top of page
Lee Grey
Sep 17, 2024

From the Archives of Off Grid News: The 5 Best Places In America To ‘Bug Out’ When Society Collapses

***Editor's Note*** The following article was written by Nicholas O. via offgridnews.com. It is shared here on TraversersBlogRadio.com for informational and educational purposes only.


I will be providing my own list in the near future.


Prepare Today | Prevail Tomorrow


Lee


...


Many people wonder where the safest place to retreat is should a major disaster hit, an economic collapse occur, or the power grid go down for an extended period of time.

In truth, there is no singular “safe place” where you are guaranteed to survive no matter what, but there are certain factors that make some regions safer than others.

In general, the bet regions to survive in the United States should meet as many of the following criteria as possible:

  • Low population density (arguably the most important factor)

  • Away from the coastlines

  • Little risk of natural disaster (tornadoes, hurricanes, etc.)

  • Plenty of fresh, running water

  • An abundance of wild game and edible plants that you can hunt or forage

  • Fertile land for growing crops

  • Long growing seasons

  • A current strong local or statewide economy

  • The ability to re-build an economy after a disaster (examples: farmer’s markets, mines, logging, oil sites, etc.)

  • Protected gun rights

  • A low crime rate

  • Lower cost of living/housing

  • Low property taxes

  • Away from nuclear/chemical power plants and military bases

  • Away from major cities that could be potential enemy targets


We’ve attempted to include regions throughout the US on our list. Let’s get started:


1. Idaho panhandle/western Montana


We’ll start out with what we feel might be the safest region in the entire United States: the Idaho panhandle/western Montana. The majestic mountains of northern Idaho and western Montana are rich in wildlife, edible plants, rivers and lakes. If you ever needed to find a retreat location in the wilderness, it’s perfectly possible to sustain yourself on natural resources here.


The population density is thin, gun rights are strongly protected, and taxes are low due to strong conservative/libertarian politics. And, the ground is perfectly fertile for you to grow a field of your own crops and/or livestock if necessary. In comparison to other states and regions, the crime rate is also low and in the event of a long-term disaster, the economy could rebuild due to a thriving logging industry, silver mines in the mountains, and a great quantity of successful farmer’s markets.


The area may be a little too close to the West Coast than some may like, and northern Idaho in particular is close to the large Washington city of Spokane, which some feel could be a potential terrorist/nuclear target. But all in all, the Idaho panhandle/western Montana region meets almost all of our criteria, and at the very least it’s our highest recommended retreat area in the Northwest region.


2. Western Dakotas


Both North and South Dakota apply here, but we recommend the western halves of both states rather than the eastern sides (we’ll get to why in a bit).


In general, this area offers a lot of benefits for outlasting the apocalypse. Most notably, it’s as far as possible as you can get from both coastlines, which many disaster experts feel are dangerous hotspots due to their thick population densities, risks of hurricanes, and major cities that could be nuclear targets.


It also offers excellent fertile land for growing crops (though admittedly, some areas have shorter growing seasons), and boasts sparse populations and strong Second Amendment rights. But there is still one negative factor that makes this general area a slight concern, and you’ve probably guessed it: tornados. Fortunately, the Dakotas, especially North Dakota, are at the lowest risk for tornadoes in the Midwest. (Oklahoma, for your information, is the worst).


But a slightly lesser risk of tornadoes isn’t the only reason why the western Dakotas are the most recommended area in the Midwest to outlast a disaster. Home/real estate prices in both states are extremely low, and North Dakota has actually de-populated in recent years. In order to encourage resettlement, some lots in North Dakota are even nearly free! In addition, there’s very low crime and low car insurance rates in both states, and the oil fields of North Dakota offer an attractive opportunity for rebuilding an economy in the aftermath of an apocalyptic-type scenario.


One big negative to living in the Dakotas is that the winters here are brutal, and we don’t mean that lightly. But if you dress warmly and prepare your home and family well for it, you can get through it.


All in all, the Midwest is definitely a region to consider for outlasting a disaster, and the western Dakotas are arguably the best retreat area in the region to accomplish that.


3. Northern Arizona


Many people say that there is not one Arizona but two: northern and southern. Southern Arizona is noted for its vast and arid desert that is among the hottest and driest locations in the US.  Water is a huge concern in any disaster situation, and it’s simply difficult to find enough of it in southern Arizona (or any desert region in the US for that matter). And as gun friendly as the state of Arizona is, many disaster experts do not recommend that you live so close to the unstable border even if you do decide you can tough out the desert.


Fortunately, it’s a completely different story in the northern part of Arizona that is marked by sprawling pine forests and tall mountains that sometimes look like they should belong in the Northwest. The temperatures here are much more moderate and forgiving than in the southern half, the population is much less dense (there’s no Phoenix in the northern half), and there are plenty of good ranch and farming sites for you to raise your own livestock and crops in addition to suitable retreat areas.


When it comes to negatives, certain towns and cities in northern Arizona are expensive to live in. But keep in mind we’re trying to choose regions throughout the US. If you live in or near the Southwest, northern Arizona is the safest bet.


4. Northern New Hampshire/western Maine


There are, unfortunately, fewer safe place in the eastern US than in the west. But, thankfully, there still some retreat areas to consider. Northern New Hampshire and western Maine are to the northeastern US what the Idaho panhandle and western Montana are to the west. Yes, the East Coast in general is a hotspot for nuclear threats and natural disasters. But northern New Hampshire and western Maine are safer.


This area is very rich in natural resources, sprawls of wilderness and wildlife. There are already strong hunting and fishing communities here, so you can self-sustain yourself on food if necessary. The population density is slightly thicker in New Hampshire, but it thins out in Maine.  In fact, the population density of western Maine is less than that of Colorado. The only natural disaster that really threatens you would be winter storms; the effect of hurricanes will hit the coasts rather than farther north. More government regulations exist in Maine than New Hampshire, which is more economically free.


The biggest concern that disaster experts have with the area is its proximity to urban hubs like New York and Boston.


Just remember that no retreat area in the United States is perfect. But some places are better than others, and if you have no choice but to live in the Northeast in a disaster, northern New Hampshire/western Maine will be your safest bet.


5. Eastern Kentucky (specifically around the Appalachians)


Most survival and disaster experts strongly recommend that you live west of the Mississippi River if you want to live somewhere that’s safer from a natural disaster. But since many people do live east of the river, it’s not fair that New Hampshire/Maine be our only eastern location.


Perhaps your safest place east of the Mississippi will be eastern Kentucky, and specifically around the Appalachian Mountains. Western Kentucky is a hotspot for earthquakes and is much further away from the Appalachians.


Eastern Tennessee is another retreat options, but there are some nuclear sites there that you would be wise stay away from. Eastern Kentucky is far enough away from those sites.


Eastern Kentucky and the Appalachian Mountains offer prime retreat locations for you to get away from a disaster. In the early days of American history, the Appalachian Mountains were a barrier that prevented our ancestors from moving westward for many years. Today, many disaster experts consider the Appalachian Mountains to be among the best locations to ride out a disaster, and there aren’t any active volcanoes in those mountains, either. People have been living off the Appalachian Mountains for years, so you could easily sustain yourself and your family.


The valleys of eastern Kentucky also offer very fertile land, as well as running water in the form of rivers. You’re also far enough from the eastern coastline to be safe.


[Nothing follows]



Picture attached is of Lake Coeur d'Alene, Idaho (Northern Panhandle).

NOTE: Photo credits go to istockphoto.com.



0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments

In Congress, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of

Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

​

       He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

       He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

       He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

       He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

       He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

       He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

       He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

       He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

       He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

       He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.

       He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

       He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

       He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

       For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

       For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

       For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

       For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

       For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

       For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences

       For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

       For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

       For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

       He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

       He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

       He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

       He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

       He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

 

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

 

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

 

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

AC-logo-color.jpg
HarvestRight_edited_edited.png
wab_logo.png
Byrna-Logo_400x_edited.jpg
logo whole cows.png
X logo_edited.png
Rumble Logo_edited_edited.png
LifeVac.jpg
Nuke Alert_edited.jpg
Screenshot 2024-12-03 220337_edited.png
bottom of page