The place you choose to live during retirement could have a big impact on your health and longevity. AARP The Magazine lists five great cities that could make all the difference during the golden years:

We all want to live long and be healthy. As it turns out, where you choose to live in the second half of your life can make all the difference. So, exactly what makes a city healthy? In doing our research, combing through the government records of hundreds of cities for more than 20 measures of vitality, we looked not only at the physical aspects of a community (clean air and water, for instance) but also at the health and habits of the people who live there. The two are closely linked: if you live near a hiking-and-biking trail and all your neighbors use it, you’ll probably use it, too. If a farmers market is just down the street, you’re likely to eat more fruits and vegetables. If your city has multiple hospitals, there’s a good chance you’ll get superior medical care.

The winners? It’s not surprising that our list includes several college towns. Large universities often have teaching hospitals, which employ top doctors using the latest technology. In addition, college towns are full of young people, and younger residents often create a demand for lifestyle perks such as bike paths and accessible fitness programs, which benefit all members of a community.

Few southern towns made our list, despite the warm weather and the relaxed pace of life that have long attracted retirees. Research has consistently shown that cities in the South tend to have some of the highest rates of obesity and chronic disease in the nation. Of course, there are always anomalies — and thank goodness for that, since the thought of retiring to a colder climate may have little appeal for some. Balmy Naples, Florida, came out high on our list, as did Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Honolulu, Hawaii.

1. Ann Arbor, Michigan
Carol and Bob Mull moved to Ann Arbor in 1977 — when Bob went to work as an engineer for Ford Motor Company — and they came to love it as they raised their family here. So when Bob retired nearly two years ago, they had no doubt that they’d stay put. “I always knew this was a special town,” says Bob. “But it wasn’t until I retired that I realized how truly great this place is.”

He’s enjoying having time to play as hard as he wants — both he and Carol play golf often and are big fans of the area’s YMCA. Carol, 55, is especially partial to swimming and yoga; Bob, 59, likes lifting weights, biking in some of the city’s 150 parks, and walking through the spectacular, 123-acre Nichols Arboretum, which boasts a mile of frontage along the rolling Huron River. The couple are also fully engaged in the community: Bob is an active member of the Rotary and spends Friday mornings tutoring fifth graders. Carol, a part-time curator, is writing a book about the region’s Underground Railroad.

What’s more, Ann Arbor is a hotbed of medical innovation. The University of Michigan Health Center is one of the largest university medical centers in the world, and it created the first human genetics program in the United States, in 1940.

That spirit of innovation spills over into the city’s economy — it’s no accident, for example, that Google recently opened a satellite office in Ann Arbor. The company says it chose Ann Arbor partly because of the talent pool the university provides but also because Ann Arbor is such a great community to live in, and that’s very attractive to people who might consider relocating.

Carol agrees that Ann Arbor’s varied populations — young and old — help shape the city.

“Sometimes I love to just wander through the neighborhoods or sit in coffee shops and watch all these people. I love the way it all comes together.”

• Population: 113,206
• Median housing price: $312,200
• Average number of sunny days: 178 per year
• Healthy bragging rights: 86 percent of residents get regular exercise; 580 physicians per 100,000 people, compared with U.S. average of 223
• Where the action is: Kerrytown, a downtown neighborhood with shops, coffeehouses, and galleries
• Favorite workouts: At the YMCA, which offers fencing and nine kinds of Pilates classes
• Totally unexpected: An efficient and affordable bus system for a town of this size

2. Honolulu, Hawaii
Hawaiians sum up Honolulu’s high marks for health in a single word: paradise. With Honolulu’s warm weather and postcard-ready scenery, residents spend more time exercising than do people in almost any other city we surveyed — and have one of the highest life expectancy rates.

Bill Goding, 55, who after retiring from the U.S. Air Force signed on as a full-time lifeguard for the City and County of Honolulu, surfs now and then, lifts weights, and jogs. But that’s just for fun. For exercise, he and his wife, Pat, 51, a registered nurse, train with a group that does grueling island-to-island swims.

“I’m lucky,” Bill says. “I work at Ala Moana Beach Park, which has a half-mile-long swimming area protected by a reef, so I can train on my breaks.” And he loves the atmosphere. “Just about every triathlete comes down here to train at some point. It’s just a very active, happy place — people are always walking or jogging. The weather is great all year long, so there’s no reason to be indoors.”

The city isn’t perfect, he concedes. For one thing, the traffic is awful. “And when it’s time to travel off the island, nothing is nearby.” Even more daunting: the über-expensive housing. The Godings, for example, live just outside the city, in Waikele. But experts say other economic strengths — a very low unemployment rate, for instance — can offset that weakness. Plus, residents stand to gain from Honolulu’s commitment to preserving the island, with strict growth limits, sustainable-tourism efforts, and programs to protect views and the shoreline.

Sarah Yuan, an expert on aging at the University of Hawaii, says it also helps that Hawaiians embrace growing older. “In island culture, people feel more natural about aging, in general. They have a lot of respect for their elders, and older people have a higher status,” she says. “They don’t see growing older as a negative.”

• Population: 377,357
• Median housing price: $926,300 (less outside the city)
• Average number of sunny days: 276 per year
• Healthy bragging rights: 95 percent of residents are covered by health insurance
• Where the action is: Kapi‘olani Park, with its jogging course and free concerts
• Favorite workouts: At Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve, residents swim and snorkel in the calm water formed by a collapsed volcano crater
• Totally unexpected: The Spam Jam, a spring festival celebrating the fact that Hawaiians consume 7 million cans of the stuff per year

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