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Robust Austin, Texas Offers Retirees
Warm Climate, Big City Amenities and Small Town Charm
Cost of Living: Meets the National Average
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| Retirees will find a variety of cultural
activities here.
The Arthouse, first founded in 1911 as the Texas
Fine Arts Association, advocates contemporary art throughout Texas.
The Austin Museum of Art offers a
variety of exhibits and programs that change throughout the year.
The George Washington Carver
Museum and the Cultural Art Center also add to the cultural
landscape. Live music venues in Austin
are many and varied (in fact, there are 120 of them), and the place is known for its country
music scene (Willie Nelson being a native). There is also a
ballet company, an opera company and a symphony orchestra. |
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Austin is known for having an abundance of
restaurants, especially ones serving Mexican cuisine. Residents will also find
plenty of places to shop for antiques, gifts, collectibles and
jewelry. The area has several large malls, a flea market and a
farmers' market, along with a wide variety of things to do on
6th Street, formerly known as Pecan Street. This
avenue may well
be Austin’s best-known, as it offers a rich ensemble of
entertainment, food and eclectic shopping in a variety of
boutiques. This is also a green city, with 12,000 acres of parks and
greenbelts. |
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Recreational activities for the active retiree abound. For those that prefer to chip their day away on the
golf course, Austin has several 18-hole championship golf courses,
including the oldest golf course in the state
of Texas, the Hancock Golf Course, as well as the Morris
Williams Golf Course and the Roy Kizer Golf Course. Other popular club
courses include ColoVista, Forest Creek, River Place, and the
Jimmy Clay Golf Course.
There are three senior
activity centers and seventeen recreation centers. The senior activity
centers do not require a membership fee, and they offer a variety
of events and activities, including groups, classes, health
related events, tours, trips, and recreational activities. The
city offers classes through their recreation center, as well as table games, dances, support groups,
yoga, card
games, art and fitness.
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For those looking to give back to the
community, there are some great options for doing volunteer work.
The Austin Public Library welcomes volunteers, giving
people the opportunity to work in storytelling, research,
processing books, and shelving books. There are also
volunteer opportunities for animal lovers through such places as
the Town Lake Animal Center, the Austin Heart House, Safeplace,
Texas Nature Trackers, the Truman House and TXServe, plus many
more.
Getting to and from volunteering and merely getting around town
should not be much of a problem.
The city offers a bus service, Capital Metro, which covers the
metro area, offering free fairs for those 65 and over.
Retirees that enjoy riding their bike to run short errands, or
simply for exercise, will be glad to know that several years ago Austin was rated as one of
the top 10 bicycling cities in the country. The city has taken
measures to be bike safe and offers paths, wide curb lanes,
and bicycle lanes. Senior transportation is also offered
through the city’s Parks and Recreation Department.
Austin's medical care is quite good, as would be
expected in a city this size. There are five major
hospitals, the largest of which is Seton Medical Center, and six
smaller specialty hospitals, with a total of 2,500 beds and 13,000
practitioners (nurses and doctors). There is a drawback to
health care in Austin, though (see below).
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With
its hot, moist summers and mild winters, Austin is considered to
have a humid subtropical climate. From June through September,
temperatures average over 90 degrees each day, with the
high humidity levels making some days uncomfortable.
Winters are generally
mild, usually with average daily high temperatures in the
60s and lows into the 40s. Austin receives 2
to 5 inches of rain per month, and sometimes it can rain for
days. Still, the area averages sunshine 300 days a
year.
There are drawbacks to retirement in
Austin. One to particularly keep in mind is the problem of
finding doctors who accept Medicare (roughly 45% accept new
Medicare patients). This is not an issue for younger
retirees who may not stay in Austin forever, but it can be a
concern for those approaching traditional retirement age. It
is not impossible to find Medicare doctors, but it can take some
searching.
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The fact that the University of Texas, with a
student population of 50,000, is here may be considered a drawback
by some (and a plus by others). Spanish is heard
around town, although English is definitely the primary
language. High property taxes are a drawback, although they
are offset somewhat by there being no state income tax. The crime
rate is above the national average, although it is less than in
other large, urban areas, and summer heat can get a
little oppressive.
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