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This month marks my third anniversary at Stonehedge here in Wallingford, a place I researched and made accommodations for so I could retire here, near my daughter. She actually found the apartment, and I signed the lease that December, even though I wouldn’t move in until February. I had already sold my home in Glens Falls, New York, with the closing scheduled for February 6th, which meant moving out when there was snow on the ground! After more than 40 years living in the Northeast, I was used to cold weather, a stark contrast to the warm Florida winters of my first 24 years. But moving to Wallingford has reminded me how much your retirement spot shapes your daily rhythm and even how you feel about the climate.

Christmas in Florida was usually sunny and hot—when we went outside to play after Christmas morning, we wore shorts. I longed to see snow and experience a white Christmas, the kind you would see in movies or on TV. The first time I ever saw snow was at the University of Florida football stadium, called “the Swamp,” since our mascot was the Gators. It was a cold night game, and in the glow of the stadium lights, I saw my first real snow flurry. For a Florida kid, 30-degree weather felt almost exotic. Years later, living in the Northeast, I experienced the real thing—like the 26-inch blizzard of March 1993 that shut down the Capital region and required the National Guard to shovel out cars parked on the streets. No wonder so many New Yorkers head south when they retire.

In Florida, I watched northern “snowbirds” arrive each winter and flee home before the hot, humid summers. What was funny to us was seeing them on the beach in their shorts, and even swimming, when temperatures were in the 50s, which to us was really cold. Later, I spent a July on Cape Cod and realized that this felt like summer to them! Summer ocean temps in Florida are like bathwater, which I loved. Snowbirds who settled permanently had to adjust to our summer heat, and those who thought they’d save money by skipping winter heating bills quickly learned about Florida air-conditioning costs.  

Many of my Glens Falls friends have moved away to escape the frigid winters and pay less in taxes. Even with New York’s tax breaks for retirees, the high cost of living—especially property taxes—pushes people to look elsewhere. States with no income tax become appealing when you’re on a fixed income. Most of these friends have stayed on the right coast: Florida, the Carolinas, and Tennessee, where there is no income tax and more pleasant summer weather than in the coastal regions. I find folks tend to follow others who have ventured out of state, which might mean you see your old neighbors in your new haunts. Maybe that is where you get the term “birds of a feather flock together.” In Florida, the divide between Atlantic and Gulf coast residents often comes down to highways: I-95 funnels Northeasterners down the east side, and I-75 brings Mid-Atlantic folks to the west.

As more New Yorkers leave, the state has become strict about the six-month residency rule. Stay even one day beyond the limit, and you’re considered a resident, taxed for the full year. They check everything to see if you are cheating, including E-ZPass to see when your car is in the state. A friend of mine had to prove through credit card receipts that he spent more time out of state when he was caring for a sick grandchild in New York. Southern states have the same issue with people claiming full-time residency for property-tax exemptions.

I’m the only one in my friend group to retire to the Northwest. I didn’t come for the weather or Washington’s lack of state income tax; I came for the same reason many retirees do—to be near my child, who has lived here for the past two decades. Since I had only visited her in November and December in the past, I was genuinely surprised by how glorious Pacific Northwest summers are. And I’ve accepted that I’ll never get a Hallmark-movie white Christmas here. But as a native Floridian who never mastered skiing, I only liked snow when it arrived politely on December 24th. I was better suited to water skiing and warm beaches anyway. Fortunately, Seattle’s short, cloudy winter days don’t affect my mood—they actually give me permission to read, watch British mysteries, volunteer at the Assistance League thrift store sorting donations, or write a Wallyhood article without guilt. I do wonder: when Seattle retirees head to Palm Springs for the winter, are they called “rainbirds”?

In looking into why retirees relocate, I expected weather to top the list. Instead, the cost of living, especially property taxes, is the main driver. In many Northeast states, retirees pay $15,000–$20,000 a year in property taxes on moderately priced homes, and even with increased federal deductions for state and local taxes, that burden is steep. Some states, like Florida, are considering eliminating property taxes for full-time residents altogether, on top of having no state income tax: one more reason people head south. But returning to Florida never appealed to me. I don’t miss the humidity or the bugs.

Wallingford has been a wonderful place to retire, and affordable too, as long as you’re willing to live simply. I have just one request to enhance the holiday spirit: adding sparkling lights along N 45th Street during the winter months to brighten our long nights, like they have in Fremont and downtown Seattle. I do like the lights at Stone’s Throw on the corner of N 45th Street and Stone Way N.  

I’d love to hear your retirement plans—where you hope to be, and why—in the comments.

Editor’s note: see the other articles in Patti’s series “Retiring in Wallingford”:

• Book Review: Dancing with the Muse in Old Age by Priscilla Long
• Living Without a Car
• How Did I Collect All This “Stuff”?
• Aging in Place in Your Family Home
• Navigating Volunteer Opportunities
• Retiring in Wallingford on a Budget