Birds don’t have supermarkets, so whenever you see geese flying south for the winter, they’re on the lookout for meals. In winter, all of the vegetation and bugs they wish to eat are gone.
But face it, the geese most likely actually like the hotter climate, too.
For human snowbirds, it’s all about local weather. Retirees (and a few distant employees) who head to hotter states in winter, corresponding to Florida, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Georgia or South Carolina, can proceed to take pleasure in their out of doors actions year-round. All that golf, tennis, swimming, kayaking, strolling and contemporary air is sweet in your well being, and also you don’t need to shovel snow or fear about skidding off the street in an ice storm or your pipes getting frozen.
Snowbirding isn’t at all times a bowl of cherries. Housing in two locations could be a vital expense, warns Snowbirding Central, a website devoted to winter migrants. There may also be tax implications to dwelling, working and proudly owning a house in two states, plus there are the journey bills.
These days, being a snowbird is perhaps lots about dodging some severe climate occasions.
There could also be some human snowbirds who had been lucky sufficient to go south earlier than the lethal winter storm that gripped a lot of the nation earlier than Christmas. Even winter-hardy Buffalo, N.Y., was reeling from the storm that dropped some 52 inches of snow and brought on greater than 39 deaths.
Snowbirds often head again north earlier than June and return in December to keep away from the sticky warmth and hurricane season. This yr, Hurricanes Ian, Nicole and Fiona introduced in depth injury to Florida’s coast and pummeled the state within the fall. Ian, in late September, killed not less than 131 individuals, obliterated coastal communities, brought on huge inland flooding, and leveled houses throughout Florida.
Nine of the highest 25 cities on this listing of greatest cities for snowbirds are in Florida, so earlier than you pack your baggage, keep in mind that a few of these communities had been nonetheless pulling automobiles out of the water in January.
This listing is predicated on information from 183 Sunbelt cities collected by private finance website Finance Buzz.
They examined the info for 4 main classes associated to snowbirding enchantment— livability, affordability, tradition & recreation, and temperature & local weather. Most of the cities studied are south of the thirty eighth parallel north, which runs throughout the U.S. alongside the northern borders of states like Arizona, Oklahoma, and North Carolina. Several cities north of that mark in additional temperate states close to that line corresponding to Virginia, California, and Nevada had been additionally included.
The livability class contains issues like crime charges, the variety of healthcare practitioners per capita, walkability and the proportion of individuals over 60.
Culture and recreation contains the provision of golf programs, eating places, buying, film theaters, performing arts and museums.
Affordability components in the price of dwelling in every metropolis, in addition to median lease and mortgage. Climate contains common temperatures for every month between November and March.
Based on the analysis by Finance Buzz, these are the very best cities for snowbirds.
