Have you ever wondered where the best place for self-sufficiency is? A member on a different forum was doing a paper on preparedness for college about 5 years ago and had asked for some advice on where the safest location to survive a shtf scenario was. I gave him a bunch of reference material and he ended up getting a 87, not too bad.
We had a new forum member sign up and he asked where the best place to create a homestead was and it got me thinking, pretty much everything I referenced 5 years ago pointed in that direction. So I looked for updated images and removed the color data from the top 50% of each criteria; creating overlays where the empty white spaces are the preferred locations. Once they were all done; I layered them all together to show where the best locations are. You can see the result below; remember; the areas of white are ideal.
1Hardiness zones were cut off at zone 7
2Next is precipitation levels, we need water
3Along with rain, comes drought
4Next is groundwater levels
5Unemployment numbers are important
6Property values, $125,000 was the cut off
7Property taxes, crazy what some people pay
8Income disparity level, a sign of low wages
9Earthquake faults, The New Madrid is a concern
10Population density, the less people the better
11After layering everything together
It looks like Northern Alabama, Western Arkansas and part of Eastern Oklahoma are the best locations to start a self sufficient home. Yet there is one other criteria that I did not add that is important as well; tornadoes. I figured the average of one every other year was a manageable risk level.
After taking this into consideration, it looks like Crawford County Arkansas is the best and safest place to start a homestead. Good luck with your homesteading dreams.
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Some states are regulating our freedom to chose to be off-grid and requiring that we use the grid. Are there an states where this is not happening, or is this the direction al states are going?
Good question Juile
Check this out Julie: http://tipsforsurvivalists.com/states-with-laws-and-what-they-are-about-living-off-the-grid
Julie, look into Idaho, all aspects.
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