WV or PA for retirement?

steveh326 · Mar 5, 2017

as the subject says, thinking about either PA or WV for retirement. Trying to escape MD. Need to stay within reasonable driving distance of Frederick (grandson). I have family in both states. I keep thinking WV may be slightly lower taxes but not really sure. Wife is concerned about health care in our advancing years. Any thoughts?

I posted similar in PA subforum.

Texas · Mar 5, 2017

We are looking at WV. I think I may just dump this house in the summer next year and make the move. I doubt 2A is going to sort itself out here anytime soon. Once my wife has the baby and we find a larger place there I am out of here.

RwWilly · Mar 5, 2017

There are a ton of these types of comparisons on the web. All depends what your priorities are. Good luck in retirement.
https://wallethub.com/edu/best-and-worst-states-to-retire/18592/

Kimber45 · Mar 5, 2017

Haven't looked into WV yet, The only thing that scares me about PA is the damn school tax.

traveller · Mar 5, 2017

RwWilly said:
There are a ton of these types of comparisons on the web. All depends what your priorities are. Good luck in retirement.
https://wallethub.com/edu/best-and-worst-states-to-retire/18592/

And none of these matter much unless you can plug in your very personal choices on housing and income structure.

ohen cepel · Mar 5, 2017

WV has lower taxes than md but PA is higher than md according to this site;
https://wallethub.com/edu/best-worst-states-to-be-a-taxpayer/2416/

That said, I'm not sure how WV treats retirement income where as I'm pretty sure PA doesn't tax any of it which could make PA better.

If you're near Frederick you could go there for health care in either case.

It's tough to make a real state by state comparison since both are large with good places and bad places to be, cheap and $$ places, and it really depends on you and what you want from a place.

I think I would go WV simple since I think long term it will be a more sane and conservative state whereas Philly will drag PA around and possibly down in the long run.

Biggfoot44 · Mar 5, 2017

Well since you specified within semi- easy driving distance of Fredrick, Md, there is fairly close socioeconomic matchup of that region of Pa and that region of Pa , which doesn't really help you.

Pa will have more variation of Township to Township, while WV will be County by County.

So really it is matter of specific property vs specific property.

TheGunnyRet · Mar 5, 2017

I am in Transition, but I have to say that there are more Homes available in WV since the Coal Jobs are diminishing...When We bought our home in WV the Lawyer told us most of the people are leaving WV except for Berkley County being that there's Martinsburg and proximity to DC...

Also wanted to note my 3 GDs go to K, M, JH schools and used to be in MD and when they went to WV they where behind, My Daughter does say the Schools are much better in WV...also very sports oriented as well if that is important...

And there are allot on Mennonite and Amish around the Martinsburg, Hagerstown, Waynesboro areas...if that means anything to you?

kgain673 · Mar 5, 2017

Kimber45 said:
Haven't looked into WV yet, The only thing that scares me about PA is the damn school tax.

And the township tax, borough tax, or what ever else tax PA decides they need from you. And yearly car inspections that are required at approximately $100 a pop. It's crazy.

kgain673 · Mar 5, 2017

TheGunnyRet said:
I am in Transition, but I have to say that there are more Homes available in WV since the Coal Jobs are diminishing...When We bought our home in WV the Lawyer told us most of the people are leaving WV except for Berkley County being that there's Martinsburg and proximity to DC...

Also wanted to note my 3 GDs go to K, M, JH schools and used to be in MD and when they went to WV they where behind, My Daughter does say the Schools are much better in WV...also very sports oriented as well if that is important...

Schools are better in WV? You may want to do your research on that. Overall schools in MD are among the best in the nation. Even the ones in the more densely populated areas of Maryland are wayyyy better then your average schools in the nation. Much of it has to do with the schools in MD are controlled on the county level.

PapiBarcelona · Mar 5, 2017

The Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia would be my preference. I have family with a farm in Grant County, it's a great area for views, space, and not being around traffic light to traffic light if that's what you're going for. WV has much better 2A than Pennsylvania if that's a determining factor too.

That drive through VA on 340 aint a bad area either, Clarke and Frederick County VA.

zoostation · Mar 5, 2017

Don't forget WV also has a personal property tax, including on your cars. Of the two I think I would still pick WV.

But don't make the error of thinking that just because a state is southern it necessarily will have lower taxes. Some do, but in many cases people pay less taxes just because they have less money. South Carolina is a good example of this, income tax rate around 7%, base sales tax of 6% but localities can add up to 2.5% more, and a county personal property tax that depending upon your county will cost you about $500 a year just for one vehicle that books at $30K. That's another thing to think of. For all of its fiscal faults, MD does have a pretty uniform system of taxation across the state. Here, other than relatively similar real estate and local income tax rates across the state, you can tell pretty much what your taxes will be going in just by state norms. A lot of other states, your taxes can vary wildly depending upon county or even local area. The PA school tax is a good example of this. A lot of southern states can be cheaper, but if you have money many are happy to tax you almost as bad as the Free State. { Especially if you are one of those relatively wealthy yankee transplants.

! }

traveller · Mar 5, 2017

You have to keep going south until you hit FL if income taxes are what you want to avoid (they get you back on storm insurance, termite treatments and fees).

TN doesn"t tax earned income, only those evil dividends that benefit bowler hat wearing Yankees.

Engine4 · Mar 5, 2017

If it's a toss up tween wva or pa, I think wva is much prettier with the mountains.

Jimbob2.0 · Mar 5, 2017

PA probably has a higher probability of going anti 2A with Philly and Pittsburgh strongly blue and not many people in the middle.

K31 · Mar 5, 2017

Are you retiring from .gov?

Biggfoot44 · Mar 5, 2017

Remember the OP specified proximity to Fredrick, Md . So he's talking the relatively affulent eastern Panhandle, not the depressed coal regions .

j_h_smith · Mar 5, 2017

Kimber45 said:
Haven't looked into WV yet, The only thing that scares me about PA is the damn school tax.

That's what stopped me from moving to PA. We looked in Loganville, which is in the Dallastown school district. They had just built a new high school AND middle school. Those taxes made MD look very attractive.

Kimber45 · Mar 5, 2017

j_h_smith said:
That's what stopped me from moving to PA. We looked in Loganville, which is in the Dallastown school district. They had just built a new high school AND middle school. Those taxes made MD look very attractive.

We looked in Delta a couple years ago. New Home on about 1/2 acre, think it was going for around $400k. The school and property taxes were a little over 8k :eek:

DCutdSE · Mar 5, 2017

I have a colleague who retired in WV but regrets it and said PA would have been better because, "Pennsylvania is one of only two states to exclude virtually every type of retirement income from taxation according to Kiplinger. Public and private pensions, railroad retirement benefits and all Social Security income are excluded from taxable income for tax purposes within the state."
http://finance.zacks.com/pay-pennsylvania-tax-retired-pension-social-security-7987.html

Depending on your situation PA could be more attractive financially.

Congratulations on the retirement!

WV or PA for retirement?

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