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The big city brings noise, pollution and congestion but also offers services and amenities that can't be found in the smaller city or town.
Access and choice to arts, education, entertainment, airport and medical care facilities is generally better in a big city, so it is important to be near the city to take advantage as needed, but not too near.
Fort Collins, Colorado and Fond du Lac, Wisconsin rank highest of our 99 top retirement cities in this category because of their proximity to large metropolitan centers. For ranking purposes, a large city less than 60 miles away is too near, and greater than 90 miles away is too far.
Nearest Big City ( > 200,000 population) | |||||||
2010 Census | |||||||
GPTR | |||||||
City/Town | < 60 miles away | > 60 and < 90 miles away | > 90 miles away | Rank | |||
Fort Collins, CO | 64 | Denver | 1 | ||||
75 | Aurora | ||||||
Fond du Lac, WI | 66 | Milwaukee | 2 | ||||
73 | Madison | ||||||
Monterey, CA | 75 | San Jose | 113 | Oakland | 3 | ||
89 | Fremont | ||||||
Rochester, MN | 77 | St Paul | 4 | ||||
83 | Minneapolis | ||||||
Olympia, WA | 60 | Seattle | 5 | ||||
South Lake Tahoe, CA | 61 | Reno | 100 | Sacramento | 6 | ||
Santa Fe, NM | 64 | Albuquerque | 7 | ||||
Ocean City, NJ | 65 | Philadelphia | 120 | Newark | 8 | ||
Bowling Green, KY | 66 | Nashville | 115 | Louisville | 9 | ||
Athens, GA | 70 | Atlanta | 99 | Augusta | 10 | ||
Newport, RI | 71 | Boston | 11 | ||||
Melbourne, FL | 72 | Orlando | 12 | ||||
Concord, NH | 72 | Boston | 12 | ||||
Gainesville, FL | 72 | Jacksonville | 113 | Orlando | 12 | ||
Yarmouth, Cape Cod, M | 74 | Boston | 15 | ||||
Hanover, PA | 55 | Baltimore | 87 | Washington D.C. | 95 | Arlington | 16 |
Port Townsend, WA | 55 | Seattle | 119 | Vancouver, Cana | 16 | ||
Palm Springs, CA | 54 | San Bernardino | 94 | Irvine | 109 | Los Angeles | 18 |
112 | Glendale | ||||||
Bellingham, WA | 51 | Vancouver, Cana | 89 | Seattle | 19 | ||
Bloomington, IN | 51 | Indianapolis | 91 | Louisville | 19 | ||
Distance to the nearest Large City of > 200,000 population is in approximate driving miles. | |||||||
GPTR Rank - Cities with the best ranks are those far enough away to "escape" the city yet not so far as to | |||||||
make it difficult to take advantage of entertainment, health care, travel and other | |||||||
amenities of the city. |
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