Where to live

It really matters what state you live in. If you find yourself in a state where you don’t feel safe you have about 5 years to move someplace else. Moving will get harder as the nation deals with a number of issues. After 10 years you might find it extremely hard to move for various reasons. One reason could be that you home no longer has any value on the market. For example, imagine you live in a drought prone area and your town’s water supply dried up. Who would want to buy into that?

Politics are an issue, of course. You might not want to be too different from your neighbors when folks are having a hard time. That’s when they look for scapegoats. Some areas are more tolerant towards different cultures and beliefs. Will they still be tolerant in the future? In the 1920s Germany was one of the best places in Germany to be a Jew. We know how quickly that flipped. 

Climate and weather are big considerations. The western drought has been going on for a while now. There’s no reason for it not to continue. Historically, long periods of drought has been a major factor in the downfall of civilizations. Wildfires, heat waves, storms of all sorts -they matter. 

So what am I doing? As much as I enjoy the south in winter I could never live there full time. The heat would destroy me in the summer. When out west the smoke from wildfires gave me a lot of breathing difficulties. Right now I’m pretty good in the mountains of New Hampshire. 

Vermont is also a nice place but I’d take a beating financially due to their tax system. It’s hard to give up New Hampshire’s lack of sales or income tax. Maine’s taxes don’t affect my personal finances as badly and I’ve a lot of friends there. Currently I’m going to stay where I am. Politically my state is a “purple” state, divided between Republicans and Democrats. It makes it hard for any one party to go too far off the rails. 

While I currently like it where I am, staying here is a choice that I make. It’s not automatic. Things could change that would make moving a good idea. If your state is about to go down the tubes it’s best to get out before most people realize that fact.

-Sixbear