You will need to be very far north, usually above (or below I suppose) the 45th parallel, be situated in a place FAR AWAY from any light pollution whatsoever (including farm lights,) and you'll need a tripod on your camera with a long exposure if you hope to photograph it.
I have seen the northern lights from both northern Michigan and southern Idaho two or three times in my life, and each time they have been very dim to the naked eye.
You might have better luck closer to the Arctic Circle, I don't know.
Just on the south side of 45 and during those rare times we dont have lake effect cloud cover I see them on a fairly regular basis.
I’ve seen them in southern
Colorado...beautiful, brilliant displays, some which were unaffected by city lights even. However, these storms had to reach into the kp9.