Question

We are starting to plan for my husband's retirement from his first career in a few years and want to use all of our resources in planning. We're interested in settling down in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, or Virginia. We currently live in VA. Does anyone in this group live in those states and have ideas on locations with good cost of living and great schools? Those are our biggest needs. I'm an author, so I can take my career anywhere. And his second career is still kind of up in the air, but we want to at least start researching.  

Answer 1

I live in Evans, GA! Suburb of Augusta, GA (bordering SC). In my opinion low cost of living. I don’t have kids yet so not sure about schools but Evans is definitely the best in the area!  

Comments

@alethaalethea340 I agree! I grew up in Augusta but my parents moved to Evans last year. My dad teaches JROTC at Grovetown. They love the area. Much quieter than Augusta but still close enough to get to when you need to.  

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@shere8 My husband is hoping to teach JROTC when he retires from the military!  

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@hysterectomize Great! My dad has been teaching for about 10 years in Georgia. Evans is also pretty close to Fort Gordon so you’ll still have a military base close by for the commissary and hospital, etc.  

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My husband is an officer at Fort Gordon! Definitely a lot of military retirees here

Answer 2

Im in NC. I've lived in Winterville and just moved to Grimesland. Both if those are pretty low COL. Schools are just okay. The research triangle area (Raleigh, Cary, Durham) has better schools, but is a bit more expensive

Answer 3

We are in Spartanburg, SC. I’m originally from Atlanta. Definitely lower cost of living here. District 7 in Spartanburg County is great for schools, and Greenville and Greenville county schools are awesome as well. I love it here bc we are between Atlanta and Charlotte, so close to the big cities, but not the prices!  

Comments

@joeyjoffre That's what we're looking for! We want to be close enough to the city without paying for it.  

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Honestly, Greenville and it’s downtown area is part of the reason we moved up here. They have the beat Main Street and always have awesome markets and festivals and great restaurants. Greenville and Spartanburg are about 25 minutes apart, and there is an international airport between the 2. There are a lot of job opportunities too with BMW, all the suppliers for their plant as well as Michelin, Milikin, and adidas having distribution up here too.  

Answer 4

I moved from Northern VA to Wilmington, NC back in 2016! Cost of living is much lower, almost all of our bills were cut in half. If he is searching for a new/second career, the job market here is wide open. Real estate is booming as a buyers market. Lots of entertainment options, local produce markets, and the beach! Only downside is hurricanes but we have made it through 3 hurricanes now with zero damage. We rented for 6 months and then purchased a home. I am making the same salary I did in Northern VA but with much lower bills so we are living very comfortably now. Lots of private and public school options. I work for a college here and in my opinion the public schools are much better than where I grew up.  

Comments

@synchroscope29399 That's good news! I'm from KS. The Army brought us here and I'm so disappointed in the schools. But I really fell in love with this side of the country. I've heard nothing but wonderful things about North Carolina, especially the schools. I visited once and it was a beautiful state.  

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Yeah I didn’t realize it growing up how awful the schools were, now as an adult I pay much more attention. Every part of NC that we have visited has been so beautiful and the people are so nice! I could not believe it how friendly everyone is here. We always wanted to live at the beach so Wilmington was our target but Raleigh and Charlotte areas are also great, just a little more expensive.