Reviews & Comments
San Jose, CA
Great area -
12/31/2022This is a fantastic neighborhood. Good schools, nice people, a lot of working professional families and retired professionals. The down sides are the neighborhood could be more diverse, and it's not walkable to employment, major shopping, or medical care, and transit here is pretty much nonexistent. You need a car, which is a real drag and is the only thing that makes me question whether to retire here.
Lexington, KY
re: You aint from around here
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12/31/2022This review is accurate. I grew up in Lexington and got two degrees from UK. I subsequently lived in various towns and cities in Arkansas, Florida, and California. I can't recommend my hometown. It's ill-equipped for its winter weather, unlike places like Boston or Rochester. Summer is very humid. The reason UK sports are an obsession is that there are no professional sports teams. If you end up there, I recommend making the best of it by spending free time in the Red River Gorge area that's an hour or so to the Southeast, and living as close as possible to the UK campus so you can take advantage of the university's offerings. I don't know if they still have it, but UK used to have a program that provided completely free tuition, including for degrees, to students over 65. If they sell have that, it could be worth it to retire there, especially if you want to pursue a PhD. Once off the campus, the city is insular and the epitome of "white bread" culture. The community exudes a smugness that one wouldn't necessarily expect in such a place. It's basically an overgrown small town, where everyone is critical of everyone else's choice of church and the ordinary folks see themselves as gentry. It's the kind of place where every tenth car's muffler is held on with a coat hanger, evey 5th car has a Jesus bumper sticker, and every weekend there is a "debutante ball" for another snooty white chick. Is it better than St. Petersburg Florida? Absolutely. Is it better than Little Rock Arkansas? No. Also, Kentucky is tobacco country. About 1/3 of adults smoke, so if smoking bothers you, anywhere in the state is a bad place to be. Because there are so many smokers, the health status of the community is not good.
San Jose, CA
Great place but expensive -
7/19/2019I've lived here since 2000. Overall, it's great. Very diverse, and anything you could want to do is here or within driving distance. The weather is great. Low humidity, no snow in the winter, 300 days of sunshine a year. The education level is high, with many college graduates and people with advanced degrees. Medical care is abundant and good. Traffic is not as bad as it could be given the population. The huge downside of living here is the ridiculous cost of housing, the high volume of millionaires, poorly funded K-12, and it is very difficult to get your kids into state universities. They give priority to out-of-state applicants because those students pay more, and they have so many applicants that you need a 4.3+ gpa to be considered. But people are friendly and literally any interest you have, you can delve into it here or nearby - all sorts of organizations and hobbies, beaches, mountains, skiing, etc. San Jose has tons of things for kids to do. It's surprisingly family friendly.