Cal State Northridge geography professor Warren Bland has written a new book, "Retire in Style: 60 Outstanding Places Across the USA and Canada," to help make that decision a little easier. Published by Next Decade, Inc. in January 2005, "Retire in Style" is available at bookstores and at Amazon.com and Amazon.ca.

Bland admitted that there is much to be said for staying put.

"You know the community where you live and you probably feel connected to it," he said. "You may feel reluctant to leave the neighborhood where you raised your children, even though they may now be living a continent away."

But there are also compelling reasons to consider relocating.

"At retirement, you are entering a new and different chapter in your life," Bland said. "For many, staying in familiar surroundings and not working is vaguely discomforting. On the other hand, settling into a different community that is safe, friendly and rich in opportunities for shopping, recreation and culture provides an exciting new beginning in an atmosphere free of the stress of the workaday world."

He also suggests that for many people the economic motive may be significant. Many of his recommended retirement places offer a lower cost of living, especially for housing, than do large metropolitan areas like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area. Moving to an attractive, inexpensive place would allow you to invest some of your home equity, earn interest and dividends and thereby increase your retirement income.

As he considered communities to list in his book, Bland set a series of criteria to rate them on: landscape, climate, quality of life, cost of living, transportation, retail services, health care, community services, cultural and educational activities, recreational activities, work and volunteer activities and crime rates and public safety. Each community was then rated on a scale of 1 to 5 in each category, with 60 the highest overall score possible.

"The total points scored are not intended as a means of ranking the retirement towns from best to worst; they are meant to help people assess a communityÕs overall resources for retirement," Bland said. "Because individual wants and needs vary, the ratings for particular criteria may be more important to a person in their evaluation of a place than its cumulative score."

Bland pointed out that Victoria, British Columbia received the highest overall score, 52, of all the communities in the book.

"But is it clearly the best place in Canada and the United States in which to retire in style?" he asked. "That probably depends on whether a person enjoys VictoriaÕs cool climate and whether he or she would prefer to live in Canada or the United States."

Among the communities that rated the highest overall scores were:

• Victoria, British Columbia, 52
  
• Portland, Oregon, 51
  
• Boulder, Colorado, 51
  
• London, Ontario, 51
  
• San Antonio, Texas, 50
  
• Asheville, North Carolina, 49
  
• Boca Raton, Florida, 49
  
• Austin, Texas, 49
  
• Halifax, Nova Scotia, 48
  
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 48
  
• Stratford, Ontario, 48
  
• Madison, Wisconsin, 48
  
• Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 48
  
• Fort Collins, Colorado, 48
  
• Colorado Springs, Colorado, 48
  

Bland earned a B.A. at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, and a masterÕs and Ph.D. at Indiana University, Bloomington. He is currently a full professor in Cal State NorthridgeÕs Geography Department. Bland specializes in the regional and economic geography of the United States and Canada.