Tracey Lind and Emily Ingalls chose Ann Arbor as their home in retirement, in part for its affordability in comparison to other cities they were considering. | Mark Bialek

In the fall of 2025, after carefully researching multiple locations for retirement, Tracey Lind, seventy-two, and Emily Ingalls, sixty-five, made the move to Ann Arbor. The two had spent the last twenty-five years in Cleveland, Lind as a retired dean of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral and Ingalls as a commercial property and asset manager.

“We decided it was time to start a new chapter,” says Lind. “We asked ourselves, ‘Where do we want to live?’” They got to work and created a spreadsheet of all their requirements. “We wanted a college town, good art, music and theater, a bike-friendly place with bookstores and coffee shops and local food. We wanted a community that would welcome same-sex couples, a church congregation that fit, and good health care.” Ann Arbor checked all those boxes, but the deciding factor was the cost of living. They had seriously considered a number of locations on the east coast, including Cape Cod, Massachusetts and Portland, Maine, but found either housing costs were too high or access to health care too poor. “We could afford Ann Arbor,” Lind says simply. “We love Ann Arbor and are really glad we moved here.”

Their thinking may help explain why Ann Arbor has recently made some lists of best places to retire. 

This year, Jackson financial group ranked Ann Arbor number one on its list of the ten best retirement cities in the U.S., topping retirement favorites such as Tampa, Florida, San Antonio, Texas, and Pinehurst, North Carolina, as well as big cities such as New York City and Minneapolis. Online financial advising company SoFi placed it number eight on its Happiest Cities to Retire just ahead of Washington D.C. and Boulder, Colorado. And financial website Rethinking65 recently highlighted Ann Arbor as a retirement destination, describing it as “an ideal fit for retirees who crave intellectual stimulation, cultural riches, the pleasures of a small, busy city set in the midst of a prestigious research university, and four seasons that showcase abundant natural settings.”

According to Salary.com’s Cost of Living Calculator, housing costs in Ann Arbor are higher than the national average—but not as high as many large, coastal cities—while other expenses, including food, energy, transportation, and health care, are lower. 

Reinhart Realtor Scott Dawson says that besides ties to the university or family, what draws retirees to the city is the same as what attracts families and working people: “It’s very culturally rich with the university, concerts, shows, restaurants, and continuing education. It’s close to Detroit for professional sports and an easy drive to vacation spots.”

Dawson is currently helping Susan and Jim Newton find a condo in downtown Ann Arbor for their retirement home. Susan, seventy-five, is a U-M alum and Jim, sixty-eight, is a Michigan native. They met in Ann Arbor in 1978 and lived here until 1999, then moved to Washington state. Now they want to return. 

For the Newtons, Ann Arbor offers the right balance of culture and practicality. “It’s an intelligent community with so many great places,” says Susan. “We used to go to the Ark and the Power Center, and we had season tickets to the Purple Rose.” Access to good health care was another important consideration.

Now that they’re settled in, Lind and Ingalls are leading a workshop beginning September 30 called “Planting New Roots in Ann Arbor” through U-M’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. The five-week workshop is designed for retirees who have relocated to Ann Arbor. 

“Relocating in retirement is exciting and disorienting,” says Lind. “You pick up and leave your old life and start new. You’re beginning a new chapter.”

To help guide other newcomers through this transition, the course covers the ins and outs of daily life—such as shopping, health and wellness resources, transportation, and entertainment—and provides participants with tips for developing new friendships and finding opportunities for community involvement.

But for some retirees, like the Newtons, Ann Arbor is not so much a new place as an old friend with which to get reacquainted. “It’s where our story began. There is still a lot left and we want it to end in Ann Arbor,” says Susan. “We have lots of ties to Ann Arbor. It’s where we both want to be.”