Submitted by Bonnie Majher
Zack O’Malley Greenburg, 10.15.09, 06:00 PM EDT
Please click here for the entire article on Forbes.com on the best recession –proof places to retire.
These affordable metro areas offer sunny weather, jobs and rosy economic outlooks.
The Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., metro area–which includes Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties–has gained a reputation as a mecca for retirees. The south Florida sun shines on scores of condos that jut like vertical cruise ships from the emerald-tinged shoreline. Near the most luxurious of these residences, golf courses dot the landscape, poolside sunbathers enjoy the company of other seniors and gourmet meals are available via room service.
Yet Miami isn’t quite the paradise it’s thought to be. Thanks in part to a battered real estate market and high housing costs, it ranks 29th on our list of America’s recession-proof places to retire, well behind top-ranked Atlanta. Our list, compiled by crunching seven sets of statistics from sunny days to median home price, reveals that Atlanta has many trends working in its favor–low cost of living, plenty of sun and housing that is affordable and projected to rise in value over the next five years.
“Atlanta is the financial and industrial center of the South,” says Eduardo Martinez, senior economist at Moody’s Economy.com. “With companies like Delta and Home Depot, it’s home to more and more international business.”
Other cities on the top ten list are (see the entire Recession-Proof Cities To Retire In):
1. Atlanta
2. Dallas
3. Tampa
4. Houston
5. St. Louis
6. Austin
7. Las Vegas
8. Phoenix
9. Kansas City
10. San Antonio