Thursday, Aug. 4, 2011 | 11:46 a.m.
Depending on where you get your news, Henderson might be one of the best places in the country to retire. Or it could be among the worst.
In furtherance of the time-honored tradition of ranking cities on everything from their food scene to their foreclosure rates, two national news organizations recently tackled the issue of where to retire.
Henderson ranked as one of the best 25 suburbs to retire to in the country, according to Forbes.
The list compared cities within 25 miles of a major metropolis based on cost of living, access to amenities, crime rates, air quality and mass-transit options.
The magazine cited Henderson’s access to hospitals and the Nevada State College campus in awarding the ranking. Other factors included the availability of cheap housing, low crime rates, an appealing tax climate and a cost of living 4 percent below the national average.
Also included in the Forbes top 25 were Sacramento, Calif., suburb Davis, Phoenix suburb Gilbert, Ariz., and South Jordan, Utah, which is just outside Salt Lake City.
The Fiscal Times, a financial news website, took the opposite approach and ranked the nation’s worst places to retire.
Lake Las Vegas, a master-planned community on the eastern edge of Henderson, topped the list.
The Fiscal Times refers to the development as “a golf-community gone off course” and a “well-heeled version of limbo.” The article recounts the community’s well-documented financial troubles, which forced the temporary closure of its casino, hotel and three golf courses.
The article doesn’t mention the recent reopening of Casino MonteLago or the Ravella at Lake Las Vegas hotel (which opened in the former Ritz Carlton property).
Checking in at No. 5 on the same Fiscal Times list is all of Clark County, receiving low marks for its “high costs and high crime.”
The article points to the valley’s staggering foreclosure rate, high unemployment and “a serious violent crime issue.”
Rounding out the Fiscal Times’ top five worst places to retire are the entire greater Phoenix area, a retirement community in Davenport, Fla., and Laguna Woods Village Retirement Community in Orange County, Calif., which is known for also being home to a medical-marijuana growing collective.
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