Black Enterprise names best places to retire!

[SupaDave]

Guess what city is #1?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080910/ap_on_bi_ge/retirement_african_americans

Supa "just give me 35 more years" Dave

[UVaAmbassador]

Guess what city is #1?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080910/ap_on_bi_ge/retirement_african_americans

Supa "just give me 35 more years" Dave

Nice to see C-ville on the list. Wa-hoo-wa!

[blazindw]

Bull City and A2 (Ann Arbor) both on the list...two of my favorite cities. I think I shall retire in both, haha!

[TillyGalore]

Guess what city is #1?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080910/ap_on_bi_ge/retirement_african_americans

Supa "just give me 35 more years" Dave

If you double your work, you can retire in 17 years. :D

[77devil]

Durham-really? One has to be joking or perhaps they meant the greater triangle area. No way I would even consider retiring to the city or county of Durham, let alone selecting it as a top choice.

Perhaps the city council arranged for compromising photos while the editors were in town.

[DukeUsul]

Durham-really? One has to be joking or perhaps they meant the greater triangle area. No way I would even consider retiring to the city or county of Durham, let alone selecting it as a top choice.

Perhaps the city council arranged for compromising photos while the editors were in town.

Care to provide a reason why?

[2535Miles]

Durham-really? One has to be joking or perhaps they meant the greater triangle area. No way I would even consider retiring to the city or county of Durham, let alone selecting it as a top choice.

Perhaps the city council arranged for compromising photos while the editors were in town.
Moderate winters. BBQ. Duke Basketball. Heritage. The South. It's in the fine state of North Carolina. Did I mention Duke Basketball? Some of the finest medical facilities in the U.S. What's not to love?

[pfrduke]

Nice to see C-ville on the list. Wa-hoo-wa!

Seriously. I'm already making retirement plans for C-ville.

[DukeUsul]

Moderate winters. BBQ. Duke Basketball. Heritage. The South. It's in the fine state of North Carolina. Did I mention Duke Basketball? Some of the finest medical facilities in the U.S. What's not to love?

On top of that it also has the highest percentage of people over 65yrs in the Triangle (9.3%, compared to 5.4% Cary, 8.3% Raleigh, 4.0% Morrisville, 8.0% CH). So there's a larger community of over-65s than elsewhere in the triangle. It also has a long and vibrant African American culture and history that might be appealing to black retirees. I don't know how germane it is, but Durham also has the higest ratio of AfAm population among the major Triangle towns - 45% or so, compared to 28% for Raleigh, and much smaller numbers elsewhere. That might also be appealing to black retirees.

* Numbers taken from census data listed on Wikipedia.

ETA: Oh, and to note, my (white) parents are thinking of retiring, and really like the Durham area. I think it appeals to many of that age.

[DukeDude]

Moderate winters. BBQ. Duke Basketball. Heritage. The South. It's in the fine state of North Carolina. Did I mention Duke Basketball? Some of the finest medical facilities in the U.S. What's not to love?

The only downside for retirees is the lack of a municipal golf course. I love living in Durham.

[77devil]

Moderate winters. BBQ. Duke Basketball. Heritage. The South. It's in the fine state of North Carolina. Did I mention Duke Basketball? Some of the finest medical facilities in the U.S. What's not to love?

I can access and enjoy all of that in/from Orange or Wake county but they are not the top places in the country to retire to either.

[throatybeard]

Durham has a long history as an important place in African American culture. One of the really important essays on this is WEB Dubois' The Upbuilding of Black Durham

http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/dubois/dubois.html

Durham was one of the better places in the South for Blacks prior to the civil rights era:

http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A43180

DuBois also said:


There is a singular group in Durham where a black man may get up in the morning from a mattress made by black men, in a house which a black man built out of lumber which black men cut and planed; he may put on a suit which he bought at a colored haberdashery and socks knit at a colored mill; he may cook victuals from a colored grocery on a stove which black men fashioned; he may earn his living working for colored men, be sick in a colored hospital and buried from a colored church; and the Negro insurance society will pay his widow enough to keep his children in a colored school. This is surely progress.

This was, of course, before the Whites put the Durham Freeway through the heart of the Black business district.

If I lived in the Triangle it would definitely be in Durham. But I don't think I'd retire to the area though. The summers are terrible. More importantly, except for a small area of Chapel Hill and a small area of Durham (a few blocks either side of Whole Foods), the entire region is a grotesque sprawl cluster. The elderly need to be able to get to stuff without firing the car up. The entire region is incredibly pedestrian-unfriendly. There are other places in the country with good hospitals.

[77devil]

Care to provide a reason why?

No problem. See above.

[SupaDave]

Durham has a long history as an important place in African American culture. One of the really important essays on this is WEB Dubois' The Upbuilding of Black Durham

http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/dubois/dubois.html

Durham was one of the better places in the South for Blacks prior to the civil rights era:

http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A43180

DuBois also said:



This was, of course, before the Whites put the Durham Freeway through the heart of the Black business district.

If I lived in the Triangle it would definitely be in Durham. But I don't think I'd retire to the area though. The summers are terrible. More importantly, except for a small area of Chapel Hill and a small area of Durham (a few blocks either side of Whole Foods), the entire region is a grotesque sprawl cluster. The elderly need to be able to get to stuff without firing the car up. The entire region is incredibly pedestrian-unfriendly. There are other places in the country with good hospitals.

Something tells me that Durham will soon catch on to the "Smart growth" concept soon enough. They are starting to look at downtown in a different way right now.