It bears repeating. 110 at 10% humidity is far more comfortable than 90 at 60%.

Yeah, but I think I'd take my current 90 degrees at 20 percent humidity over either of them.

If I was going to relocate in retirement I'd want an improvement in climate, which in my case is cooler summers. My wife wants warmer winters, so those two things in combination really knock out a lot of contenders.

Did you factor crime rates in your research?

The other day in KC it was 91 degrees with a heat index of 107. Here, it was 96 with a head index of 91.

High humidity can make even 70-75 uncomfortable (now that I've gotten used to 10-20%).... the lack of humidity opens that up to where I'll drive home with the windows down at 90 or even a little hotter, or sit outside on the porch in the shade.

IMO though, anything over about 107 is getting extreme if you're not in a pool, regardless of the humidity. Granted, still preferred over a hot and humid day in KC.

I’m a big fan of the Rio Rancho area, cheap living and weather that’s bearable year round.

I'm from the midwest and was talking with a guy on a golf course in Vegas about the low humidity. He made a good point. He said "it may be dry heat, but so is your oven and it will cook a turkey".

There are two things that I pondered putting into the model and didn't. Maybe I'll build them in at some point.

Crime rates - It obviously seems like an important thing, but I'm not sure how relevant it is given the geography of how they're reported. For example, I live in an area that statistically has a relatively high crime rate. But my neighborhood is mostly home owners and is very low crime. The numbers get driven up because there's a commercial street that happens to be in my zip code where there's a lot of low-income housing and criminal-on-criminal crime. Likewise, I think the city of Denver shows up above-average in crime relative to other Colorado cities, but it's mostly because of criminal-on-criminal crime that's happening in a few specific neighborhoods that I never visit.

So while it seems counterintuitive, I don't know if I really care about crime rates that much. Since I'm not a criminal and I'll likely live in a decent neighborhood, I don't think crime impacts me measurably. (I do keep a lookout for the bike that was stolen from my garage 15 years ago, though. I'll find it someday.)

That said, I saw something during my search about how Albuquerque has a high crime rate for things like theft. It gives me pause. But then again I know people who lived there for a decade or more and never had any issues, so I think even petty crime is concentrated in areas where I wouldn't necessarily live. Thoughts?

Growth rates/home appreciation - This is something I'm strongly considering adding. In some places housing is more affordable because the community is in decline or because there's no appreciation in housing values. In the big picture, I'd prefer to live in a place that's growing and has house price appreciation, because home equity will be my last line of financial defense when I'm 95 years old and running out of cash. It's been great to be in Denver for the past 25 years where I've gotten this, and if I retire at 65 and move there'll be another 25 years of home appreciation to consider. I think it would be a long-term financial mistake to move to a place where I don't get that.

That also brings up other things like water - does Las Vegas or Phoenix or southern California have enough water to handle growth and sustainability? If not, that could cause a major reversal of fortunes in the future. So my thinking is that I'll narrow the list down and then do a long-term risk/reward assessment of the finalists that takes into account location-unique issues.

Rainman-
Have you checked out Payson AZ?
Never gets unbearably hot or cold (mid 20's) and about 80 miles from Phoenix metro
Have not read the whole thread but based upon some of your criteria it might be a good match.

I'll add it to the mix. I'm not familiar with it.

I added in all of the new ones, as well as a few others. Here are the rankings and the scores to date. (In a spoiler since it's a long list.) Recall that my scoring system gave a zero to the lowest-scoring city and a 100 to the highest scoring city, and then apportioned the others in between.

Among the new cities I added, Phoenix bumped into the top five and Scottsdale made it into the top ten.

Good stuff Rainman.

How serious are you about moving?

Pretty much zero for the next few years unless my wife gets mad at the snow again. We still need to work for a while and Denver's the best place for that. But I'm kind of intrigued (as is my wife) by picking the top five prospects and living in each one for a month over the next five years to scout them out. Maybe it's the pandemic talking, but I think we're both interested in some new scenery.

In the long term (post-retirement), I think there's a 50/50 chance just for the climate.

I think the only ones I could really justify would be the top 21 (the ones above the 'stay at home' option. Among those, I see several that my wife will veto on sight regardless of the scoring. I bet the only ones she would consider would be Albuquerque/Rio Rancho, Sedona, and Santa Fe. Maybe St. George, too. I'd strongly consider Las Vegas with those.

And of course the scoring isn't the final cut. I'd strongly consider Port Angeles, and I'm kind of intrigued by Oxnard now that bearcat mentioned it. It seems to have a perfect climate, and it's at least slightly more affordable than other parts of SoCal. I'm fascinated by Ketchikan, but I just can't grasp how much rain 141 inches is.