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Western Pennsylvania? Lots of farms and really cheap land. Amtrak service from Pittsburgh to NYC and $99 JetBlue flights from Pittsburgh International.
I am looking for the warm and long growing season so nothing higher than TN. Ultimately looking for the cheapest acreage, rural (very few if any people), fertile, with water and not too flat-tornado alley. No zoning laws would be ideal and lowest taxes.
Well Arkansas and Missouri would fit the growing season requirement, and there are still parts of the states without a lot of people for the lower 48. But tornadoes are an issue there, as are earthquakes if the New Madrid fault causes another major earthquake in your lifetime. TN and KY both are warm and can have good soil, and both have rural areas, but again, tornadoes can hit there (and earthquakes). Seems TN has been dry lately from drought. West Virginia might work, it's not immune from tornadoes but seems to have less problems with them than some other warmer states since it's not too flat. Downside: finding flat land would be tricky, not sure about water quality, soil may be good or bad but I'm not sure, but you can always terrace areas to create flat land. Taxes and zoning in most states varies a great deal. If you go further South than the states mentioned you not only have tornadoes but hurricanes are bigger problems too, not to mention the droughts throughout the South, partly because of so many people moving to some of these Southern states putting too much pressure on water supplies. You could try further West, such as CA, WA and OR, but in all of them taxes and regulations are problems (for example, restrictions on burning wood, heavy regulation on what you build, etc., in OR and WA and CA's heavy regulation and taxes are pretty much a given). WA and OR wouldn't be as warm as the Southern states but aren't as cold as Northern Alaska either. I think you're going to have to make some trade offs in your location, see which negative you're willing to live with in exchange for other positives. No place, I suspect, will fulfill all of your goals.
Well Arkansas and Missouri would fit the growing season requirement, and there are still parts of the states without a lot of people for the lower 48. But tornadoes are an issue there, as are earthquakes if the New Madrid fault causes another major earthquake in your lifetime. TN and KY both are warm and can have good soil, and both have rural areas, but again, tornadoes can hit there (and earthquakes). Seems TN has been dry lately from drought. West Virginia might work, it's not immune from tornadoes but seems to have less problems with them than some other warmer states since it's not too flat. Downside: finding flat land would be tricky, not sure about water quality, soil may be good or bad but I'm not sure, but you can always terrace areas to create flat land. Taxes and zoning in most states varies a great deal. If you go further South than the states mentioned you not only have tornadoes but hurricanes are bigger problems too, not to mention the droughts throughout the South, partly because of so many people moving to some of these Southern states putting too much pressure on water supplies. You could try further West, such as CA, WA and OR, but in all of them taxes and regulations are problems (for example, restrictions on burning wood, heavy regulation on what you build, etc., in OR and WA and CA's heavy regulation and taxes are pretty much a given). WA and OR wouldn't be as warm as the Southern states but aren't as cold as Northern Alaska either. I think you're going to have to make some trade offs in your location, see which negative you're willing to live with in exchange for other positives. No place, I suspect, will fulfill all of your goals.
I suspect living somewhere without interference from government with taxes and zoning being big issues, along with cost of the land, water availability and soil. Sounds like the long growing season I may have to be more flexible unless I can find what I am looking for in northwest Arkansas or Texas.
I live in southeast Missouri. It's cheap here and the land is pretty good, but there's always the risk of tornadoes and earthquakes, but we haven't had a major earthquake in like 100 years or more (I think).
I've heard that the taxes aren't too bad in most areas there, but unless it's changed, MO also has a personal property tax where they tax everything (or nearly so) you own, every year as well. If going into that area you might want to try Arkansas instead...cheaper there.
Maine probably has the cheapest land with the lowest taxes.
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