(MONEY Magazine) – Your freedom in retirement can be awesome. Not only can you do anything you want, but you can also live anyplace you please. Only one in four retirees is as yet daring enough to follow the sun or some other long-harbored fantasy. But migration analysts say the likelihood of your making such a major move increases each year. One reason is financial: retirees are receiving fatter pensions and higher prices for their houses than ever before, even adjusted for inflation. Another is comfort: the trend among affluent retired people to sojourn -- that is, to live in one home half the year and another the rest -- is catching on. Yet another reason is familial: as families grow farther apart geographically, retirees have less reason to stay put. ''The fewer your ties to your community, the more likely you are to move on,'' says Robert Atchley, director of the Scripps Gerontology Center of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Choosing where to live in retirement could be the most critical housing decision of your life. You may be less flexible financially than when you were younger, and besides, the place could be your home for the next 25 years. If grandchildren are nearby, a big move may only show you just how indispensable that proximity has been. Start your search by determining why you might want to move. The most popular reason, according to a recent survey, is to reduce expenses, followed by the desire for a smaller home or to eliminate maintenance chores. Your reasons could be quite different. You might seek a warmer climate, a smaller city, an area suited to your hobbies or a place where your friends live. This article profiles six retirement locations, selected on the basis of geographical diversity, plus climate, cultural and recreational activities, and the cost of living. They were culled from interviews with retirees and authors of books about retirement locations and academic researchers, as well as U.S. Census migration statistics and our own visits to the areas. A table on page 82 compares living costs in the six locations as well as 14 other popular retirement spots.

Prescott, Ariz. No one researches retirement places as exhaustively as does Peter Dickinson, author of Sunbelt Retirement (American Association of Retired Persons, $11.95), Retirement Edens Outside the Sunbelt (AARP, $10.95) and a monthly newsletter on retirement places (The Retirement Letter, 47 Chestnut Ave., Larchmont, N.Y. 10538; $57 a year). Dickinson has personally appraised more than 800 such spots from Aberdeen, S.D. (''great pheasant hunting'') to Zurich, Switzerland (''excellent quality of life -- if you can afford it''). So when Dickinson, 61, bought his future retirement house in Prescott last fall, that was about the most towering testament a town could get. Dickinson plans to move to Prescott when he retires by 1991. Dickinson had been falling in love with Prescott's mountainous beauty and moseying pace since he first passed through in 1949. But once he figured out how inexpensive retirement there was today, he was sold. ''I paid $117,000 for a three-bedroom house on a third of an acre with a spectacular view of the Thumb Butte ridge of the Bradshaw Mountains,'' he says. ''The house and land are comparable to what I own in Larchmont, N.Y. worth $500,000. My property taxes will be $900 a year vs. $6,000 in New York. I can live on 50% to 70% of my New York income and have the same life style. I just have to give up the New York ballet. But Phoenix is only 102 miles away, and it is home to Ballet Arizona, an up-and-coming troupe.'' He is hardly the only retiree to fall for little Prescott (pop. 25,000). The past decade has seen a steady stream of retired people settling into this tidied-up throwback to the Old West whose nostalgic downtown strip, known as Whiskey Row, draws its character from a sprinkling of 19th-century saloons that are now bars and boutiques and equally antique hotels that have been lovingly restored. Many residents are Californians who retreated in favor of lazy Prescott's quiet nature. Says Peggy Campbell, 62: ''My husband and I moved here from Santa Barbara two years ago. We left paradise because paradise was getting crowded.'' The crisp, clean air is another strong lure. Credit belongs partly to Prescott's position one mile high. The altitude makes Prescott far cooler in the summer than Phoenix (average daytime temperature of 70 degrees vs. 88 degrees) and permits year-round golfing at the two local public courses. On winter mornings, you may need to scrape frost off your car's windshield, then drive with the top down by 2 p.m. Prescott is a mostly white middle-class town. But the lack of diversity is balanced somewhat by the happy contrast between its two major demographic blocs: a third of the population are retired and a third are students at three colleges -- Yavapai, Prescott and Embry-Riddle. Yavapai welcomes retirees the most. They pay $12 to $35 a course while full-time students pay roughly $400 a semester.

Chapel Hill, N.C. Of all U.S. college towns, Chapel Hill (pop. 35,000) is home to the most retired people -- about 11,000. ''If the students weren't here, every other head would have gray hair,'' says Jerry Passmore, director of the county's department on aging. The University of North Carolina is here, Duke is a 10- minute drive away in Durham, and North Carolina State in Raleigh is a half- hour drive. The 20 square miles of rolling countryside that surrounds the three cities is called the Research Triangle or sometimes simply the Triangle. Durham, a former tobacco town, is transforming itself into a regional medical center, and Raleigh, like many other state capitals, is pushing for more commercial growth. Chapel Hill is the most courtly city in the Triangle, partly because of the predominance of campus life, partly because it is the smallest of the three. Many of its retirees are well-to-do Northerners who settled in Chapel Hill to enjoy the cultural comforts of home without the hectic pace and harsh winters (February's temperature averages 42 degrees). ''Between UNC and Duke, you can go to concerts three or four times a week, and most are free,'' says Edwin Jackson, 77, a former Connecticut librarian. The campus setting has proved fertile ground for educational innovation. For example, more than 300 retirees both teach and attend classes held at local churches in programs known as Shared Learning and Peer Learning. Bibliophilia notwithstanding, the fun begins at the drop of a divot. North Carolina has 400 golf courses, including 60 in the renowned Pinehurst area, a 1 1/2-hour drive south of Chapel Hill. Both the Atlantic Ocean and the Blue Ridge Mountains are three hours away and provide blessed relief from the hot, sticky summers (average temperature: 77 degrees; average humidity: 71%). The hottest tickets during the fall and winter seasons are college football and basketball; Tar Heels and Blue Devils games are typically sold out. The medical care is exceptional. The doctor-patient ratio in the area far surpasses the national average. For example, in Durham there are seven doctors per 1,000 residents -- nearly quadruple the national average. Nearby Duke University Medical Center has one of the largest cardiac rehabilitation programs in the U.S. Its doctors perform 1,500 open-heart operations a year.

Sarasota, Fla. Welcome to the retirement capital of America. Almost a third of Sarasotans (pop. 244,364) are 65 and older, and most have migrated from outside Florida. What attracted them and kept them loyal is a report card of attributes that gives this city straight A's in climate, cultural and recreational activities, and services. Start with soft Gulf Coast winters in which the temperature averages 62 degrees. In the summer the thermometer can jump to a sticky 86 degrees, but even that is mitigated by cooling bay breezes in the evening and omnipresent air conditioning. Golf, tennis and boating abound, and local beaches -- particularly Lido Beach -- are said to have the whitest, finest sand in the state. Sarasota's streets sparkle, a matter of special civic pride. The city still maintains some Spanish flavor in older buildings, but that is being gradually upstaged by modern residential communities in lush green settings, often with their own golf courses and tennis courts.

What sets Sarasota apart from so many other Florida cities is its cultural life. Art and theater lovers, in fact, have nearly as much to choose from here as they do in Baltimore, more than three times the size. The Ringling Museum of Art has one of the largest Rubens collections in the world. The St. Louis Symphony, Bobby Short and Itzhak Perlman all performed in Sarasota during one month last winter. The Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, Asolo State Theater and Florida West Coast Music Inc. are just some of the distinguished arts presences in the area. Spring in Sarasota has a special sweetness. So many people watch the Chicago White Sox at spring training that a new stadium with seating for 7,800 and expanded parking will open next year to replace smaller, 63-year-old Payne Park. The Pittsburgh Pirates play at McKechnie Field in Bradenton, just a 15- minute drive north. Classes in subjects from fitness to religion to architecture are offered at the Longboat Key Adult Education Center for about $50 a course. The Sarasota Institute of Lifetime Learning holds 35 lecture series just for retirees on literature, politics, religion and history. For $20, you can attend an unlimited number of lectures. Evelyn Duvall, 81, founder and consultant to the Institute of Lifetime Learning, has lived in Plymouth Harbor, a 290-apartment retirement community, for 21 years. Duvall and her husband, Sylvanus, 87, had worked in New Zealand and North Carolina after leaving Chicago in 1966. Says Evelyn Duvall: ''Living here has been the best time of our life.''

Amherst, Mass. Calling Amherst (pop. 36,000) a college town is an understatement. Perhaps that's poetic justice for a place whose personality is as elegantly understated as if it never forgot that Emily Dickinson lived her long life here. Amherst (the h is silent) and the surrounding Pioneer Valley in western Massachusetts are indeed home to Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College and the University of Massachusetts. Yet this place also manages to deliver cosmopolitan living, the amenities of a first- class suburb, a ravishing rural setting, many services designed specifically for retirees and a friendliness for which New England towns are definitely not renowned. As you might have guessed, the price of such a package of superlatives comes high. Housing costs are a shock, as in much of economically vibrant Massachusetts. An Amherst voter referendum to slow growth through a two-year moratorium on new-home construction ending this May has sent the median house price up 34% annually since 1986 to $190,000. Bob Mitchell, director of Amherst's planning department, expects house price increases to moderate in 1988 with appreciation of 5% to 7%. Apartments are hard to come by (typical monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment: $520), but they come with a special tax break. Tenants may deduct half their annual rent, up to $2,500, from their state income taxes. Downtown, serious browsers will find a bookstore practically every 50 yards. Dozens of retirees take classes at UMass, where day and evening courses providing college credits are tuition-free for anyone 60 or older. In the summer, groups of retired residents often take a scenic 1 1/2-hour drive west through the Berkshires to concerts at Tanglewood or dance performances at Jacob's Pillow. The area's 35,000 students mix well with its 3,000 retirees. ''When the Connecticut River flooded in 1986, the university kids helped the senior citizens move into dorms,'' says Lynn Hoffman, 63. ''It illustrated the real alliance here between younger people and older people.'' Roughly a third of Amherst's retirees have ties to one of the valley's colleges, says John Clobridge, executive director of the local council on aging. Episcopal bishop George Cadigan, 77, formerly of St. Louis, was drawn back to Amherst in 1975 by his alma mater, Amherst College, when its president asked him to serve as campus chaplain. ''Sure, it was nostalgic. I think the happiness I experienced in my college years was probably the unconscious reason that brought me back here,'' he says. Although only about 8% of Amherst's population are retirees, the town makes special efforts to reach out to them. Amherst's cable-television channel lists activities at the local senior center. Free vans take retirees to any personal appointments upon request. The 90,000-volume public library is known throughout the region for its collection of 1,850 large-print books. With both town and campus police, Amherst is notably safe too. Its crime rate is half that of a typical U.S metropolitan area.

Bloomington, Ind. If you are one of those Renaissance folks who relish Bob Knight, grand opera, Kurt Vonnegut and ice fishing, this lively university town (pop. 53,045) is made for you. Bloomington caught its worst case of Hoosier fever in decades last season when the Indiana University basketball team, flogged to a frenzy by coach Knight, won the NCAA championship. Even if you are not much of a fan, you could turn to the university for a feast of cultural opportunities. The school of music, one of the best in the country, mounts professional and student opera, jazz, ballet, theater and musical productions almost every evening. Many are free. A season's subscription to the opera costs as little as $36 -- less than the price of a single ticket in some cities. IU also offers a noncredit adult education program with 37 courses from Greek to computer programming for $16 to $80. Recreational activities tend to be vigorous. The city operates 35-acre Riddle Point Park at Lake Lemon, which is 15 miles northeast of Bloomington and has camping and beach facilities. And at Lake Monroe, the state's largest park with nearly 26,000 acres of land and water, activities span the seasons from ice fishing for largemouth bass and bluegill to some of the finest sailing in the Midwest.

Seattle/Sequim, Wash. Seattle's setting is extravagant, with gleaming Puget Sound to the west and two mountain ranges -- the Olympics and the Cascades -- towering to the west and north. Downtown is dotted with parks. The waterfront bustles with stylish shops and restaurants. Pioneer Square has lovingly restored buildings dating from before the Gold Rush. Seattle (pop. 493,000) is also the cultural center of the entire Northwest. The Seattle Symphony is 85 years old; there's a Gilbert & Sullivan Society and a professional ballet company, Pacific Northwest Ballet. There are about a dozen professional and semiprofessional theaters. Yet what if you are picky enough to object to two drawbacks: the weather (156 rainy days a year) and Seattle's fairly fast pace? Then head 70 miles northwest -- via a scenic half-hour ferry ride over Puget Sound and an hour's drive. There you will find what some airplane pilots call ''the blue sky of the Northwest.'' Sequim (pop. 3,300) nestles in a valley protected by the Olympic Mountains. So it gets only 16 inches of rain annually, compared with Seattle's 50. Summer temperatures in Sequim (pronounced squim) rarely exceed 80 degrees, and the winter average is 32 degrees. Jack L. Mauck, 61, a reformed Los Angeleno, visited Sequim 10 years ago and never left. He claims to have seen 100-pound halibut and 40-pound salmon landed in the vicinity. Clamming and crabbing are cherished pastimes. When residents tire of Sequim's lone moviehouse, two 18-hole golf courses and four seafood restaurants, they can always retreat to Seattle. They may not even have to do that much longer for specialized medical care: the Olympic Memorial Hospital in Port Angeles, 15 miles away, will soon open a cardiac and radiation center in Sequim.

CHART: NOT AVAILABLE CREDIT: NO CREDIT CAPTION: Living costs in 20 attractive towns As this table shows, the cost of living varies enormously in 20 popular retirement locations. In Honolulu, a condominium sells on average for more than four times a house price in Provo, Utah. Even Seattle and Tacoma, while only 25 miles apart, are distinct in many ways, not least of all the 22% difference in the price of a house. A pattern is hard to find. For example, Honolulu has the highest rents and steak and egg prices, but its greens fees and energy bills are among the lowest. The house-price figures represent what a retired person would pay for a house or condominium -- typically two bedrooms -- whichever is most common in the area. Greens fees are for 18 holes of golf on a public course (private in Palm Springs, where the cart is also included). DESCRIPTION: See above.