Me and family are moving from Washington state, having two little ones the rain is such a downer it's time for a change.
We been trying to settle on a place and it keeps becoming more & more complicated the more we think about it and I thought maybe some feed back would help. Off-grid living is limited by a variety of factors, Warm/low humidity climates are much more practical for energy production and the states we can build in are limited due to the designs we want to use.
What we are looking for in a place.
- Inexpensive rural land
Sunshine & warmth.
Low cost of living, Low property taxes.
- Culturally white Liberal-tarian leaning, More Gary Johnson than Chuck Baldwin.
Here's our candidates.
New Mexico
The biggest apprehension I have about new mexico is that it is 80% Hispanic, moderately high crime rate and low income. Culturally who lives here? Is the Hispanic community acclimated rural folk or Viva la Raza L.A banger types? Is it more John Redcorn or a bunch of Meth coyotes? Who are you more likely to find in New Mexico? I-40's a big runners free way...
A)
http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV...0,214,314_.jpg Or B)
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...JlDu6wUn5AhmiL
Pros- Inexpensive land.
Low property taxes/low cost of living.
- Good sunshine for solar off grid electricity/water heating energy usage.
- Cheap permits/light bureaucracy for building alternative structures (Earthships/Earthbag constructions)
Cons- Border issues High crime
low income
Texas
- Pros
Inexpensive land.
- Good sunshine for solar off grid electricity/water heating energy usage
- Good Job marketshttp://pics3.city-data.com/forum/
- Cons
Small counties with inconsistent permitting. (Only a minor issue in texas)
- High property tax
- "Big" weather events.
Sterotype suggests Texans aren't really tolerant of non-natives.
The state strikes me as unstable and noisy.
Arizona
(researching)
Really uncomfortable with the "stop & ID".
Cons, Border issues/violence.
Colorado
On paper Colorado looks promising, but if there is an Illuminati the Denver airport is there HQ. Every anecdotal egregious violation of authority I see on youtube seems to happen in Colorado. When I think of Colorado I think of the SWAT team randomly frisking an entire middle school, dogs being confiscated for their breed and the creepy smile on the guards face at Cheyenne mountain when he said shoot civilians to protect the facility during an event of civil unrest.
I picture it as a really green lush state with thousands of Bloomberg esque bureaucrats trying to ban things and really pissed off police looking for excuses to taze people.
But finance and climate wise it seems ideal, I'd love to hear accounts of Colorado suggest I'm wrong about it being a militarized police state.
Utah
Low income high taxes, other than it's perfect.
I am a Deist with no religion but I've liked every Mormon person I've ever met, I remember missionaries picking up paint brush's and helping me paint my porch and after getting stuck in the Nevada desert for three hours the first people to stop and help was a Mormon family. The only people I like more than Mormons are paranoid hippies, but in the event of a zombie apocalypse If I had to leave my kids with someone it be Mormons.
Nevada
Cons
Nevada has more violent crime than any state in the country and the job market has dried up allegedly due to Indian gaming.
I am trying to find out if Vegas skews the whole margins but other than that it has the same benefits as the rest of the South West.
SE Oregon
Pros
Good weather
Shorter move
Cons
Poor job market/high taxes
Still in the disaster zone if the west coast falls off in to the ocean.
So those are the candidates, which would you choose or not choose and why?
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