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Posted on 06/07/2026 1:11:00 PM PDT by MAGA2017
I'm hoping to retire within the next 7-10 years. Maybe even sooner if possible. I have zero interest in living in an assisted living community or anything like that.
I'm hoping buy some land in a rural area, at least 10 acres or so. I want to build my own little cabin and basically just be left alone. I honestly don't know if I can truly be off-grid. I will have a vehicle so I'll probably go the nearest town every so often for food and supplies. I can get batteries and power them via solar or a with a gas generator. Maybe get a propane stove. So I'll have some creature comforts. I want to have a wood stove for heat.
I currently live in WA state. I do like scenery and climate here but I would prefer to be in a red state. I'm tired of idiots in charge here, the taxes, etc.
The states I'm thinking of are: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, the Dakotas and Wyoming.
I'm curious what people here think are the best states for this kind of life. Does anyone here live in these states? What are the pros and cons? Thank you.
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We are about 40 miles from Mountain Home AR.
Also own a cabin on a federally protected river.
Absolutely no permits or inspections were required when we built our cabin.
There has been quite an influx of Amish in this area in the last few years, if that tells you anything.
Land is cheap and you are left alone.
I’d be interested and according to the retirement experts I’ve talked to I am on track to pull the pin in 7 to 10 years.
10 is the most realistic number as much as I am not wild about it.
I always liked that area.
Our dayghters in-laws, from NH, moved to Tennessee. They absolutely love it. The last 2 weeks of December and the first 2 weeks of January were the only winter they had. They bought 18 acres with a mobile home which they are staying in while they build their house. We are heading down in July to see them.
Sums up Columbia SC.
Tennessee, except for Memphis.
As Dr. Sivana suggested, Arizona (or New Mexico or Nevada or remote Texas) is a possibility. Several counties in AZ are very much “live and let live,” with lax building regulations. I have neighbors who’ve built their own haybale structures, cob, rastra block, etc., and some who simply hauled in tiny homes or mobile homes or shipping containers. And there’s plenty of sun for your solar setup, and a monsoon season for rainwater harvesting. Could you tolerate a desert environment?
Just move to Spokane. As good as being in a red state.
There are plenty of small towns in Utah where you can be left alone. Just stay away from the Wasatch Front. (Salt Lake, Ogden, Provo).
Agree. It was s/
I loved WV and you can find places that have free gas at or near a corp well head. You can run heat and electric but i’m sure there are limits on use.
Agreed. I live in Hoover, but just before I retired end of 2013, I bought a 54 acre farm in Blount County. It has a small house and is almost 1/2 mile from the paved road...can’t see the house from that road. Had a well...I’ve run a line for city water since.
Birmingham is a little over 1 hour away and has quite good medical facilities. If you like to shoot it’s perfect. I shoot benchrest and built myself a practice range. Not a chance of the neighbors complaining...I hear shooting coming from all around me.
It can get pretty hot in the middle of the summer, but I’m at 1250 ft on top of a bluff so it can also get really cold in Jan-Feb.
SE Oklahoma. Unless you’re a liberal. My county voted 89% Trump
7-10 years is along time to contemplate so I would suggest more immediate action to find and visit when you can the location you determine best in the context of the criteria you described. It may be near where you already are/ I personally cannot imagine your scenario unless I’d been someplace that met what I felt at the time was a great possibility for what I was looking for when the time came.
Is that near Del Boca Vista?
😁
I have zero interest in living in an assisted living community or anything like that.
Rural E TN would be a poor choice. You’ll always be the outsider and if anything goes sideways you’ll be the first to be shot and/or robbed. Trying to go it alone, which you will have to, is pretty much a death sentence. I suspect most rural places in the south will be similar. Southern hospitality is a myth and behind those toothy smiles are a pack of inbred murderers. Youd do better to form alliances where you are.
Something to consider is taxes. If you have a pension and/or socialist security income, check to see if the state or states you are considering tax that income. Some do, some don’t.
https://www.kiplinger.com/retirement/602202/taxes-in-retirement-how-all-50-states-tax-retirees
I’m not sure if West Virginia taxes Social Security, but it’s very red and cost of living is very low.
Boyfriend and I have plans to move there, and I can’t wait.
Escaping Californians have run up the cost of Real Estate in and around Prescott. You’d be better served heading out farther east along the Mogollon Rim. Beautiful, rugged piñon pine country with four real seasons, open carry... been out around Show Low, which is historic, but you’ve gotta love the dry Southwest or it won’t suit you.
Friends of mine who’ve been around the country recommend Eastern Tennessee; Johnson City, specifically.
I did some looking a couple of years ago and Kiplinger’s put TN and SC in the top ranks because the one state takes only 1/2% Income Tax on retirement account distributions, while the other takes NONE.
You’d need to research whether those are still accurate numbers, but they were as of 2024.
I got out to the Atlantic Coast for the first time back in 2022, and really fell in love with it. Ran up the coast from Myrtle Beach to Kitty Hawk — beautiful. Wouldn’t buy within maybe a hundred miles of the shore because the weather can get untolerably ugly, but I did have in mind to stay within a half day’s drive of the beach.
It’s a big leap for a CA Native to transplant so far, so I don’t yet know whether I’ll do it, but economics sure argue strongly in favor.
All the best in your quest for The Right Place.
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