Escape the Grid: Best States for Off-Grid Living

so you want to live off the grid you've grown tired of being suffocated by the rat race and you want to make your own way and live more deliberately why not it worked for Henry David Thoreau there are several ways you could live off the grid you could do the van life you could do off-grid tiny homes cabins gen xers on down have always been told to go to school get a job buy a house start a family and start getting ready to die younger generations and even some of us in the older Generations aren't down with that they're blazing their own Trails one of those Trails ends up living off the grid if you're one of those people that's been thinking about this lifestyle today I'm gonna list the best states to live off the grid here's a little heads up that I've learned about this the laws on living off the grid tiny homes and all that stuff changes almost yearly probably even every six months or so this is the information I found as of 2022. got it get it good let's take a look number 12 Wyoming that's right you heard me correct we're doing 12 today Wyoming is one of the largest states in the country and it has one of the lowest populations in the entire country the current population is around 580 000 and there are no cities that have a population above 100 000. when you look at Wyoming's population density it's pretty low it's about six people for every square mile compare that to California and they've got about 251 people per square mile so Wyoming has a lot of open land and they're taking in new customers well I mean it's definitely a place you could live off the land especially if you're into fishing they've got plenty of creeks and everything else like that you need to live off the land it is legal to harvest rain water as they put it some states actually stop you from collecting water and they've got a lot of cheap land that you could set up Little Farms you could set up a little farm someplace and live off that a lot of people are doing that in this part of the country if you do let's say want to buy a little piece of land put a tiny home or something on it the the price per acre normally stays around the same as the national average the difference is their taxes are really low so it's affordable some states actually help people live off the land and do tiny homes and live off the grid Wyoming doesn't really help but they really don't get in your way number 11 Missouri living off the grid really is kind of living off of everything you live off the land you grow your own food you catch your own food you spend as little time in town getting supplies that's Live It Off the Grid it's not just van life even though van life is part of that the climate Missouri is favorable for growing different kinds of crops local authorities offer generous incentives for solar panel setups which is a big plus if anyone wants to live off the grid in this state the cost of living in Missouri is about 15 percent lower than the national average so if you buy some property and have to go into town for some supplies it's going to be a lot cheaper here Missouri has plenty of water both above and below ground so that shouldn't be an issue in just about any part of the state they also get plenty of sunshine so your solar panels always stay charged and their property taxes also below the national average number 10 Montana Montana Always shows up as number one when it comes to average value per acre of Farmland that's actually a stat they got good farmland and it's relatively cheap sure it gets a little cold during the winter like most places but you could grow a lot of stuff in Montana Montana is great because of its ample renewable resources lenient building codes and loose zoning regulations they're not going to give you a hard time for parking a tiny home on your property the best place to look for off-grid living is towards the west side of the state towards the Rocky Mountains people are living off the grid in this state often stockpile food for at least a couple of weeks mostly because when it snows getting around can be extremely difficult and dangerous but Montana's another one of those States that's more than willing to help you get set up or living off the grid number nine Illinois did anyone see this one coming Illinois is ranked second for the highest 10-year projected growth of wind power so they are all in for living off the grid and making your own electricity whether it's wind which not a lot of people living on the groove to have a windmill some do but mostly it's solar panels and they're all on board with it there too you can get nice setups from like Amazon for under a thousand dollars it has some solar panels and a little wind turbine on the top of it they're totally quiet Illinois has a lot of open land a lot of wind a lot of sunshine you could plop one of those things down and disconnect from the electrical grid much of Illinois is rural and has agricultural zoning agricultural zoning tends to be much more relaxed while you still have to follow building codes you're mostly allowed to do whatever you want in unzoned properties in Illinois there's just fewer permit requirements not saying you could you know build a castle made of asbestos or something like that there's just a lot of things you could do and they're really not going to give you a hard time about but under Illinois Law you must get a permit to drill a well so keep that in mind number eight North Dakota how can North Dakota not be on this list I mean they got a lot of open land that no one really wants well I'm sure some people want it but they're not doing much with it North Dakota actually facilitates living off the grid with generous rebates and incentives regarding solar and wind systems cost living usually hovers around 10 percent lower than the national average land is usually about 12 to 15 percent lower than the national average sure they got some pretty cold Winters that could be kind of brutal and they really don't have any big cities so if you do need to go into town you don't have to worry about traffic in case you don't know North Dakota is a hunting and fishing Paradise you could do that and get half your food or more if you're good you can grow things they've got a lot of open land for planting and they get plenty of rain and snowfall on top of that the property tax in North Dakota is slightly lower than the national average so that helps out in case you want to get some land but a tiny home on it number seven Kansas if you haven't picked up on it already the states that really are easy to live off the grid in don't have a lot of people in them Kansas is no exception they don't have a lot of people living there on top of all that the cost of housing and land is around 40 percent lower than the national average cost living is about 17 percent lower so again if you need supplies it's not going to set you back as much as it will in other states a lot of people live completely off the grid in Kansas and some of them have self-sustaining Lifestyles meaning they've got their solar power they've got their wind power they might get their water from a well they grow their own food that's your thing Kansas is not a bad choice but if you want to grow your own crops I would suggest doing the Eastern side of the state it's a little more humid and tends to be a little bit warmer throughout the year on average number six Nebraska Nebraska is another one of those states that actually encourages people to come here and live off the grid you're not sucking from their electrical grid you're not clogging up their cities with traffic but you're still paying some taxes not much because their taxes are a little below average their cost of living is little over 12 percent lower than national average on housing and land is about 30 percent lower than the national average that is not bad this is fertile land too if you want to grow your own stuff I mean they grow wheat here corn fields those are the ones everyone knows about but they grow plenty of other things too it's not just corn and wheat Nebraska pretty much has the same weather patterns as Kansas summers are hot and the winters are cold high humidity kind of persists throughout the year Kansas has plenty of lakes and rivers throughout the state not just like in one section but by far Nebraska is one of the best places to get your water from the ground one downside which I didn't know much about this but their water isn't typical groundwater it's fossil water fossil water has been there a very long time and it isn't replenished at the same rate as normal groundwater number five Oklahoma staying in the same area we come to the sooner state or land of the red man that's actually the official name land of the red man I mentioned it before but it sounds like a racial slam that's just me Oklahoma has one of the lowest property taxes in the country at .90 and a cost of living that's almost 20 percent lower than the national average the price of land is about 45 percent cheaper than the national average so if you want to live off the land and get your own chunk of land you could do it here at a pretty low price now keep in mind they do have a problem with wild hogs and when I say wild hogs I'm talking about the animal not that lame movie from 2007 starring John Travolta and Tim Allen how bad would that be that movie was horrible but you know I honestly feel like if I did find out they were making a remake in someone's City I would have to warn them now if you do move to Oklahoma and you're looking to grow your own food you probably want to focus on the Eastern side of the state the further west you go the harder it's going to be to actually grow some food food you get too far west the only thing that grows out there is tumbleweeds and rednecks named Danny Joe and his brother Danny Clyde Oklahoma is another state that has very few hurdles compared to other states I should say to by land and live off that land there's a lot of states that won't let you do it at all other states like Oklahoma and the ones on this list they kind of make it easy for you number four Minnesota Minnesota is known as the land of ten thousand lakes the truth is they got about 11. there's also numerous small bodies of water that aren't big enough to be considered Lake but if you were to take those into consideration this would be the land of twenty thousand lakes that's a lot of fishing if you truly want to live off the grid you're going to fish and you're going to grow things Minnesota is one of the best states for that there are no current regulations regarding harvesting rain water in Minnesota and homeschooling laws are also fairly relaxed now harvesting rain water is a big deal especially if you're living off the grid here in Oregon they got serious laws against that a lot of people living off the grid in Minnesota use hydroelectric power this is because they got many rivers and streams you'll have no problem generating power with water some companies will even offer rebates for you to do this now one thing about Minnesota is the price of land can be a little bit higher compared to some of the other ones on this list and even more so when you get closer to the cities but different blogs and different videos I've seen they say Minnesota is one of the most off-grid living friendly states there is number three Kentucky yes Believe It or Not people do live in Kentucky and they've been living off the grid for decades and decades there are some people that have never been on the grid in Kentucky out in their Backwoods a lot of people will go to Kentucky to live off the grid because of the ample amount of water and Wildlife property and property tax are really low in Kentucky now one of the biggest problems that a lot of people face when they do live off the grid in Kentucky is the groundwater a lot of it's contaminated because they got a lot of local farms but the good news is Kentucky has all four seasons the summers are around 90 degrees Fahrenheit and winter gets and stays around 23 degrees there's obviously going to be a temperature difference between North and South in this state the humidity is fairly high but nothing compared to like Mississippi or Alabama there's a lot of pollution in Kentucky especially with all the coal mines they've had and the farming that they've had so that is one hurdle but it is dirt cheap to buy land here and they've got something for every budget yeah they kind of get on this list on price alone now the research that I did a lot of people they're not like building tiny homes or anything like that this is cabin living up here off the grid cabins number two Texas yep Believe It or Not Texas is kind of a hot spot for living off the grid a lot of people are heading this way their cost of living and their property prices are pretty low well below the national average in a lot of cases like Oklahoma though if you want to grow things you got a better chance doing it on the Eastern side of the state once you start getting out west like the Amarillo and Lubbock area it starts getting kind of hard to grow things but you do have better weather out there it's not as humid the weather is one of the biggest reasons people will move to Texas to live off the grid they're not going to really deal with really harsh Winters even though Dallas had a couple freezes in recent years where it got really bad but most the time it's a pretty warm to Pleasant type weather if you want to grow things in Texas they grow corn cotton wheat rice peanuts sunflowers and sugar cane but mainly they produce corn and cotton you can also legally Harvest rain water and if you're on the west side of the state you better have the ability to catch a lot of rain water because they don't get much the cost of land in Texas is usually around 16 percent lower than the national average obviously that's going to change wherever you go but that's about the average groceries are seven percent lower and if you do have to get some utilities they average about three percent lower than the national average and Healthcare is pretty cheap in Texas as well all right before we get to number one don't forget we have another Channel called on this day there is a link down below alright on to number one and number one Iowa yeah believe it or not Iowa made the list if you don't know already Iowa's a lot like Nebraska and Kansas who were on the list earlier Iowa's a little bit different in the respect that they're cheaper and they're a little more open to living off the grid here if you're a vegetarian and want to do some serious farming Iowa is your place the cost of living is low and so are land prices but the property tax a little bit higher than the national average so you got to worry about that you can get plenty of solar and plenty of wind power in Iowa a lot of Iowa Falls under this program called the rural boost program now there's a couple other programs very similar to this states have their own and then so does the federal government but these programs help you buy the land in certain areas Iowa has a lot of those certain areas just to name a few in case you want to Google them the rural boost program the rural enrichment grant program the rural housing assessment grant program the rural return program a lot of these different programs can can help you out a lot but you're dealing with the government and grants so there's going to be some paperwork to put it mildly the governor of Iowa Kim Reynolds in 2021 she introduced a few other programs to help get people moving out to the rural communities and this includes people that are living off the grid they're not picky in Iowa all right that's today's video I hope you got some information out of it and I hope you do some research if this is what you're looking for I hope you use this as the starting point of your research maybe something like this is for you who knows alright everyone have a great day be nice to each other

Channel: World According To Briggs

Views: 330,742

Keywords: where to live in America, Top 10, Top Ten Lists, world according to Briggs, United States, Ranked, Lists, Best States, Best Cities, Relocate, Travel Education, States, USA, US States, united states map, off-grid living, off-grid cabin, off-grid home, off grid living

Id: fq-V8QjHejo

Length: 15min 17sec (917 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 27 2023