Best Places to Retire in Kentucky? (Owensboro, Henderson: real estate, affordable houses, vs)

[kygman]

Wanderer, if you like bicycling, the LBL has 100 or so miles of hiking and biking trails to enjoy. Lot to see in 170,000 acres.
https://www.landbetweenthelakes.us/

[marino760]

Madisonville was definitely on my short list. I did a lot of research and it ticked off almost all the boxes. It seems like a very nice town with a lot to offer a retiree. I had several towns throughout the state on my list to research including Bardstown, Danville, Harrodsburg, Columbia, London, Williamsburg, Greenville to name some. I gradually took some off my list and added others until I narrowed it down. The winner for me was Maysville for several reasons, but obviously we are all different with different needs and wants. I made researching KY towns my hobby. That was fun and I learned a great deal about the state.

Some things I took into consideration in no specific order are:
-population
-access to decent medical care
-geography and geology
-general climate, not all KY is exactly the same
-crime rates
-housing costs and property tax rates (it can vary a lot from county to county)
-reasonable driving distance to a relatively large airport
-local history and architecture since I'm a fan of both
-having a safe, pretty, walkable downtown

[CraigCreek]

Originally Posted by Peter1948

Oldham County is consistently ranked best in the state for schools and transplants. It's nice because its a Louisville suburb but feels rural. My problem with rural KY is roads and lack of medical access. Despite what people say, I work in high level travel healthcare. I can tell you the hospitals in these small towns are downright dangerous. They cannot even stent your heart or scope your stomach if bleeding. That's why looking to a small town near Louisville would be my first option, for the hospitals. You could also consider Woodford County near Lexington, but Louisville is three times the size with three times the amenities, which are nice to have near.

If health care is a major concern, the University of Kentucky Hospital is ranked #1 in Kentucky.

That's not saying Louisville's hospitals are poor - I was born in one of them, after all - but the UK Med Center offers the most advanced care to be found in the state. I had an emergency room visit there last May, for an arm injury sustained in a fall, and was treated promptly and courteously, though repairing the damage took a while (17 stitches plus a tetanus shot and x-rays). No problem later with the bill, unlike other hospitals I've experienced previously.

Of course, if you really do prefer Louisville's hospitals to Lexington's, they are all within the two hour range (of Lexington) which the OP stated was an objective.

Lexington is also within a one hour range of Danville, Versailles, Nicholasville, Lancaster, Harrodsburg, Georgetown, Paris, Cynthiana, Midway, Millersburg, Frankfort, Carlisle, Richmond, Winchester, and Berea, all pleasant smaller towns. If you expand that range to two hours, many, many more towns and cities qualify, including northern Kentucky and Cincinnati, Maysville, Carrollton, Elizabethtown, Morehead, Shelbyville, London, etc.

[Crazee Cat Lady]

Kentucky has so many nice little small towns, and each of them are a little different than the other....here are a few list of the most beautiful small towns in Kentucky, maybe it can help you narrow down your list. I highly encourage you to make some visits first, it's the best way possible to find the right match and see if the vibe is right for you there.


https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/kent...cter-kentucky/


https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-b...isit-kentucky/


https://theculturetrip.com/north-ame...s-in-kentucky/


Keep in mind, if you want to keep on learning....College is free in Kentucky, for Senior Citizens as long as their is room in the class for an extra person....When my Dad retired he took some classes just for fun, and to keep his mind sharp at U of L and JCC.

https://www.aseniorcitizenguideforco.../kentucky.html


Like others have said, you want to check the access to good health care and make sure there isn't a problem with crime, so check the crime stats. The towns that are within the golden triangle and close to Lexington, Louisville or Cincinnati are usually a safe bet for example (I am not saying other places aren't though...)

[flashfearless]

I would caution about western Ky if you are elderly. My well educated cousin once removed are around 90 loving on Ky lake at a very nice spot worth about 1 mil. They don’t trust their ability to reach good health care in a serious emergency to the extent that they bought a helicopter ride insurance policy so that they could be transported to Nashville should they have a heart attack or some event requiring advanced care.

[kygman]

I'd hope they'd take me to Baptist Health Heart Hospital in Paducah before the long trip to Vanderbilt. I've known a few people who have received great helpful care there.

[Kansaswanderer]

My dad had a heart attack in our hometown of about 45,000 people in Kansas and survived--the key is to be stabilized so that you survive long enough to be taken to a hospital. I'm 59 and in good health, but when you retire, you have to look to the long-term.

I'll be looking more into hospitals in area, especially Paducah, but it's almost 50 miles from Murray. Clarksville is even further. The question is how they'd keep me alive until I got to a hospital in one of those two towns.

[kygman]

I've heard Cardiology at Murray/Calloway Co. is pretty good. Once they get you stabilized I imagine you'd go by ambulance to Paducah. 4 lane all the way there.
I know Mayfield isn't as far away as Murray, but 3 years ago today I took my wife to the hospital here. She was having trouble breathing and her chest hurt. The ER said congestive heart failure and had her in an ambulance headed to Lourdes (Mercy Health) in no time. I followed in my car and, going 75, couldn't keep up with the ambulance.

[Crazee Cat Lady]

Originally Posted by Kansaswanderer

My dad had a heart attack in our hometown of about 45,000 people in Kansas and survived--the key is to be stabilized so that you survive long enough to be taken to a hospital. I'm 59 and in good health, but when you retire, you have to look to the long-term.

I'll be looking more into hospitals in area, especially Paducah, but it's almost 50 miles from Murray. Clarksville is even further. The question is how they'd keep me alive until I got to a hospital in one of those two towns.

In Lexington, from what I have seen on the news, a lot of people are air lifted to UK Hospital from other areas.
https://www.somerset-kentucky.com/ne...d5423799f.html


https://www.wkyt.com/content/news/On...21&jwsource=cl


https://www.wtvq.com/2015/03/03/two-...laurel-county/


https://www.wtvq.com/2017/04/04/man-...oped-accident/


UK is rated as the best hospital in the state of Kentucky.
I am not sure how long the time differential between being transported in an ambulance vs being airlifted is though.
Some regional hospitals are pretty good, some are horrible....not sure about Western or Eastern Kentucky though.

[lost_vegabond]

I was raised in Henderson and my wife is from Owensboro. My in-laws still live there as well. Henderson is a small, quaint town yet, it is very insular. Outside of a Walmart, Lowe's, and a Golden Corral there's not much there. It does benefit from Evansville, IN which is around 15 miles away. It is very much a bedroom community for Evansville. While it does rain, it isn't an issue for most of Henderson in that it sits mostly on a bluff. Parts of the county do flood from the Ohio River during the early spring. If I were in your position, I would look at Owensboro. It has come a long way in 20 years. It's slightly larger than your population threshold at around 60K. The medical facilities are better than Henderson as well. They are revitalizing their downtown area and seem to be making progress. Owensboro is around 40 minutes from Evansville and ~2 hrs from Nashville. Hope it helps.