Moving to better climate. Any suggestions on where to live in the USA?

Scttlee, I know it will be difficult to find information on this, but if you are a single woman you need to try an area that has modern day thinking about single women, not back in the 1950's, where many times one didn't know a woman's first name as she was introduced as Mrs. John Smith.

Why I mentioned this is there was a column written in our major newspaper from a woman who was a recent widow, she lived in Phoenix. It wasn't until she was widowed that she realized how backward the area was. Salespeople acted like she couldn't make any decisions on her own unless her husband was there. I know I was so surprised that Phoenix was still that way.

That's one reason why I won't move away from where I have lived for over 30 years, the suburbs of Washington DC in Virginia. Never had any issues with tradesmen, car machanics, etc. Weather wise, it averages around 35-95 temp wise. No hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, earthquakes [ok, had a mild one years ago] and maybe one or two dumps of snow, usually in February.

Excellent hospitals, lots of them, outstanding doctors. Everything I need is just a few minutes down the road. Oh, lots of bumper-to-bumper traffic here. The going excuse for being late is that you had to stop for a motorcade :)

One huge drawback is the cost of buying a house/townhouse/condo. Expensive. A lot of 55+ communities, and senior living facilities, still building new ones.

List of activities, a ton of them especially if you like history :) Beautiful countryside with wineries. Even my parents moved here when they retired.

I live in eastern rural Ohio. Many people move and/or retire to areas south and west. We considered it briefly but chose not to. I would miss my family and friends too much. Maybe if I needed a change in climate or something.

Thanks for all the advice..

MJ1939: So you didn't like Wyoming's 65-70 mph winds? I don't either. Those winds do not help breathing, they blow a ton of dirt. Mounds of snow will be black from dirt the day after the snow.

I lived in sunny California for a year before college and absolutely loved it. The weather was perfect. Beach almost every day. I did not fine the cost of living too bad and I was not making a lot of money at the time. I lived with 3 other people so rent was low. I would take the advice of worriedinCali who lives in that part of the country, if you are interested in California.

I have a dear friend who upended her whole life and moved to Iowa. Luckily she had a son who lived there (we're in Utah--cold temps, high altitude) She has done a 180 with her health. No need for supplemental oxygen

I know she did a lot of research as she was really struggling here with the high altitudes.

Iowa is incredibly affordable--as opposed to the Bay area--my daughter lives in Santa Clarita and she says the COL is beyond crazy there.

I am on the central coast of California. The weather here is perfect for someone in your condition. My mom has COPD and asthma (since childhood). She lives in Nevada. She breathes much better down here. In Nevada she is on oxygen 24/7. For the first 5 years she was on it, she did not need her oxygen concentrator when she visited me in California. She could breathe down here. The altitude is higher in NV than on the coast of California, high altitude is bad for people with lung problems. The cost of living is very high and unlike some states, we do have state income tax so you may find yourself owing state tax depending on your income, should you move here. Oxnard is going to cheaper than San Luis Obispo but there isn’t much there, it’s a farming community. I would prefer SLO to Oxnard any day but SLO is expensive. I am about 90 minutes north of SLO, interestingly we cannot drive down highway 1 to SLO anymore because last week we had a big winter storm and part of highway 1 fell in to the ocean! It is an absolutely stunning drive, you should take it, if you move to California. Really beautiful views all long our coast line. But the cost of living is very high and most people move OUT of California for that reason, rather than TO California.

A great topic -- for the Discussions section!

I agree with MJ! Every time I have visited California I wanted to stay for the beautiful weather!

Bring your wallet and move to the central coast of California. Ventura, Oxnard, San Luis Obispo. The closer to the ocean, the more temperate the temps. Not extraordinarily humid, and never really hot.

You could also look down toward San Diego -- San Clemente, Oceanside, Encinitas. All coastal communities and not inexpensive, but if you want those types of temperatures without altitude, you need to be close to the ocean.

I remember when I first moved from California to Denver I met so many people from Wyoming. I asked a woman once why there were so many Wyoming natives living in Colorado, and she just looked at me and said, "I take it you've never been there in the winter."

No, I hadn't, but within a few years I was driving through a white-out ground blizzard on I-80 at Christmastime and I understood exactly why folks leave! :-)