Where should you retire in Texas?
In this week’s episode of Retire in Texas, CEO and Co-Founder of PAX Financial Group, Darryl Lyons, shares his top five towns for retirement in the Lone Star State. From the lakes of Marble Falls to the fast-growing hub of New Braunfels, Darryl explains what makes each community stand out and why the Texas Triangle is such an important region to consider.
He explores how healthcare access, lifestyle variety, airports, and cost of living all factor into retirement decisions – while highlighting the unique character of each Texas Hill Country town. Whether you’re drawn to wine country, artsy retreats, or bustling small cities, this episode offers insights to help you think long-term about where to retire in Texas.
Show Highlights:
• Why the Texas Triangle is central to retirement planning in Texas.
• The importance of healthcare access, cost of living, and airport proximity.
• How lifestyle and culture vary across the Texas Triangle’s communities.
• The countdown of the top five retirement towns.
• Why New Braunfels is one of the fastest-growing retirement destinations in the U.S.
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Transcript:
Hey, this is Darryl Lyons, CEO and Co-Founder of PAX Financial Group. And you’re listening to Retire in Texas, where building wealth comes with clarity and purpose and peace. And we’re guided by 1 Timothy [6:17] through 19. I really want to help you grow your net worth without losing your grounding.
And if that’s what you’re here for, you’re in the right place. This information is general in nature, and it’s not intended to provide specific investment, tax, or legal advice. Visit PAXFinancialGroup.com for more information. Okay, so I really want to do a stock market history/update. But I’m going to cover something that’s close to home and that’s where you should retire in Texas.
So, I’m going to give you the top five places to retire in Texas, because this podcast is called Retire in Texas. So, before I set those top five, which they’re not without controversy, of course, because certain people like certain parts of the country and certain parts of Texas. But I’m going to give you my top five, which I’m an expert in my own opinion.
So, I believe that I’m right. Before I do that, I need to set the stage. And I need to make sure that you know about the Texas triangle, because that’s an important part of, you know, to know why I picked the top five, you have to know the Texas Triangle. So, the Texas Triangle is this mega region between Dallas Fort Worth, down to Houston.
You go southeast to Houston, and then you creep over to San Antonio, up through Austin. And that’s the Texas Triangle. 70% of the people who live in Texas are in that Texas triangle. So that’s where most of the stuff’s happening. That does not include some of the Texarkana area, has a different culture in and of itself.
Beautiful country. The Panhandle gets a little cold up there, but, you’ve got, you know, the Lubbock’s and the Abilene’s going up that direction. The all the way west, El Paso doesn’t include that. Or even south, you know, southwest, you know, the Big Bend Marfa. Some of you guys might have heard of Marfa or down to the Rio Grande Valley, close to Mexico.
So that’s kind of the surrounding of the Texas Triangle. The majority of people live in this Texas triangle. That’s where a lot of it’s happening. 20 million people, lots of people, lots of economy, lots of commerce. And so, if I’m going to tell you where to retire, I’m going to tell you it’s going to be somewhere in that Texas triangle.
You want to be around where the activities taking place, for hospitals, for entertainment. For, you know, just basic resources. H-E-Bs, nice H-E-Bs. If you’re from this area, that’s the grocery store. But yeah, you want to, I think if, you know, we really dive into it when you’re retiring, you look at surveys, people want to retire near good doctors, and there’s a lot of medicine in that Texas triangle.
Dallas-Fort Worth has that big Baylor University Medical Center. Houston, I mean, Houston itself is just like the hub for medicine and cancer research. San Antonio has a good medical research, UT Health Science Center. Austin’s a little younger in its health care footprint but does have some health care going up in the area, namely driven by that tech machine.
But if you’re going to be retiring, you’re going to want to have some access to health care, for sure. And I think the other thing that you’re going to want to have access to is just a variety of lifestyle. And I think that that Texas triangle, you’re going to find different lifestyles, whether it’s like music or technology or art or history or culture or the Spurs or the Mavericks or symphonies or, you know, Texan football or whatever.
Right. Like, so there’s a lot of variety in that area. And so, you want to have, you’re going to have opinions. There’s going to be subcultures within the Texas Triangle. And people often, you know, put Texas in one big bucket, but there’s a bunch of little subcultures. And then of course connectivity to airports.
That’s important. Dallas has hubs. DFW, Dallas Love and Houston has Hobby, Bush International. Austin has a good airport. San Antonio has a decent airport, but not a lot of international flights. So, you have to transfer, but you want to be close. I say you want to be close. If you have family, you’re going to want to think about the airport, how close it is to see them and them to see you.
The other thing you want to think about is the cost of living. There’s no state income tax in Texas. I think you know that by now. But just know that property taxes can be kind of high. So, pay attention to that. The good news is if you’re over 65, you get some breaks, some freezes, some county specific benefits.
So, you might just want to pay attention to those. They’re not huge, but they still exist. I’d say also another thing you want to think about when you’re looking at retiring in the Texas Triangle is just like I said before, the growth. You want to know what type of growth that community’s having? Is it growing or is it dying?
And I don’t see much in between. And, you know, I don’t see like this, we’re just stable. We’re just even, maybe they exist of towns in the Texas Triangle, but to me, they’re either growing or dying. And so, you want to make a decision on which direction you want to go, and what do you want to be a part of.
The weather is going to be pretty similar in the Texas triangle. But I will tell you that Dallas will get snow, San Antonio rarely. So that’s pretty straightforward. But I will say that if you go to Houston area, that’s when you’ll need to pay attention to the humidity. Right. But I think that all kind of sets up the framing again, this is a big population.
This is huge. The Texas triangle is huge. And like I said before, 70% of the people in Texas live in this Texas triangle. So, when I talk about the top five retirement towns, I’m really talking about the towns that are in that Texas triangle, more or less. So, I’m going to start with a countdown list of number five.
Number five is Marble Falls. And if you like lakes, if you like that freshwater activity, the boats, maybe freshwater fishing. There’s, I haven’t done any fly fishing in that area, but I’m sure there’s, I know there’s fly fishing. I used to have a client that did fly fishing in that area. But you want, Marble Falls is where it’s at.
A lot of people in San Antonio go to this place that’s right around the corner from Marble Falls proper. And that’s called Horseshoe Bay. There’s Inks Lake. Basically, the lakes are a function of, you know, reservoirs or dams on this Colorado River that runs through the area. Beautiful clean water. And a lot of people take care of the lake.
I’d say it’s typically level. It’s typically clean. And there’s just a lot of things to do on that lake. And Marble Falls is a perfect place to retire because of the community there. It’s not far from Baylor Scott & White. It’s a hospital. Actually, I think that hospitals in town might be one that I’m thinking of that’s down the road, but there is one in town and plenty of cafes and coffees and ways to take care of your sweet tooth.
Some apple pie. But all kinds of good people in Marble Falls. I really enjoy Marble Falls. It’s a beautiful town to just drive into and out of both the entrance and the exit, I think are pretty. And so, Marble Falls, if you like lakes. There you go. That would be my number five. If you like art, I’d say Wimberley, Texas.
Wimberley is just a really lovely artsy retreat, laid back. There’re a couple of little water spots there. Jacob’s Hole. Jacob’s Well is a blue hole. So, there’s swimming spots. They’re iconic. Most of your healthcare is going to be a quick drive right up the road to San Marcos, which is where Texas State’s at. So, it’s pretty close.
But, you know, if you want a slower pace, then Wimberley is going to be your jam. Just morning coffees. Evening stars. You’re just going to love it there. They have little creeks like Storybrooke Creeks. It’s called Cypress Creek that kind of flows through there. There’s also Blanco River. And then if you go on like a Saturday or Sunday, it’ll be jam packed with Austinites and San Antonio folks shopping and spending money and enjoying the arts and the foods.
Wimberley is a special place. We go up there for some kids sports and the people are good people. So, number five is Marble Falls. Number four is Wimberley. Number three best place to retire in Texas. That’ll be Fredericksburg, especially if you like wine. I mean, it is the wine capital of Texas. The streets are packed with wine lovers, but also German restaurants and galleries.
It is going to be a little bit pricier than most other towns. Everyone’s moving to Fredericksburg. There’s a highway that runs through it that is just, it continues to expand. In fact, there’s 12,000 people that live there now, as latest numbers, of which half are bridesmaids but still 12,000 people. It’s a great place.
Not just for wine lovers, but for historians too. There’s a wonderful Nimitz Museum there. You could enjoy that all day long. And Enchanted Rocks, right up the road for hikers, there’s just a lot to do in Fredericksburg. Over 75 wineries. So, if you retire there, you’re going to have family members visit you all the time because there’s always something to do in Fredericksburg.
And it is like I said, good people, a lot of new people from out, you know, nontraditional, Texas Hill Country people live there. But it is absolutely an amazing place. So, five is Marble Falls, number four is Wimberley, number three is Fredericksburg, and number two is Boerne. And I lived in Boerne when I was in middle school.
It’s pronounced as phonetically as B U R N E E, Boerne and beautiful hill country views, growing food scene. It’s really close to San Antonio. So that’s the, for those that live there. A lot of people who live there, they work in San Antonio. And so, they can have access to some of the top hospitals.
The UT Health Science Center is just right down the road. International airport access is pretty easy. It’s like all the big city conveniences, but with the feel of a small town in Boerne, they’ve done quite a bit of work there. A lot of pub like, breweries now that are popping up there.
Live music scene starting to come up. Just wonderful place, good community. Really God’s country. Even the high schools there, people talk about the high schools like they’re private schools, like they’re just, just good people, good community, good parents. I’m not like it, I’m not saying they’re perfect, but it’s a special place. I love the fall time in Boerne because you get a chance to enjoy football, and then you creep into, like, the Christmas celebrations that they have in the community, which are pretty awesome and really festive and of course, you can spend a lot of money walking down Boerne, down Main Street.
So, Boerne’s wonderful for those that many people that are listening to podcasts are from Boerne and they’re like telling me, no, don’t tell anyone else to come here. It’s too late. Word’s already out. The number one. So, number five is Marble Falls. Number four is Wimberley, number three is Fredericksburg. Number two is Boerne.
Number one is my hometown, New Braunfels. And I really do believe New Braunfels is special. But know, New Braunfels is big. It’s different than these other small towns. There’s over 100,000 people that live in New Braunfels, but it’s kind of interesting. It’s very, very spread out and it’s kind of divided by I-35 that goes between San Antonio and Austin.
So, if you go in the right hand, I guess it’s on the eastbound side of 35, the topography is different. It’s a little bit more flat kind of rolling area, going towards Seguin, a lot more houses together and some of the amenities that are over there are pretty cool. They’ve got, like on the east side, they’ve got this outdoor theater, you know, drive through theater, which is cool.
There’s some really cool little restaurants over there. I think they just put a Topgolf or that’s coming around in October on that east side, heavily dense population and continuing to grow. There’s a lot of homes going up right there on the east side, just slightly east side, going up towards Austin. Lots of homes going up there, like 4 to 6000 homes.
So really growing. But it’s namely on the east side, on the west side, the population growth continues, but it’s a little bit denser and a little bit harder for water and some utilities because the ground, this is now moving into the Texas Hill Country, some large ranches. But on that west side you do get green. Green Texas is awesome if you haven’t been there.
It’s not a town. It’s actually like a, I don’t know, like a little, not even a suburb. It has its own little leadership, but it is part of New Braunfels. But Greens a wonderful place. And then downtown New Braunfels. They’re doing a lot of cool things, in terms of renovation and new amenities, hotels are going in there.
So that’s going to be totally, that’s going to look totally different in the next ten years, we’re seeing investments by country music singers and some rooftop bars in that area. So, downtown New Braunfels is just transforming right before our eyes and then go a little more left, and you get in the Texas Hill country and some beautiful bigger homes on the west side of New Braunfels.
But 100,000 people are living there. It is the second fastest growing city in the nation for a reason. There’s just a lot to offer, and I’d say one of the best benefits is the access to both San Antonio and Austin. So, that gives you choices with airports, with hospitals and also concerts or sporting events.
So, it’s fun to live in New Braunfels because of its proximity to both of those cities and, frankly, the proximity to Boerne and Wimberley and Fredericksburg and everywhere else you want to go, New Braunfels is a good hub. So, there you go. The Texas Triangle and the five best places to live, or five best places to retire in Texas.
All of them have a different flavor and feel depending on what’s important to you. And I just, thank you for listening to the very end. I want you to continue to stay grounded, live generously, and remember, you think different when you think long term. Have a great day.
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