For most of us who don’t already have a homestead to call our own, the idea is a dream. Getting back to a simpler way of living, and becoming more connected with the land, your food, nature, and community.
The appeal is obvious, and when the walls start closing in on you in suburbia or when you’re grinding through yet another interminable day at your corporate job, you might want to just throw it all down, move out to the country, and park the wagon, so to speak.
But don’t be so hasty. Depending on where you live or where you’re considering moving, you might be signing up for some serious headaches…
There are some states in the US that will make you feel anything but free if you want to try and distance yourself from society and its dictates.
Whether it is a terrible climate, oppressive laws, extreme cost of land and living, or some other problems, some states are simply terrible for homesteading.
I’ll tell you about the five worst below and why you should avoid them. (By the way, I have a separate list of the best states to consider…)
Hawaii
It’s hard to imagine anything better than homesteading in a literal tropical paradise like Hawaii, but this is a great case of the idea being so much sweeter and nicer than the reality.
Yes, Hawaii does have an amazingly pleasant tropical climate. I know that’s great when you’re lying on the beach sipping mai tais, but it’s a double-edged sword if you’re a homesteader.
Intense heat, extreme humidity, and lots of rainfall can be problematic for crops and for livestock. Pacific cyclones are also a constant worry, as is volcanic activity.
Speaking of volcanoes, the whole island is nothing more than a chain of them, which means you’ve got limited arable land due to much of the chain being mountainous. That means what good plots of land there are priced incredibly high and competition for them will be fierce.
Likewise, the cost of materials, property taxes, and income taxes will be another thorn in your side, as will Hawaii’s legendarily strict land use regulations and Byzantine zoning laws.
The various county and city boards and committees in the state are also notoriously clannish.
You have few options for freshwater access except for catching rain or hooking up to city municipal supplies, and even though the solar potential in the state is excellent, it isn’t enough to offset all of these other negatives.
If you’ve got enough money to start up and live on a homestead in Hawaii, you could probably live anywhere you want in the world.
Nevertheless, if you’re curious to see how actual homesteaders are doing in this state, you can follow Homesteadin’ Hawai’i on YouTube.
Nevada
Nevada is another vacation destination, and with low property prices and tax rates, it’s easy to see why it is so appealing to homesteaders…
Sadly, the combination of water access issues and availability with a mostly arid, desert climate and a history of regulatory interference when it comes to accessing off-grid water means Nevada is not the ideal place to make a go of it.
Let’s get the good news out of the way first because it’s all bad news from here.
Nevada has extraordinarily good solar energy potential and a low population density outside of the major cities, meaning that land tends to be affordable. Property taxes are also low for the most part, and this means that good deals abound.
Good deals abound, but without a whole lot of extra investment and more than a little luck, you’ll be the proud owner of your own dust patch. That’s because water is extremely limited throughout Nevada, and the state has historically suffered terribly from drought.
In fact, it is only recently that intense restrictions on catching rainwater were slackened somewhat.
If you want to grow anything or raise animals in Nevada, irrigation costs will be extremely high, as will the cost of keeping land fertile if it can be made fertile in the first place.
Wells might be an option in some places, but you’ll have to go deep to get to them, further increasing costs.
It should also be noted that Nevada has more restrictions on the access and use of groundwater and well drilling than most other states, further complicating matters.
Generally, despite the affordability and the great solar potential, the climate in most parts of Nevada is just too harsh for true homesteading to be viable.
Living out in the middle of nowhere and roughing it might be one thing, but growing your own food and raising your own herd or flock of animals is going to be challenging.
Alaska
What? How can Alaska be on this list? Isn’t it something of a mecca for homesteaders, one of the very last true frontiers in the United States?
It is certainly the state with the lowest population density, averaging just 1.3 people per square mile. If you want to truly get away from it all and live a more fundamental, even elemental, existence, then Alaska is certainly the place to do it.
I get the appeal: gorgeous, ancient vistas with no one around, and you have to make it or break it all on your own merits. That’s definitely true, but living almost anywhere in Alaska except for the southernmost regions is homesteading on hard mode. Here’s why.
For starters, obviously the climate is going to be a huge challenge. The winters are long, dark, and brutal. The growing season is accordingly very short.
Those two things together mean you’re going to be strictly limited on what kinds of crops you can grow. There’s no shortage of land, and much of it is cheap, but good land is comparatively limited due to the presence of permafrost and high rockiness.
The remoteness and general lack of infrastructure mean that goods and most services are harder to come by, cost more, and can be far more difficult to transport to your homestead depending on how far out you are.
Even by the standards of homesteading, logistics are going to be very problematic.
If you live deep in the interior or the remotest reaches, it’s no exaggeration to say you will be truly on your own.
Lots of folks who live way out in the country say that in the lower 48, but it’s not really true…
It’s absolutely true in Alaska, and things that could be an inconvenience elsewhere in the country can prove to be absolutely fatal up there.
It is possible to homestead in Alaska, but I urge you to think twice.
New Jersey
Ah, New Jersey. Depending on who you ask, it is the unsung garden of the US or a despicable armpit of corruption and invasive government policies. Concerning homesteading, it’s a little bit of both.
The climate of New Jersey is amenable enough with cold but not brutally cold winters and hot, humid summers.
You’ll have to worry about the occasional snowstorm in the winter and the occasional hurricane in the summertime, but you can say that about a lot of states. The soil, in many places, is also quite rich and suitable for growing lots of different fruits and veggies.
We run into our first problem in the form of population density and urban sprawl, meaning you’ll have comparatively few opportunities to get good and cheap land away from the metro zones.
No matter what you find, you can expect a very high cost of living and extraordinarily high property taxes, some of the most extortionate in the country.
Far and away, the worst thing about New Jersey is its regulations. The state government, and the county governments by and large, never encountered restrictive laws they didn’t like.
Everything from your access to and use of groundwater sources to the installation of your own off-grid, clean energy systems will be regulated right into the ground.
And speaking of groundwater, New Jersey has historically suffered from troublesome contamination issues from natural and man-made sources, meaning any wells you get access to might require intricate and expensive treatment before it’s safe for you, your animals, or your crops.
In any case, everything from your choice of home to easements on your property, the number and type of animals you can keep, and a whole lot more will be bound up in a tangled mass of red tape, wherever you live.
For me, these challenges are just too much to overcome despite the actual material advantages that New Jersey can offer homesteaders. I say avoid it like the plague.
New York
New York is another terrible state for homesteaders, and for all the reasons you’re probably anticipating right now.
High property taxes, check. High cost of land, check. Ludicrous laws and bureaucracy, especially covering off-grid power, water, and waste disposal. Check, check, check.
New York’s climate isn’t too bad, and there’s plenty of farmable land in the northern part of the state the farther away you get from the major cities, but you’ll still be contending with brutal winter weather and still getting socked by hurricanes that make their way up there.
Off-grid energy can be a major problem because of the low sunshine index compared to southern and southwestern states.
New York is also one of the most restrictive states in the union when it comes to land use regulations, and getting permits alone will prove to be problematic enough.
Trying to get zoning changed on a property, historically, has proven to be nearly impossible even for the well-heeled and connected.
Again, it can be done, but the headaches will drive you to drinking before you even break ground.
Tim is a farm boy with vast experience on homesteads, and with survival and prepping. He lives a self-reliant lifestyle along with his aging mother in a quiet and very conservative little town in Ohio. He teaches folks about security, prepping and self-sufficiency not just through his witty writing, but also in person.
Find out more about Tim and the rest of the crew here.