I am both a Delta retiree and a 25-year north Cobb County resident. I thought about moving out of state after I retired a few years ago, especially as Georgia was behind other states in recognizing retirees’ actual value to its bottom line. I did a lot of Internet statistical research and made boots-on-the-ground visits to investigate other possible locales. But after comparing them to my physical location and overall cost of living with other benchmarks like taxes, weather, shopping, parks and recreational facilities, educational institutions, medical care, cultural amenities, air transportation, etc., I realized that I was fine right where I was. In fact, I could do a whole lot worse. Trust me, I’ve been around the globe enough to know what worse is. I recheck my original findings periodically, and the answer is still the same.

The reality is that there’s no Utopia. Every place on earth has something about it that you won’t like, is just plain awful, needs fixing, has too much of and not enough of. Ultimately, you have to decide what you can live with and can’t live without in your later years, and then make the best possible decision about where to live based on that. “Best of” lists are helpful for this but only so much. You have to check things out for yourself..

An aside to the dissers: IMO you have no right to complain about the ATL unless you are actively involved in trying to change the things you aren’t happy about. Two words: community involvement. And if you are truly that unhappy here, move. It’s a big old world.

I am a native metro Atlantan. I have a home on the Upper East Side (Manhattan) and one in the Mount Paran District (Atlanta). I love them both for the lifestyles they offer…which is quite different…although the same. The cost of living on the UES is far greater than Atlanta. Metro Atlanta is far cheaper than metro NYC. For my husband and I the choice of retirement place would be Manalapan Beach in Florida but that does not underscore the value of retiring in metro Atlanta. I have elderly parents and other relatives still here.

Although I’m a part time Atlanta resident, I feel that the list…while not perfect…has some validity. When one considers the amenities offered, the cost of living, the housing stock, medical facilities and other options, metro Atlanta should rank high. Also, for the record, I have lived either full time (longest) or part time (shortest) in metro Atlanta for many years and I have never experienced crime. Could it happen, yes, but if you aren’t in some crime ridden area then you will do just fine. Most crime here…especially in the suburban areas…seem to be acquaintance crime. It’s the world we live in today. Let us not take this list as a time to bash Atlanta and its black leadership. I question the naysayers: what are you doing to alleviate the problem. If all you offer are complaints then why even bother reading the AJC.