“Europe“ is also rather large and diverse. Things differ greatly from, let’s say Iceland to Portugal to Bulgaria.
I don’t think is too different than the US … how similar are NY, Texas and ND?
Yep. And let's be honest. Part of the reason why people like to argue about the US vs. Europe so much is because, relative to the rest of the world, the US and Europe are pretty much the same. They're both big continents with lots of geographic and cultural diversity. They're both made up of a bunch of democratic states that allow free travel and trade across their borders. Those states share a common currency and have common fiscal and monetary policies. They both trace their cultural traditions back to Athens and Jerusalem, and our literary and musical canons are the same. Both are capitalist.
None of us would have any serious problem moving to the EU and assimilating. We would have a much harder time doing so in Japan or Korea.
The differences between the US and Europe are really just differences in degree, but people try really hard to make them out to be differences in kind. The economic systems of the US and EU can both be accurately described as "managed capitalism." The EU emphasizes the "managed" part more and we emphasize the "capitalism" part more, but it's the same system with the dial turned a little bit. Both are first-world regions. We have more free trade among the 50 states than the EU has between member nations, and our central government is stronger than theirs, but it's worth noting the the EU is basically an enterprise devoted to making Europe more like the United States. It's a different spin on the same idea. Being multilingual pays off in Europe a lot more than it does here, but English is the common tongue, to put it in D&D terms.
Especially in retirement, it makes sense that people would put a lot of emphasis on "lifestyle" issues. It's very appealing to live in a community surrounded by like-minded people who share your values. For some people, that means The Villages. For others, that means Europe. It's cool that we have a choice.