Traverse City Tops the List!

Traverse City locals all know how great this area is but, it's nice to hear what other media sources say about our surroundings. Here’s some articles about our area:

USA Today: The Best (May 2013) named Traverse City among the 12 Best Places to Retire in the USA

Trekaroo.com (May 2013) named Traverse City one of the Top 10 Things for Families to Do in Michigan

Family Fun (April 2013) named Traverse City one of America's Top 10 Tourist Towns and the nearby Sleeping Bear Dunes one of the 10 Favorite Family Destinations and Top 10 Nature Escapes

Fodor's (March 2013) named Traverse City one of the 10 Best Small Towns in America

Away.com (Jan. 2013) named Traverse City one of its Top Ten Places for a Four-Day Vacation in the U.S.

Golf Digest (Dec. 2012) named Traverse City one of America's  Top 10 Best Buddies-Trip Golf Destinations

 Livability.com (Nov. 2012) named Traverse City one of America's Top 10 Best Winter Vacation Destinations

Money Magazine (Nov. 2012) ranked Traverse City among the Top 25 Best Places to Retire

The A List (Sept. 2012) ranked Traverse City #7 in its list of the Top 10 Golf Cities in the U.S.

The Travel Channel (July 2012) ranked Traverse City among the Top 7 Beer Destinations in North America

Midwest Living (July 2012) ranked Traverse City one of 25 Coolest Midwest Vacation Spots

National Geographic named Traverse City one of its Top 10 Summer Trips for 2012

American Profile (April 2012) named Empire Beach at Sleeping Bear Dunes America’s  Best Landlocked Beach

Outdoor Life (April 2012) named Traverse City one of the 35 “Best Hunting and Fishing Towns in the US!

Budget Travel (Feb. 2012) named Traverse City one of the 11 “Coolest Winter Places in America”

Draft Magazine named Traverse City one of its 3 “Emerging Beer Towns” for 2012

Best Places USA (Oct 2011) gave Traverse City the top spot in its list of 10 of America’s Best Beach Towns

US News & World Report (Oct. 2011) named Traverse City one of the Top 10 Places to retire in 2012

Livability.com (Oct. 2011) named Traverse City one of the top 10 Cities for Book Lovers

Outside Magazine (Oct. 2011) listed Traverse City as one of 18 towns where “Life is Better”

Yahoo.com (Sept. 2011) named the Sleeping Bear Dunes one of the Top 5 'non-ocean beach destinations in North America

Touring & Tasting (Aug. 2011) called the Old Mission Peninsula one of its Seven Top Wine Regions to Watch. (The only non-California region on the list.)

Good Morning America viewers voted the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore as The Most Beautiful Place in America” (Aug. 2011)

“Dr. Beach” (July 2011) listed the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore as the best beach on the Great Lakes

Bicycling Magazine (July 2011) listed Traverse City as one of the “Six Best Cities for a Bike Vacation”

Links Magazine listed Traverse City as one of America’s Top 20 Golf Cities

Boating Magazine (June 2011) named Traverse City one of 10 Best Places to Live & Boat

USA Today (March  2011) named Sleeping Bear Dunes one of the Top 10 Places to Watch Wildlife

USA Today (Oct. 2010) named Traverse City one of the Top 10 Places to Enjoy Local Wines

TripAdvisor.com (Oct. 2010) named Traverse City one of America’s “Top 10 Fall Foliage Destinations

Triathlete Magazine (Oct. 2010) said Traverse City is “one of the top Tri towns in the US

Bon Appetit named Traverse City one of America’s five top foodie towns (Sept. 2010)

AOL Travel News (June 2010) gave Traverse City the #8 spot in its list of America’s Top Ten Beach Towns, and named Traverse City one of the Top 10 “Coolest Towns in the States”

TripAdvisor.com (May 2010) listed Traverse City in second place in “Our Top 10 Charming Small Towns.” (First Place went to Carmel, CA.)

Livability.com (April 2010) listed Traverse City in first place in its Top 10 list of Surprising Foodie Towns, after surveying 200 American cities

Midwest Living placed TC in first place in its list of the Midwest’s Five Top Food Towns in 2009 and 2010

USA Today (Oct. 2010) named Traverse City one of the Top 10 Places to Enjoy Local Wine

Bon Appetit (Sept. 2010) named Traverse City one of America's Five Top Foodie Towns

NationalGeographic.com (Oct. 2009) listed Traverse City as one of America's Top Adventure Towns

Money Magazine (Sept. 2009) listed Traverse City as #3 on its list of 25 Best Places to Retire

TripAdvisor.com (Oct. 2009) listed Traverse City as one of America’s Top 10 Wine Destinations

Triathlete Magazine (Oct. 2010) said Traverse City is one of the top Tri towns in the US

TripAdvisor.com (Oct. 2010) named Traverse City as one of America's Top 10 Fall Foliage Destinations

USA Weekend (July 2009) listed Traverse City as #4 in its list of Five Great Towns to Retire

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Relocate-America's™ Top 10 Best Places to Live

Traverse City, Michigan #2

Beach bumming, treasure hunting & castle building. This is the stuff memories are made of. Perhaps the most stunning features of the Traverse City area are its sandy shoreline and crystal clear lakes.

The Traverse City region has a total of 180.8 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline and 149' deep, aqua-colored lakes that are 10 acres or larger in size. In this section, you will learn where some of the area’s best beaches and parks are located and the amenities that they offer.

Below are the top 10 cities on Relocate-America.com's America's Top 100 Places to Live for 2007: Asheville, N.C. Traverse City, Mich. Ithaca, N.Y. Chicago Cary, N.C. Portland, Maine San Francisco Stevens Point, Wis. O'Fallon, Mo. Spencer, Iowa

If you are searching for solitude, choose a remote beach - even during the height of the summer season, it is possible to be alone on a long Lake Michigan beach. Or choose one of the many beaches right in Traverse City for companionship, volleyball and a friendly family atmosphere.

Nowhere in the Midwest is there a more alluring winter playground than the Grand Traverse Bay region, where all the snowy pleasures present themselves in abundance and variety. There's something for winter enthusiasts of every stripe. No matter how you take your snowy pleasures, you'll find easy downhill slopes, daunting steeps, terrain parks for trick-riding snowboarders and miles of cross-country and snowshoe trails.

In addition to skiing, snowshoeing and snowmobiling, the Traverse City region also hosts several outdoor skating rinks, four year-round indoor hockey rinks and other winter diversions including sleigh rides. Follow the links below for details on the major outdoor sports.

Set against a backdrop of woods, water and hills throughout picturesque Leelanau, Grand Traverse, and Antrim counties, Traverse City golf is, in a word, incomparable. Matchless designs, stunning beauty, impeccable conditioning and a warm welcome await golfers teeing up in Traverse City. It's Michigan's Golf Coast, a region selected by Golf Magazine as one of the top six golf destinations in the country. Traverse City golf includes designs by Nicklaus, Palmer, Player, Doak, and Weiskopf.

Located on the 45th parallel, Traverse City is home to vintners who grow grapes and bottle wines on the scenic Old Mission and Leelanau Peninsulas. The wines are fast becoming among the finest offered nationally and internationally. The ideal climate, with vineyards protected by winter snows and conditions moderated by proximity to Lake Michigan, has given rise to a wine industry that has been recognized for its quality and variety since the first winery opened here in 1974. Notable for Rieslings, methode champenoise sparkling wines, Chardonnays and fruit wines, Traverse City area vintners are now also receiving high praise from critics and consumers alike for their red wines, Pinot Noirs, ice wines and other varieties.

Visitors can enjoy days of touring and tastings at beautiful wineries located on some of the most breathtaking sites in the area. Our wineries are located on two beautiful peninsulas extending north from Traverse City - the Leelanau Peninsula and the Old Mission Peninsula.

Traverse City and the surrounding region are filled with dozens of galleries, each offering a range of works from local, regional and national artists. Choose from paintings, sculpture, glassware, photography, folk art and more! While Traverse City itself is home to many galleries, you will also find fascinating galleries in nearby towns such as Leland, Elk Rapids, Glen Arbor, Suttons Bay and Northport.

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CNN.Money Best Places to Live 2007

Top 100 rank: N/A
Population: 15,600
Compare Traverse City to Top 10 Best Places

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AARP Friday, July 27, 2007

Atlanta: "A sophisticated metropolis with southern charm, Atlanta offers abundant volunteer and cultural opportunities. Retirees also appreciate the wide range of housing options."

Beacon Hill in Boston: "This historically genteel part of Boston is full of culture and great restaurants. The Beacon Hill Village provides concierge style access to a network of support services for aging residents including transportation, health care and entertainment."

Chandler, Ariz.: "Gracious desert living combined with an activist twist that encourages residents to get involved with the spirit of the town. A city climate and plenty of parks and open space provide ample recreation opportunities."

Milwaukee: "An example of urban renewal at its best, Milwaukee features picturesque river walks and affordable water-front living.

Portland, Ore.: "European charm meets environmental nirvana in this environmentally progressive city. 50-plus residents love the miles of safe bike lanes and the revitalized Pearl District."

AARP also named four cities to watch: Austin, Texas; Burlington, Vt.; Mankato, Minn., and Traverse City, Mich.

Source: AARP The Magazine

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Forbes has a report on 150 cheap places to live. Author Richard Karlgaard points out the obvious: it’s more expensive to live in some places than others.

This is the 21st century, man! Today you can enjoy the best of both worlds:

1. Live where you want.
2. Get paid like you’re in a big city.
3. Never be isolated or bored.

Happy Hootervilles — porch-swing communities with less than 25,000 people, such as Traverse City Mi.

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Fly Rod and Reel Online >  November/December 2005 (Volume 27, Issue 5)

Let's face it, none of us is getting any younger.

In fact, our recent FR&R Reader Survey indicates that a good portion of us are at that stage of life when retirement may be right around the corner. You know, time to relax, move into a condo in Florida and pick up golf. Maybe even play a bit of bingo every now and then.

Just imagine it-drawers full of pastel shirts and pleated shorts; bus tours of the Maine Coast during the summer and maybe a part-time job at Wal-Mart. Ah yes, that sweet payoff after years of toil in the elements or under flickering fluorescent lights. Enjoy!

Yeah right. If you're reading this, chances are you prefer Montana to Florida-unless you happen to be stalking a bonefish or battling a tarpon; your favorite thing to do on a golf course is poach bass out of the water hazard, and you think bus tours are for ninnies. In fact, if retirement means anything it means more time to spend on the water fishing, right?

That's how we feel, too, which is why we compiled this roster of the 12 best retirement towns for the hard-bitten fly angler.

Now, many of the places listed here may have been mentioned elsewhere as good spots for retirement in general, and are far from undiscovered. But this isn't necessarily a bad thing-it just means they all possess adequate infrastructure to handle the needs of a graying population-hospitals, part-time jobs, cultural activities and perhaps a Denny's or two.

But all of these towns are also located near fantastic fly-fishing water, plain and simple. And although Western hotspots are given prominence for obvious reasons, our choices are otherwise fairly evenly spread throughout the country, so an angler looking to relocate can offer his wife a variety of options.

So here then, in no particular order, is Fly Rod & Reel's list of the top-12 fly-fishing retirement spots: 12 Top Fly-Fishing Retirement Towns.

Traverse City, Michigan

Northwest Michigan may not have the "best" of a single type of fishing, but from steelhead to salmon, and smallmouth to pike they have a bit of everything, and Traverse City is located right in the heart of it. An angler would have to be pretty jaded to get bored up here with the Manistee, the Pere Marquette and the legendary Au Sable rivers all situated nearby (and don't forget the nearly endless possibilities of Lake Michigan).

All that water is enough to make a guy pick up and move there, and that's exactly what Chuck Hawkins did. He retired to Traverse City from Los Angeles 14 years ago and hasn't looked back. Fly-fishing was high on his list of criteria, and he looked at places such as Jackson Hole before choosing Traverse City. The fishing, he says, is incredible. "I don't know how to describe it. We have, arguably, the best fly-fishing in the United States."

Area Stats
Grand Traverse County
Pop: 77,654
Median age: 38
Median household income: $43,169
Median home value: $130,400

Distance to nearest metro areas:
Detroit 250 miles
Chicago 320 miles

What to do off the water:
If winter steelheading isn't your thing, go skiing on the friendly slopes of nearby Mount Holiday.

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Retirement Places Rated: Sixth Edition, 2004, by David Savageau

Traverse City, Michigan #25

What You Need to Know to Plan the Retirement You Deserve",
More than 200 places rated on Ambiance, Cost of Living, Climate, Personal Safety, Services and Economy.