Birmingham Listed As One Of Nation's Best Places To Retire

BIRMINGHAM, AL - Birmingham can add another accolade to its growing list of virtues over the last few years. In its annual poll, civic research website Livability.com ranked the top cities in the nation for retirement, and the Magic City was among the top 10.

According to the site, the organization analyzed data on characteristics of livability that research has shown are especially important to seniors, including health care, climate, crime rates, cost of living, housing costs and access to recreational activities. The list includes cities from a variety of regions, and Birmingham ranked seventh on the list, with its most attractive features for retirees being low cost of living, a revitalized downtown area and the fact that the city is now one of the leaders in the health care industry, with more than a dozen hospitals, as well as a premier medical school and research facility in the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Also listed among Birmingham's best qualities include manageable traffic, outdoor recreational activities - from the eight-block Railroad Park green space in downtown, to the 1,000-acre Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve, to the sprawling 10,000-acre Oak Mountain State Park - and a large number of golf courses and the warm weather in which to play golf.

But what seems to set the city apart from others is its culinary scene. The site praises Birmingham for its great restaurants, from tiny barbecue joints to some of the best fine dining establishments in the country.

Here is the 2017 list of the best cities for retirement:

10. Salt Lake City, Utah

9. Bismarck, North Dakota

8. Littleton, Colorado

7. Birmingham, Alabama

6. Vancouver, Washington

5. Sioux Falls, South Dakota

4. Plano, Texas

3. Boca Raton, Florida

2. Reno, Nevada

1. Walnut Creek, California

Image from Railroad Park