# The Best Places in America to Be in The Event of a Collapse



## Yeti-695 (Dec 15, 2015)

The simple truth of the matter is that if there actually is a major crisis or disaster that leads to a prolonged societal collapse in the US, there really isn't going to be a "Good Place" to be. So, what we are looking for is the highest level of least bad we can achieve, and with careful planning and attention to certain factors it is possible to achieve a situation which is not only "survivable" but actually livable in even the worst case scenario. Obviously, where you choose to live will have an impact on your preparedness plans, so always keep that in mind.

First, you want to pick a place that allows you to maintain a normal, mainstream life before life as we know it comes crashing down. A lot of us are of the mindset that something catastrophic is inevitable, and history teaches us that this is indeed the case. I am becoming increasingly convinced that this is a sooner rather than a later probability, however it could conceivably still be years away. So in the meantime, you want to have reasonably convenient access to things like employment, education, cultural and extracurricular activities for your kids, modern medical facilities, shopping, and all the trappings of modern life. It is not yet time to run off and live in a cave isolated from the world (If that is your mindset, it doesn't make you "Wrong". But it doesn't make you a prepper either. It makes you a hermit!).

Ozark_fall_foliage_underHowever, when the fall arrives, large population centers are going to be rather dangerous on a number of levels. So it is wise to remove yourself from large cities. My suggestion in order to be able to have the best of both worlds is to choose a location in a rural setting between 70 and 100 miles from a small to mid-sized city. This distance allows you access to all the luxuries and conveniences, is within' a manageable commuting distance if you are tied to a professional career, but it also provides a fairly substantial degree of insulation from the worst of the Urban Dangers that will crop up quickly once the balloon goes up.

You also want to choose an area where food is produced, and where you can start making food producing improvements to your property. In short, you want good soil and enough water to grow gardens and water live stock. You want an area where livestock is produced and sustained on natural grazing and not in feed lots. You also want to be absolutely certain that there is plenty of easily accessible water for your drinking, cooking, and sanitary needs. There are many isolated areas in deserts and high mountains, but there is a reason these places were never settled extensively. That reason is that it is hard to come up with enough water to grow things, and the climate in many cases is too extreme to live in comfortably year-round. In a prolonged survival situation, you don't want to be dependent on cisterns and extremely deep wells, or on technology dependant delivery systems.

You will want to find an area where like-minded people live. This isn't as hard as it sounds. Most rural areas still have core values of self sufficiency. They are also pockets of old school knowledge that has been lost in the larger world. In an area like this, if you have something to contribute it will be much easier to find a group to band together with for mutual defense and support when the time comes. You will also find that in such areas there is a strong gun culture, and you will neither stand out nor be the sole armed protector should the need arise, and you won't be saddled with a bunch of suddenly armed newbies that don't have a clue, country boys and girls know how to use their guns!

Another consideration is proximity to nuclear power plants, proximity to military installations, distance from potential targets in a nuclear attack, and things of this nature. As concerns the power plants, all I'm going to say is Fukushima. As to military installations, the concern is always martial law, confiscations, conscriptions and so on, all the FEMA camp nightmares we have envisioned and theorized about. I am not particularly concerned about nuclear war in the classic sense, and feel that EMP type weapons are a far more likely and devastating possibility, but terrorism is always a consideration and those guys are nuckin' futs and very hard to anticipate, so being too close to potential targets detracts from an areas desirability.

So, where are the best places to be?

My personal favorite is the Ozarks region of Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. This region provides many areas that are about the right distance from cities, have a good water supply, strong rural and conservative traditions, agricultural activity in the form of farming and ranching, and a history of subsistence farming. I wound up in the Ozarks almost by mistake, but have found much to love about the region, and many positive attributes from a prepper's perspective. There are a lot of preppers here, so finding likeminded folks to bond with is not difficult.

The Ozarks region
The Ozarks region, in green, is my top pick. Some of that is just personal preference, but there is much to commend the Ozarks from a prepper's standpoint.

My second Choice is the Appalachian region with a strong preference for the Great Smoky Mountains of North and South Carolina, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. These regions offer up similar benefits to the Ozarks region, and offer up a lot of good choices to live a nice life today and weather the potential coming bad times. Again, be sure that a given location meets the other criteria, particularly the distance from major population centers. The portions of the Appalachians passing through the North East may be a less desirable idea due to proximity to many larger cities, but even here pockets of desirable location can be found.

The Appalachian region

The red areas are best, green and blue areas are pretty darn good, but I would steer clear of the yellow.

My Final top pick is the Cascade Mountains of Washington, Oregon, and California. Once again, there are plenty of spots in this region that meet the criteria. There are a lot of remnants of rural culture and heritage, and the climate is quite favorable for subsistence gardening. You have to be careful on the west coast though, there are large populations of liberals who won't like your guns and have more of a dependence mentality than an independence mentality. If you are able to do so in advance, check out the attitudes and demeanor of local residents, if there is a core of "Old time Families" that is a plus, if there is a large population of relocated urban Californians, that is a big minus. If there is a large Hippy population, don't write it off too quickly, many Hippy Types are pretty dialed in on the preparedness, self sufficiency, and Libertarian principals (It's that old "don't judge a book by its cover thing!).

My Final advice is to take a look at a precipitation map of the US. This will give you important clues to suitable locations. With adequate average rainfall, you need only look for oplaces that meet your other criteria to be fairly well assured that you have found as good a spot as any to weather the storm in a SHTF scenario.

SHTF

All other criteria being met, the areas in greens and blues are your best bet in a SHTF scenario.

These are the best tips I can offer. Do you have another good option in mind?

Pick a spot and get prepared. BUT (all caps for a reason!), don't let the prepping rule your life so that you are living out of fear! You can find a place that lets you live a normal, modern life but still allows you to be ready when things get really bad.

Here is the link if anyone would like to see the article for themself.

http://www.askaprepper.com/the-best-places-in-america-to-be-in-the-event-of-a-collapse/


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## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

I think if they just asked people where the best spot to was, most would respond the best spot is where they live right now. No matter what state or county.


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## Justaguy987 (Mar 2, 2013)

I just came across this map showing where you don't want to be so I guess anywhere else is fine


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## Balls004 (Feb 28, 2015)

I'm not sure that there exists a "best location" when things break down. 

I'm not picking apart your thoughts on this Yeti, because all of your points are valid. The problem lies to me in that no one can predict what the event or events precipitate the collapse, what the initial response to the event is from both governmental and societal groups, and what group or groups survive the first few months and grow stronger. 

It is much easier to grow a raiding style group than it is to be tied to a fixed location, and having to defend that location. Not only do you have to do the every day tasks necessary to survive, but you have to devote resources to adequately defend them. That is a large drain on the defenders. Even sporadic attacks, can quickly wear your defenses down. It's been done several times in history, and if the SHTF again, will probably be done again.

Isolation from populace centers will buy you some time, but eventually, the "takers" will come calling. They will probably have numbers, because for those that aren't used to hard work for making their living, that is the only option they have to survive. There may or may not be an intelligent leadership of these groups. They may offer you "employment" to produce food or other things for them in return for your safety, then again, they may just kill and take what they want and move on.

I don't see any one right answer to your question about other options. Every decision after the SHTF is going to be an on going project. Some are going to be the right decision, and some are going to get you killed. It's all going to depend on the circumstances of what caused the breakdown and what societies and the government's response is to that event. It can play out in too many ways for me to have a reasonable plan for every iteration, but being prepared in general at least gives you options, and if the SHTF, options are a really good place to start.

That's my opinion anyway...


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## hashbrown (Sep 2, 2013)

It will always be the Ozarks for me but it's my home and my clans home since the 1860s. I personally believe that most places have alot of resources that wont be seen by the masses. I feel that education of your area and preparedness is key to survival no matter where you are.


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## tmttactical (Nov 23, 2015)

I think Yeti-695 and all the other make good sense but I think there are additional items to consider. I believe we have to have an honest evaluation of our strengths, weakness, skill sets, financial resources, mental situation, medical condition and so many more. as an example, here is my outlook:

Medical condition = Wonderful Wife, heart condition. I am a Diabetic, very bad knees, and both of us are seniors. Surving TEOTWAWKI is not a consideration, without medication, maybe we last a year. So we plan for an SHTF episode. Three months to one year and some semblance of civilization (MEDICAL FACILITIES) returns. 

Financial resources: Debt free except car. Save every month and keep cash close to hand. 

Skill set - Retired Facility Engineer -HVAC trained, Welding trained, Electrical Trained and minor fire arm skills.

Weakness - Physical conditions prohibits heavy labor.

These are just some of the considerations when planning what to prep for. If you can't survive without certain medication, then you probably won't need 10 years of food supplies. Weather tolerance maybe another issue to consider. I can't tolerate the cold but the Wonderful Wife has difficulty with heat, Nuclear war is not our concern (too long to survive) but natural disasters (earthquake, Tornado or dust storms) are our concerns, Financial collapse are also prepped for and planned on. 

long story short, each person has to determine where, when and what they can individually deal with. JMHO.


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## Tweto (Nov 26, 2011)

The map of where you DON'T want to be during SHTF is easy to do, but a map of where the hordes will go from those areas in the following weeks and months would be more interesting. Then use that map and see where people aren't and pick one of those areas to live if TEOTWAWKI happens.


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## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

Maybe you would want to be in the most inhospitable spot instead of the nicest spot. After all who would want to go there?
Balls is correct about defense being a very big issue. Almost impossible.


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## azrancher (Jan 30, 2014)

Best place, would be in my neighbors bug out shelter... with a bottle of Knob Creek and a bucket of ice.

*Rancher*


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## weedygarden (Apr 27, 2011)

azrancher said:


> Best place, would be in my neighbors bug out shelter... with a bottle of Knob Creek and a bucket of ice.
> 
> *Rancher*


Have you been invited, or will you be invited? Or will you force your way in?

And after the bottle is empty and the ice is melted, there will be tough work to do.


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## mosquitomountainman (Jan 25, 2010)

Hiwall made a good point. Most people think that they can live off the land and will head directly to those choice places. If you want to avoid the starving, desperate masses go where they avoid. If you stay there for even a few months the majority of the unprepared will be dead. Study up on how the indigenous people survived there and emulate them. We are in a mountainous location far enough away from any major population mecca that those coming our way will first need to overcome the mountains (lots of up and down ) and the cold and starvation to get where we live. Our second choice would be the desert.


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## Tweto (Nov 26, 2011)

There are oasis of very livable environments within the inhospitable areas that would scare the hordes away from. The people that just look at the big map should be looking at smaller topo maps to find valley's that support farming and ranching in other wise barren areas.


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## VoorTrekker (Oct 7, 2012)

People looking at maps see the big green blotch called Naional Forest and National Park. They may attempt to mob it. When gas, water and food are unavailable while enroute; they will go to desperate mode, then to panic mode. 

Camouflage and concealment work best for this as opposed to maximum firepower.


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## jnrdesertrats (Jul 3, 2010)

Someone once asked if we were prepared for nothing to happen. We picked out our final resting place because it is really nice. We plan to enjoy it for the rest of our day's, however long that may be. Anyone who tries to take it will be sitting on my porch minus a few friends or relatives.


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## musketjim (Dec 7, 2011)

A lot of excellent points. Skills and adaptations to your present environment play a big role. I have adapted and trained for an arctic environment, primarily lowland but some mountain experience. Any major change, desert, tropical, extended altitude would definitely be an added stressor. Train as well as you can for the area you hope to be in and good luck.

"The good guys aren't coming"


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## AuntB (Nov 24, 2015)

Justaguy987 said:


> I just came across this map showing where you don't want to be so I guess anywhere else is fine


I am assuming it is the dark blue areas that you Don't want to be. That is a very interesting map. I see metro area but look at Florida. That has a larger area then NY & NJ. And what about NM? I would think being a border state it would have more places along its border that would be dangerous.


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## hiwall (Jun 15, 2012)

> I would think being a border state it would have more places along its border that would be dangerous.


Its not as dangerous now because I am here.


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## gabbyj310 (Oct 22, 2012)

It's hard to say where the "perfect" place would be. Knowing your area is a huge plus. Away from cities large and small,main highways(here comes FEMA).Coastal area (think floods with all the junk that goes with it).California ha it suppose to fall in the ocean any day,with droughts, mudslides,fires and whatever.Southern coastal you have gators and bugs big enough to eat those gators(swamps).Just about anyplace you look there will be pro's and con's.If you have the time and money it's never to soon to at least find a place to your advantage. Me I live in the sticks of Kentucky. I have hot summers ,cold winters and tornados too,still if I can prepare to a "reasonable" place I'm better off than the nut cases thinking ,"NOTHING" will ever happen and/or the government will take care of me and mine(FEMA CAMPS).No way Jose! I'm in my little square acres with what I have gathered so far and will do the best we can as we are a like minded community and most of all family.Got my stuff and hope to get,keep and prepare for more. Don't forget to keep more than one stash as I said here comes Fema wanting you to share!!!


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## hashbrown (Sep 2, 2013)

gabbyj310 said:


> It's hard to say where the "perfect" place would be. Knowing your area is a huge plus. Away from cities large and small,main highways(here comes FEMA).Coastal area (think floods with all the junk that goes with it).California ha it suppose to fall in the ocean any day,with droughts, mudslides,fires and whatever.Southern coastal you have gators and bugs big enough to eat those gators(swamps).Just about anyplace you look there will be pro's and con's.If you have the time and money it's never to soon to at least find a place to your advantage. Me I live in the sticks of Kentucky. I have hot summers ,cold winters and tornados too,still if I can prepare to a "reasonable" place I'm better off than the nut cases thinking ,"NOTHING" will ever happen and/or the government will take care of me and mine(FEMA CAMPS).No way Jose! I'm in my little square acres with what I have gathered so far and will do the best we can as we are a like minded community and most of all family.Got my stuff and hope to get,keep and prepare for more. Don't forget to keep more than one stash as I said here comes Fema wanting you to share!!!


Most people think they can move into these sort of areas and start networking. I don't know about your part of Kentucky but here where I am that's easier said than done. Most of the rural areas I've been around are extremely clannish. It takes along time to be accepted into the community and some never are.


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## Yeti-695 (Dec 15, 2015)

hashbrown said:


> Most people think they can move into these sort of areas and start networking. I don't know about your part of Kentucky but here where I am that's easier said than done. Most of the rural areas I've been around are extremely clannish. It takes along time to be accepted into the community and some never are.


I agree with you hashbrown. Where my wife and I moved there is families all around us. It seems like if they are not blood related they are married in some how. We are slowly starting to get to know more people around here, but have not approached the subject of prepping with any of them. Alot of older folks with a few youngers ones, but one or two of the younger ones seem like they dont want to work to take care of their families. The other that we have meet seem like hard working folks. Its just the oil field jobs have dried up and there is not alot of jobs around here in the rural areas.


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## AuntB (Nov 24, 2015)

hiwall said:


> Its not as dangerous now because I am here.


:usaflag: Glad to have you standing guard at the border. Hopefully someday we will have a better wall/deterrent so that you can stand down. But till then I sincerely appreciate you vigilance.


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## gabbyj310 (Oct 22, 2012)

hashbrown I can sure agree to that. When I married many years ago and moved to McClean Co I lived there and gave birth to my kids there.My husband was born and raised there,I was never accepted there. Moving to Butler Co...next to my son and daughter in law(was born and raised there),we are welcome by everyone.Different people different area.Hard working good people.They are a little clannish but with my Southern accent and the way I run my mouth,it didn't take long to fit in. The daughter in law was a great plus!!


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## sgtusmc98 (Sep 8, 2013)

hashbrown said:


> Most people think they can move into these sort of areas and start networking. I don't know about your part of Kentucky but here where I am that's easier said than done. Most of the rural areas I've been around are extremely clannish. It takes along time to be accepted into the community and some never are.


I've lived where I do now for about 12 years and am an accepted outsider. The people that I want to be accepted by I am, (business owners and gun dealers). There are the rest that know me because I have been a teacher here for 7 years but it sure isn't an easy break in. An advantage here is that everyone on my street bought the land from a company, point being everyone on the street is an outsider but we all know each other because we bought at the same time and helped each other through the building process.

Also most of the unruly youth like me because I was their teacher.


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

gabbyj310 said:


> hashbrown I can sure agree to that. When I married many years ago and moved to McClean Co I lived there and gave birth to my kids there.My husband was born and raised there,I was never accepted there. Moving to Butler Co...next to my son and daughter in law(was born and raised there),we are welcome by everyone.Different people different area.Hard working good people.They are a little clannish but with my Southern accent and the way I run my mouth,it didn't take long to fit in. The daughter in law was a great plus!!


When we lived in White Deer, TX, we ran up against the clannish attitude, being as we were not going to a certain religious sect church we were treated like the black sheep of town, same with running the Conoco gas station in Pampa, TX, but we had a lot of people that appreciated the service we provided and they were sorry we had to leave. Here in S.W. Oregon our neighbors are closer than most of our family members. The only thing I don't like is that we are too close to I-5, which is basically the Western NAFTA highway, but we do live in a highly defensible area.


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