obxgirl

Staunton, VA is a cute little town among many cute little towns in the Shenandoah Valley. You will, however, need a plan B for some of May through much of September b/c the weather is hot and humid. For example, at 6:30 pm this evening the temp in Staunton is 84° F and the relative humidity is 59%. Roanoke, Charlottesville, and Harrisonburg probably have Targets or Costcos, within your 2 hour window. Mostly, though, Walmart is the predominant big box seller in that part of the state.

tom_mn

Noting that August will end without my running the AC once, a first, although June and July were sure hot.

Do you have any examples of this especially since you do not live in a rural area so not witnessing anything firsthand? Seems to be an example of an externally driven narrative that gets pushed via TV or social media or talk radio, maybe you are not as independent of these influences as you think.

Anyway, you could check out the UP of Michigan as ticking most of your boxes although you will hear a lot of griping there about the influence of "down state" Michiganders. Also could look around parts of Montana like Helena, or Rapid City SD.

Noting that there are contradictory elements of your post, like wanting a standard rural area means being surrounded by huge sports followers, huge drinking (and drugs), and Walmart, which are listed as dislikes. You can avoid those by finding historic, prosperous towns but then you have former city "elites" as neighbors again.

Editing to add:

Minnesota is not heavily liberal, it's rather moderate and a little bland. There's a decades old (at least since 1950) tradition of using relatively high taxes and highly competent government services, especially public schools, to drive a higher level of prosperity, and people who don't want that tinkered with are not "heavily liberal." Maybe low taxes and conservative Christianity lead to prosperity elsewhere but I see little evidence of that, pretty overwhelmingly I have seen the opposite.

Also as someone who visits both Mills Fleet Farm and Tractor Supply just for timothy hay (rabbit food), I am not seeing much appeal for shopping there except for good prices and selection of work clothes like Carhartt or Wrangler. Costco is going to be pretty tough to find in rural areas.

obxgirl

Relevant content has been removed from my post. The OP has said that living among fellow conservative christians is an important goal in their relocation. This area is the heart of politically conservative evangelical christianity in Virginia. Jerry Falwell's Liberty University is one of the country's largest christian universities and is 90 minutes from Staunton.

suze

It doesn't really matter what specific traits you are looking for in an area for relocation (retirement or any other reason). Whether someone is looking for a conservative or liberal area, what are the statics and demographics. Unless you have visited them yourself and spent at least some time there, you will not have a feel for what it might be like to live there.

For instance, I made several vacation trips to Seattle and stayed a few weeks each time with friends, before I decided it was the right place for me to move. I have vacationed in Hawaii 7 times, and Mexico 30+ times and am still considering both for retirement (at least part time) but I have a better idea what it might be like, from spending so much time there already.

Gardyloo

MrERyter, are you familiar with the boards on City-Data? Unlike Fodor's, which is primarily a travel site, City-Data is more about relocation, local conditions, etc. and might be useful to you in getting a "locals'" perspective on possible relocation targets. For example, here's the board (and sub-boards) covering Virginia.

Note moderation tends to be a bit looser on C-D than on Fodor's, so you may encounter more troll-ish behavior, but there are frequently some very useful nuggets of information sprinkled in the dreck. You might have a look, anyway.

Gretchen

When I googled "states with the biggest drug problem" West Virgina popped up as #2 just sayin' you might want to research a little more beyond a whiff of pot smoke.

Suze, it ain't pot in WVA although I'm sure it's there. It is opioids and it is tragic.

suze

Suze, it ain't pot in WVA although I'm sure it's there. It is opioids and it is tragic.

Yes Gretchen. Absolutely. 100% That was my point in posting. And not only opioids... other hard drugs as well.

AJPeabody

I get the impression that the OP is interested in his version of utopia, or perhaps his vision of a utopia. He poses an interesting problem. It would be easier to solve if the OP could indicate the relative importance of all his requirements, as some may not be simultaneously available. Which can be left out?

suze

My concern is all the things they did not even mention - like health care access, distance to the nearest hospital or medical center, state and property taxes, financial services, library, services like fire, police, ambulance... to name a few things on most people's list when they research retirement relocation.

suze

Not to mention, we seems to have lost our OP.