville
The North Carolina mountains are beautiful with hiking and fishing and quaint downtown shopping districts.
If you want to get all that but not be too far away from everything, you might like Hendersonville.
This is one place the algorithm got right.
Hendersonville is 34 minutes south of Asheville, an hour north of Greenville South Carolina and 2 hours west of Charlotte.
The downtown is a fabulous place to spend an afternoon. Local shops and restaurants are plentiful, it’s designed for walking, and it’s just a really nice place to be.
You’ve got good grocery stores like Fresh Market, and even a Sam’s club in town.
Housing Options in Hendersonville
Unlike some other mountain towns there is a good range of homes available.
You’ve got one level townhomes like this one at the lower end of the price range.
For a little more you can get into a single-family, single-level home like the one below with included lawn care, or if your budget is more significant, you can get into that single level luxury home on over an acre.
Many of the communities recommended by the algorithm didn’t have any 55+ neighborhoods.
Hendersonville has 4 of them, which is a good amount for a town with 15,000 people.
The Hendersonville Theater in downtown might be your go-to place for classic movies, plays, and concerts. (There’s also the Flat Rock Playhouse nearby.) The famed Blue Ridge Parkway entrance is just under an hour away, and there is no shortage of mountain sports nearby, whether you want to hike, hunt, fish, kayak, bike, or golf.
Like I said before, if medical care is your number one priority, Hendersonville isn’t going to be your number one choice. But if you’re not concerned about medical care and you love the mountains, check out Hendersonville. You might also like this video where we visited Hendersonville.
Best Place to Retire at the Coast: Beaufort
If big skies and coastal views are your thing, Beaufort and the surrounding area is definitely worth a look.
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While most coastal towns are vacation destinations, and Beaufort is no exception, many of the NC coastal towns don’t have a quaint historical downtown like Beaufort does.
I love visiting Beaufort.
The town is a genuine community despite its vacation amenities.
There is a hospital in neighboring Morehead city, but like I’ve said. If medical care is your first priority, look elsewhere.
If fishing and boating and the relaxed atmosphere of the coast are your priorities, and you don’t want something that is primarily a tourist destination, Beaufort deserves a look.
Homes in Beaufort
You can find quaint older homes in town for sale, but there are also new construction homes being built in town.
These new homes are just a 30 minute walk to downtown or an eight minute bike ride. For its increased price, this home is just two blocks from the waterfront. If your budget is larger, this historic home gives you a second dwelling to house the kids and grandkids when they visit. And if you live at the coast, they will visit. So get the extra room.
You won’t find any big box stores here. There’s a Piggly Wiggly in town for your groceries or you can head over to Morehead City for a Lowe’s Foods.
This coastal town is for living the small town life. Check out our visit to Beaufort here.
The Crystal Coast Center for the Arts, home to the Carteret Community Theater, is just a 10 minute drive away. And if you’re ever unsure of how to spend your afternoon, just hop on a ferry and head out to the Shakleford Banks to enjoy an afternoon with the wild horses.
Best Place to Retire Overall: The Triangle. . . Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill
Now, I love being near the mountains, and I do love the coast, except for the sand.
I’m from Florida, nobody likes sand if you’re from Florida.
But seriously, the greater Triangle has got to be the best retirement spot in North Carolina for all the reasons that algorithm was supposed to be taking into account.
The medical services here are by far the best in the state and even in the country for many things.
I just don’t think there’s a question about that.
We’ve got four major hospital systems, Duke, UNC, Rex, and WakeMed plus the VA Regional Center in Durham.
Recreation Centers in the towns around the Triangle are catering to a growing and active retired population. Whether you are looking for active senior centers, or golf communities, or a 55+ community, the Triangle has more of these than the more rural places suggested by the algorithm.
We’ve also got close to 50 55+ communities in the Triangle, in all kinds of price points.
Here’s a link to homes for sale in those 55+ communities as well as one level homes and golf communities.
The Triangle is booming and just anecdotally I can tell you that many retirees are moving into the area because they want to be near their children and grandchildren. The Triangle’s booming industries are providing jobs and attracting families across generations.
But if the city is too big for you, let’s look at a small town where you can actually get the best of all worlds.
Best Small Town to Retire: Pinehurst / Southern Pines
Now there are lots of small towns around Raleigh that would give you that small town feel, but there is something unique about a small town that isn’t immediately outside a city.
And there is one small town, outside of the Triangle that actually has good medical care and a great small town feel.
Pinehurst is in the south central area of North Carolina commonly called the Sandhills.
It’s home to 18,000 people and there are 5 dedicated 55+ communities, which is a lot for such a small town.
It’s known for its golf resorts and its equestrian community.
There are more than 40 golf courses in a 15-mile radius of Pinehurst.
The North Carolina Philharmonic is located in Pinehurst and the NC Symphony performs six times a year.
There are broadway performances at the Judson theater and a very active arts council. There are numerous activities at the Cannon Park Community Center and Moore County participates in the annual senior games.
Watch the video above to hear what one resident of Pinehurst has to say about life there. And you can search for homes for sale in Pinehurst here.
If you liked this video you might like this other one I did about retiring in North Carolina.
