Retiring in The Magnolia State

WEST POINT, Miss. (WCBI) – Some people pack up, move, and start all over once they make it to retirement.

A national consumer company ranks Mississippi in the top 10 for the best places to retire in the nation.

Bankrate bases its ranking on things like taxes, culture, crime rates, and community well-being.

For one couple from Texas, all of those pieces came together in West Point.

Deborah Mansfield and her husband started looking for places to retire about nine years ago, while living in Houston, Texas.

A couple of years later, they decided to start the next phase of life here in West Point.

“We wanted to stay in the south, live in a small town on a golf course, near a university, where my husband could teach, and so we had several places in mind and the minute I walked into West Point, I knew it was going to be the one.”

And even with no previous ties to Mississippi, Mansfield is “blooming where she was planted.”

“I love having a business in a small town and being able to walk to the drugstore, have lunch, go to my bank, go to the dry cleaner and the dry cleaner will even deliver my clothes, and the drugstore will deliver my prescriptions. I mean, it’s incredible.”

West Point Main Street Director Lisa Klutts says the town is becoming popular entering their second act.

“Old Waverly has a good community of people that have retired here. They may have been commuting to play golf throughout the years and then they said they want to come here to retire.”

And when they move here, Klutts says they bring their talents with them.

“West Point was kind of on the verge of losing its identity with Bryan Foods closing and it’s kind of like the stars aligned and Deborah moved here, and a lot of other people were moving and retiring here, and it just kind of took the town to another level and brought back our identity.”