The platform weighed up counties between the Pacific Ocean and Colorado, ranking each for everything from affordability to quality of life. Salt-washed Mendocino emerged in an alluring eighth place, just after Santa Fe County down in New Mexico and before Cali's own Tuolumne County, the home of fabled Yosemite National Park. All that's backed up by some pretty tempting metrics related to the more practical things you need to consider when choosing where to retire. For starters, The Motley Fool scored Mendocino County highly for healthcare provision, something underlined further by a local life expectancy that's higher than the national average. Secondly, Mendocino gets points for its climate, particularly summers, which tend to be milder here than in other parts of the Golden State.