Best climates for retirement: U.S. places measured on winter cold, summer heat, humidity and sunshine, by region

"Best" here is not a verdict on a place. It is a set of measured conditions many retirees ask about (mild winter nights, summers that are not hot, dry air, sun, little snow), each taken from the NOAA station that represents the place (sunshine from NASA's grid cell around it), and the places that meet them. Check a shortlist's own page for its month-by-month normals, frost dates and records.

Where are winters mild and summers not hot?

53 places of 50,000+ have a normal January low of 35°F or more and a normal July high of 88°F or less. The first 25, by the number of days a year with a high between 60°F and 79°F:

Sunshine: the share of clear-sky sunlight that reaches the ground (NASA POWER, 2001-2020). That rule favours the California coast; the mildest places of each region follow.

Which places are mildest in each region?

Up to five places of 50,000+ in each region with the most days a year with a high between 60°F and 79°F and under 24 inches of snow a year (a place whose station keeps no snowfall normal counts only if its January nights stay above freezing):

Where is it mild and dry?

Of those, the places whose station keeps hourly normals and whose summer dew point averages under 60°F, the level at which air feels dry to most people: Santa Barbara, CA (58°F), Santa Maria, CA (54°F), Camarillo, CA (58°F), Oakland, CA (55°F), Burbank, CA (57°F), Seattle, WA (52°F), Portland, OR (53°F) and Salem, OR (52°F).

Where are winters warm?

63 places of 50,000+ have a normal January low of 45°F or more: 30 in Florida, 21 in California, 8 in Texas, 2 in Arizona, 1 in Louisiana and 1 in Hawaii. Their summers differ: 36 reach a normal July high of 90°F or more and 13 have a summer dew point of 65°F or more. Those with July highs under 90°F, most mild days first: Newport Beach, CA (July high 72°F), Oxnard, CA (July high 73°F), San Diego, CA (July high 75°F), Redondo Beach, CA (July high 76°F), Chula Vista, CA (July high 75°F), Carlsbad, CA (July high 74°F), Santa Monica, CA (July high 75°F) and Torrance, CA (July high 77°F).

The mildest of them in each state, by days a year with a high of 60-79°F: Palm Coast, Florida (143 days; July high 88°F), Newport Beach, California (326 days; July high 72°F), Galveston, Texas (153 days; July high 91°F), Phoenix, Arizona (119 days; July high 107°F), New Orleans, Louisiana (134 days; July high 91°F) and Honolulu, Hawaii (35 days; July high 88°F).

Where are summers cool?

34 places of 50,000+ keep the normal July high at 80°F or below without a hard winter (January low 28°F or more), mostly on the Pacific coast: Newport Beach, CA (72°F), Oxnard, CA (73°F), San Diego, CA (75°F), Redondo Beach, CA (76°F), Santa Barbara, CA (73°F), Chula Vista, CA (75°F), Oceanside, CA (77°F), Carlsbad, CA (74°F), Santa Monica, CA (75°F) and Torrance, CA (77°F).

Where are there four seasons with little snow?

A cold month without deep snow: a January low between 25°F and 35°F, a July high of 88°F or less and under 12 inches of snow a year: Mableton, GA, Bellingham, WA, Asheville, NC, Hampton, VA, Beaverton, OR, Durham, NC, Olympia, WA, Vancouver, WA, Virginia Beach, VA and Suffolk, VA.

Where is it sunniest?

By the share of clear-sky sunlight that reaches the ground (NASA POWER, 2001-2020), the sunniest places of 50,000+: Yuma, AZ (94%), Lake Havasu City, AZ (93%), Maricopa, AZ (92%), Phoenix, AZ (92%), Hesperia, CA (92%), Ontario, CA (92%), Pomona, CA (92%), Redlands, CA (92%), Victorville, CA (92%) and Casa Grande, AZ (92%). The full ranking. It measures the sky, not latitude: a clear northern city can outrank a cloudier southern one.

Find your own climate

Set your own limits for January nights, July afternoons, snow and rain in the climate finder: it lists every place that meets them, mildest first.

What these measures leave out

Normals describe temperature, moisture, wind and sky at one station. They do not measure hurricanes, wildfire smoke, heat waves above the normal, air quality, pollen or cost of living, all of which matter for a move; PlainClimate covers climate only. Coastal and inland places a few miles apart can differ a great deal: compare a shortlist's neighbours on its page.