Strategic Relocation: Finding Your Ideal Safe Haven

Using Strategic Relocation To Find The Safest Place To Live

Strategic relocation is the process of finding a safe, dependable home for your family.

Whether you’re worried about societal collapse or natural disaster, your chosen location may determine your fate.

Maybe you’re just fed up and ready to move somewhere new. You’d like to pick up and start fresh in a new strategic location.

Or maybe you’re worried about the place you live…

But before you finalize where you want to move, you should choose wisely and be strategic.

Relocation should never be taken lightly.

There are many critical factors to consider for strategic relocation.

This article is here to help you figure out, understand, and consider all these key factors before you strategically relocate.

Now most articles you’ll read about strategic relocation will focus on the best an area has to offer – such as the amazing weather, proximity to the ocean, or nearby amenities.

But that’s only looking at half the equation.

I firmly believe that choosing a place to live might not have the “best” of these, but it is a lower-risk place to live.

You can always visit and travel to “high risk but high reward” destinations. But as far as day-to-day living…give me a safe place.

So with that in mind, here are the main strategic relocation factors we will be covering today:

• Population Density
• Natural Disasters
• Nuclear Considerations
• Quality Of Life
• Political Identity

Strategic Relocation – Selecting the Perfect Property

Population Density

It’s no real surprise that many people live in Urban environments nowadays.

What’s shocking is just how many do.

Using the US consensus data, about 82% of all US citizens live in or near an urban environment.

One of the biggest trends over the past few decades is how much more congested cities are getting. Not only are major cities getting denser, but they are also sprawling out.

But what’s that mean in the event of a major catastrophe?

It means that if you live in one of the “danger zone counties“, you’re at extreme risk of resource depletion due to refugees.

In a worst-case widespread disaster (such as a nuclear attack, EMP attack, etc.) critical resources like power, water, and food are depleted, and people (millions) are forced to flee the city in search of resources.

If such a situation does happen, this mass of fleeing humanity will be desperate. They will be severely dehydrated and likely starving.

This urban mass exodus of desperate unprepared refugees from the majority of cities has been coined by some a Golden Horde.

Scary stuff. 

So if you have any concerns regarding population density (and you should), you’ll want to remove any locations with a high population density from your list of relocation options. 

The Top U.S. States by Population from 1790 – 2050 (projected)

If you live in a high-density area, even if you’ve taken action and prepared for such an emergency disaster via water storage and food stockpiling, you’ll still have millions of desperate people surrounding you.

So instead of being overwhelmed by this horde of dangerous people, you may instead prefer to relocate to avoid this situation altogether.

See the map below to help avoid these high population-density counties (or click on the map to read through the list of counties)…

And if you live in one of these high-density counties, I suggest you put a solid bug-out plan in place. You can read more about bugging out in the following articles:

Bug Out Bag Checklist, Bug Out Vehicle, Bug Out Location, Homesteading.

Safest places to be in the lower 48 | Strategic Locations

Natural Disasters

If you want to avoid relocating to an area at high risk of these regional natural disasters, you’ll have to toss out much of the country.

Now I look at flooding as a localized disaster. What I mean by that is even if you live in a region with flooding risks, you can avoid buying a home in or near a floodplain. Doing so reduces your odds of getting caught up in those regional floods.

So with that said, the States with a lower risk of major natural disasters are Michigan, Montana, and Ohio. In contrast, many states have areas within the state that are relatively safe such as parts of Texas, Colorado, Minnesota, etc.

There’s no such place that has a zero percent chance of avoiding natural disasters.

For example, on the map above, Michigan looks safe, but Michigan is known for brutal winters and lake-effect snowstorms. They’ve lost power for days or weeks in the past.

So being strategic when it comes to avoiding natural disasters is not an all-or-nothing proposition. It’s all about looking for areas of lower risk.

Sorry folks but Florida and California are not lower-risk options. Hurricanes, Earthquakes, Wildfires, and even Tsunamis make these beautiful coastal states high-risk places to relocate.

Instead, choose a lower-risk area of the country and visit those high-risk areas from time to time.

Personal Example

That’s exactly what I did.

I strategically relocated to a small town in Colorado where theirs a zero percent chance of hurricanes, a low chance of tornados, low to moderate chance of an earthquake.

My biggest concern is wildfires, which I manage with insurance and defensible space tactics.

Top 10 Most Dangerous States for Natural Disasters.

Nuclear Considerations

We all know nuclear isotopes are nasty stuff to humans.

Whether it’s a stockpile of nuclear weapons or waste, nuclear energy plants, or a nuclear target doesn’t really matter when it comes to nuclear if something goes wrong, the further away, the better.

And it’s not only the exact location where a nuclear disaster occurs; with a nuclear attack, the other big concern is fallout. You want to consider prevailing winds in your strategic location.

Why? Because you might live in a remote area, but what happens if it’s 250 miles due east of a major city? Fallout, that’s what.

Where’s the fallout going if a nuke ever drops on that major city? You’re backyard!

Here’s a map detailing many of the nuclear threats/targets throughout the United States:

And here’s a map of the likely nuclear fallout patterns from a nuclear attack:

So as you can see, much of the USA is susceptible to a nuclear disaster either through a direct attack or indirectly via scattered fallout.

Some areas least likely to experience nuclear fallout include Oregon, parts of eastern Iowa and southern Wisconsin, Mississippi, Kentucky, etc.

Using maps like these helps you make better strategic relocation decisions to try to avoid a nuclear disaster altogether.

The bottom line is this:

You can either find a fallout shelter near your home or avoid the hazard altogether by strategically relocating.

The best place in the country to survive a nuclear war!

Quality Of Life

It’s safe to assume you like low crime, solid education, great health care, things to do, and a stable economy.

So if you’re looking to relocate strategically, you want to find a place that ranks well on those “Quality Of Life” metrics.

You essentially want to avoid ending up in one of the worst counties in the country. Counties that have:

• Low healthcare coverage
• Low adjusted median income (median income adjusted for the cost of living)
• Highest unemployment rates
• Low median home values
• Low high school graduation rates
• High poverty rates

However, this is a tricky decision because the “best counties” might to too expensive for you to relocate to.

So most of us are looking for a Goldilocks situation –  not too hot or too cold. Or the best with our financial means.

Extremely expensive places to live are a major burden to the typical American budget.

If you’re looking for a place to strategically relocate to but discover it takes a million-dollar home to live there…let’s say that may be outside of your budget.

So for most of us, we want to find locations that are both 1) affordable and 2) not dirt poor.  So let’s start with a map that shows the Best / Worst counties to live in based on our criteria:

The key is to focus on counties in the yellow, light blue, and dark blue areas.

But be on the lookout for too expensive for you as well. Some of these areas offering the “best quality of life” might be outside your financial means.

Political Identity

This one may or may not matter to you.

It might matter a lot for some, and you’ll use this as your initial strategic relocation filter. For others, you may not even consider this important to your decision at all.

But for those who care, it’s important to understand the political leanings of the county you’re looking at. Is it a dark red (votes Republican) county in rural Texas? Or is it a deep blue county  (votes Democratic) along the eastern seaboard?

A political map helps to give you a general sense of how people who live in a county think. Most people prefer to live near like-minded people who share similar beliefs in morals and politics.

Here’s a map of the United States – county by county – and their most recent House Of Representatives political voting record:

Just remember, this is only a recent snapshot. Many counties flip back and forth depending upon many factors. This is a single data point out of many.

If the political makeup of an area is important to you, make sure to visit these interactive maps to sort through more data to help with your strategic relocation decision.

Your Strategic Relocation Action Plan

Here’s the good news, the United States is a very diverse country with many options to consider for your upcoming strategic relocation.

The bad news is with so many options; it’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the choices.

So here’s how I suggest you utilize this data to zero in on the best relocation options for YOU.

First, decide which of the following considerations is most important to you and your family.

Is it safe? Is it Quality of Life? Or maybe it’s political?

List each of these factors from most to least important to you.

After doing this, you can start with the most important factor and eliminate places from your list. Each time you add the next filter, you’ll start reducing places for your relocation.

Once you’ve filtered down several times, you’ll be left with just a few areas to consider in more detail. That’s how you go from an overwhelming number of choices down to a handful.

A Must Own Book

Strategic Relocation: North American Guide to Safe Places

One tool you absolutely need to invest in is Joel Skousen's book called "Strategic Relocation".

This book contains detailed, useful information for anyone looking to relocate strategically. It's a must-own relocation resource with massive strategic relocation information.

Here's an excellent video that gives you a sneak peek at what this excellent book has to offer:

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Strategic Relocation Book Review

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“Just In Case” Jack

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