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Asheville makes Forbes's '25 Best Places to Retire' list

By Bill Moss, Published: August 25, 2020

Get ready for more growth.

Forbes magazine ranked Asheville among the 25 best places to retire in America, along with two other North Carolina cities, Raleigh and Winston-Salem. The magazine said the main factors it uses to rank cities are median home prices, cost of living, state taxes and taxes on retirement income, including Social Security.

The smallest among the Tar Heel cities at 92,000, the rankers Asheville dinged for its median home price; at $308,000, it's 8 percent above the national average, and for an above-average serious crime rate. (Raleigh's median home price was 2 percent above the national average and Winston-Salem's was 47 percent below.) The magazine liked Asheville abundant doctors, good air quality and bikeability and added that it's a craft beer mecca. No word on Hendersonville, the more Mayberry-like burg next door. But we know that some retirees who decide to check out Asheville — especially the more conservative among them — choose Hendersonville, Fletcher or Mills River instead.