Suggestions for Rural Living

[ducttape45]

Earlier today I created a post entitled "When Evil takes over (Is rural living safer?)." The link is below.

When Evil takes over (Is rural living safer?)

It got a lot of comments, and I am very appreciative of that as it generated a lot of conversation. It also struck a cord with me.

As many of you know I am retired, forcibly so because of Covid/Long Covid. I have been searching for someplace to retire to, locally, with not much success. Housing prices are through the roof whether you're buying or renting, and of course everything else suffers from cost increases across the board.

But the reason for this post is find out from my fellow Freepers if anyone has suggestions for communities that offer a more rural setting for folks like myself. Heck, I'd even be willing to look at a tiny home community. I see a lot of posts from folks who describe rural locations but searching online for those kinds of places is almost impossible because Google algorithms always point folks in the wrong direction.

I really didn't know where else to make this kind of request as I really don't know of any good websites to look at. I'm hoping that ya'all can offer suggestions, and hopefully many of us who are looking to (kind of) escape the rat race can possibly find what we're looking for.

Thanks for your time.

---

TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Society
KEYWORDS: prepping; rural; shtf; vanity

[ducttape45]

I’ve been searching areas like Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Iowa, even South Dakota. I’ve been told that places like Kentucky and Tennessee are not bad as long you stay out of the big cities. So by nature I am a central Midwest fellow, but honestly, if the Lord was to point at a map and say, “go there,” I’m there no matter where it is. Heck, I’ve even given Wyoming a look!

[hardspunned]

I live in Bracken County, Kentucky which is 30 miles as the crow flies southeast from Cincinnati. I have family and friends living just beyond the suburbs, as I do, south and west of town. Their situations closely resemble mine.

[hardspunned]

Oh yeah, Kroger offers FREE delivery to the entire area! You pay $35 a year for the service.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

FWIW, I was planning on retiring in Maryville, TN before Beau made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. ;)

It had everything I was looking for, and I did a LOT of research.

[PeterPrinciple]

The key here is finding out what your passion is. What are you interested in? History, hunting, fishing, something.

For example, I am interested in Jeeps, active on their website, attend some events throughout the country. Used to travel and buy and sell parts. There are areas and people who are active in jeeps.

If it is history, visit the Sac Airforce museum for example. Talk to the volunteers, become a volunteer. They will find you a place to live and welcome you into the community.

You retire to something, not away from something.

Find your community, it is about the people, not the place.

[crusty old prospector]

Wyoming is mostly government land.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

What “Chrisinoc” said about the Quad Cities of Arizona applies to Idaho and Western Montana as well. The population in the greater Coeur d’Alene area is about 250k. Good Republican state and area (but lots of D pressure from transplants is causing troubles). As Chris said, “abundance of churches, retail stores, two hospitals, an events arena, VA center, restaurants, and auto related businesses. If you like God, guns, cars, and dogs this area might fit your lifestyle.”

We have excellent health care around CdA and superb health care over in the Spokane area.

The “Inland Northwest” has a mild, mostly sunny climate with warm summers and mild winters. Summers are generally dry and hot, with temperatures reaching up to the mid-80s (though we are getting a lot more days in the high 90s the past few years). Winters are usually cold and dry. Hayden, Idaho gets 26 inches of rain per year compared to the US average 38 inches. Hayden averages 43 inches of snow per year, but there isn’t a lot on the ground at any one time.

If you’re even remotely considering Wyoming, think about going a bit farther north and west.

If you want even less population, you can head up to the Sandpoint area (good skiing) or even farther north to Moyie Springs.

The Spokane International Airport is only 40 minutes from Coeur d’Alene.

Plus we have some of the friendliest people you will find anywhere.

[ConservativeMind]

If interested in Indiana, the Rushville area is nice and quite conservative. It's not far from Indianapolis.

I have family in Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Tennessee, Texas, and Florida.

Don't live in any of their bigger cities. Instead, choose about 45-60 minutes away.

Illinois has great people, but it is assured of not getting better for decades. It's liberal run and taxes are terrible and they have nothing to show for it. Consider it off limits.

Missouri is good anywhere 45+ from St. Louis.

Indiana is loaded with a lot of decent people, and you can feel they nearly all have a church upbringing. Places 20+ minutes away from Indy are fine.

Tennessee, well, just don't make Memphis your bigger city to be around. Chattanooga might be the next one to stay away from, but it's nothing like Memphis.

Texas is hot and a lot of it is very arid. Consider living north, east, or south of DFW.

Florida is nice across the west and central portions. South and west of Miami is nice, but be assured being that far south means more storms and hotter weather. We like the north and northwest parts of Florida, down to maybe Sarasota. Orlando is really for tourists.

The last three states have no state income tax, while Florida and Tennessee have cheaper property tax than a chunk of Texas, as I was told. In Texas, you want to be in a county that has bad schools, because Texas apparently taxes the rich counties to mostly subsidize the non-taxing counties for their schools, as explained to me.

[Purpleperson]

have you talked to an extension agent in the counties you are looking for? Many boomers have inherited farms and are absentee landlords. They would love to have a live in overseer that could manage the tenant farmer, and see to the maintenance issues. good luck

[bigbob]

Nebraska is fine outside Omaha-Lincoln. SD is fine outside Sioux Falls and has no state income tax. Your best bet would be to take a trip, get off of I-80 as soon as possible, and just explore. You’ll learn far more than you will from anonymous strangers on the internet, no matter how well meaning

[STEELRAPTOR]

Try Maryville Tennessee

[Varsity Flight]

I see your Indiana. Have you looked at northwestern-central Ohio off of Rt. 30, and connecting smaller routes towns and villages off of 30. Many smaller villages, some very small. And off of Rt. 250.

Flatter terrain NW Ohio then more hills traveling east.

Maybe go to the local sheriff’s offices and inquire where the deputies live.

And also the local village/town library, and find out where the librarians live in these villages. Their resource departments would probably be happy to help with safety issues, individual streets.
They would have local newspaper/online resources too.
🏌️

[Chode]

some right pretty country in Kentucky and Tennessee...

[gawatchman]

I have the same goal. I have been in the Atlanta area since the early 80’s and it now resembles more of a third world hell hole than the city I used to love. Eevn the suburbs are getting bad. Plus I am nearing retirement myself.
I am presently looking at Santa rosa or Okaloosa counties in Florida. I have seen some places in Navarre off the coast that aren’t terribly expensive and some houses in rural areas in Okaloosa county. It will defintely be Florida for me but I am a little bias as I am originally from the panhandle of Florida near Panama City.

[21twelve]

Thanks

[Tacrolimus1mg]

You don’t wanna live in Rockford. High crime rate, and I’d wager too close to Chicago. Taxes are stupidly high, property especially.

I’m not far from there. It’s like telling someone to go check out Detroit, but without the low property taxes.

Avoid Illinois. The rural places here are nice, as my sister in law just bought in Gilman for a very reasonable price (about 3 hours from Chicago), but this state is on the downfall. Stay away. It’s corrupt AF.

I’m also looking to get out, but need to complete EMT courses before I do. Mostly because I need to save up and get some job experience.

[dagunk]

I went through this about four years ago, but started looking about 5 years ago. I had an approximate retirement time frame so started looking around early.

Criteria: smaller town, not appreciably growing or shrinking, reasonable services available - medical, shopping, eat out, big stuff in the next town but at least 50 miles away. No places infested with california or new york, no stupid politics. Somewhere in flyover country, four seasons, winters and summers not too severe.

Kansas. I figured out “Nobody is moving to Kansas” and I have some time and family out here.

Looked at housing in several towns. Lots of foreclosures was bad juju, don’t want to live in that kind of town. Scratched a half-dozen places.

Stay away from the big towns - Wichita, Kansas City have the typical big-city crime etc problems, Topeka not so bad but too big for me. Also stay away from Lawrence - college town, horribly liberal. Baby sister in Topeka says they’re not ready for me yet.

I settled in Hutchinson. Population has been pretty steady at 40K for over 20 years. It’s a bit of a compromise since I had to consider wife wants. I would have preferred something smaller but doing fine here. Also, Amazon and Walmart deliver.

The big city - Wichita - is somewhere around forty-five miles from my driveway. almost far enough. A big shopping district - Dante’s Hell - is on the west side so don’t have to descend into the bowels of the city.

Politics - State house is solid conservative. We have a democrat governor - no idea how that happened - who gets slapped down when she tries something stupid.

Constitutional carry, CCW available if needed. I got one for travel, easy enough. It also eliminates the waiting period for firearm purchase.

I moved from Nevada to Kansas in the middle of the china flu panic - a rant for another day /grin.

Good Luck to ya.

[Ikeon]

Shangra-la is located somewhere in the Himalayan mountain range. I suggest chartering a 1930’s era plane and flying there.

[Ikeon]

Y’all sound so serious about living in a perfect place. Not one mention of prayer or finding a good church. Without God, a person is lost, even with GPS.

[eastexsteve]

In my opinion, if you can still see your neighbors, then you aren’t rural living. You’re just living in a neighborhood where the homes are a little further apart. To me, that’s really not much different than living in the suburbs when it comes to security. I’ve lived all my life in Texas, mostly out in the “country” on many acres. In my opinion, the “security point” starts when you have enough acreage to legally fire a gun in your front yard, and nobody within earshot cares because all your neighbors have guns and they are apt to occasionally fire off a round or two themselves. Though this may sound redneck and corny, the bad guys know everyone out here has guns kept at the ready. So, we don’t suffer from porch pirates, car break-ins, thieves masquerading as door-to-door solicitors scoping out homes for break-ins, or any of those inner city problems. When there are strangers in the area who look like they don’t belong, everyone knows about it, including the sheriffs department, who are already on their way to check it out. Out here, when you drive past that “no trespassing” sign at the gate, you better be on your best behavior, and the outlaws know this. Even the local sheriff’s department will give me a courtesy call first if they have to come on my property and speak to me about anything not life-threatening. Out here in my county, that sign on the gate means something. And, if you came up to my house with bad intent, it’s a long way on a rough road across open ground to make it from my house back out to that gate and safety. And, most of us out here also utilize security cameras.

Suffice to say, crime is almost non-existent in my area. But, when it does happen, it’s serious. Usually, it’s something spawned by family violence, or a drunk getting out of hand that escalated. I can recall one instance decades ago where a couple was found murdered in their home. But, that may have been the result of something premeditated, and not a crime of opportunity.

Of course, my situation only works if you are willing to take your own safety and security into your own hands. The sheriffs department claims they can be here in 6 minutes. But, a lot can happen in 6 minutes.