What are the best states for survival? Where should you live to avoid natural disaster, social unrest and famine in the face of a world changing disaster? Where would you want to be if an Electromagnetic Pulse Attack struck the United States? Find out here by reading our Best Survival States breakdown.
The Best Survival States rank is made up of a mixture of three groups of inputs. The Best Survival States input groups are:
- Personal Security
- Food Security
- Disaster Security
Scoring well in each of these factor groupings is essential to becoming the Best Survival State.
The 10 Best Survival States
The 10th Best Survival State: Montana
Big Sky Country scored 7th best in food security, and 9th in personal security. The state was held back a bit by scoring 15th overall in Disaster Security. Montana is a state filled with wide open spaces. Cheap farmland, low population density, and friendly gun laws pushed Montana into the top 10 overall.
The 9th Best Survival State: Vermont
The Green Mountain State scored best overall in Personal Security, but was held back by scoring 33rd and 30th in Food and Disaster security. Vermont has extremely low crime, and its gun laws, for a North Eastern state are reasonable. Unemployment is also low, leaving few idle hands looking to cause trouble.
The 8th Best Survival State: North Dakota
The Roughrider State scored 7th best in overall Personal Security and 9th best in Disaster Security, but hit 19th in Food Security. North Dakota boasts inexpensive farmland, with very low unemployment and a sparse population. Most people there are too busy to bother you, and those who aren’t are too far away to get to you.
The 7th Best Survival State: Iowa
The Hawkeye State scored 5th best for Disaster Security, 9th best for Food Security, and 11th best for Personal Security. Iowa scored high marks for its farm output and low unemployment.
The 6th Best Survival State: New Hampshire
The Granite State, also well known as the Live Free or Die state, scored 5th best overall in Personal Security, 7th best in Disaster Security, but was held back by scoring 37th best in Food Security. This low number is driven by the high costs and low productivity levels of New Hampshire farmland. But if you’re already the owner of some good New Hampshire farmland, you’re in the catbird seat.
The 5th Best Survival State: Wyoming
The Cowboy State scored 4th in Food Security, 6th in Personal Security, and 20th in Disaster Security. Great gun laws, cheap farmland, and low population density make Wyoming one of America’s most survivable states.
The 4th Best Survival State: Utah
Just ahead of Wyoming sits the Beehive State. Utah scored 2nd overall in Disaster Security, 8th overall in Food Security, and 14th overall in Personal Security. Utah is a low-disaster state, with low violent crime, low unemployment and high home ownership. Holding the state back is a higher than average rate of property crime.
The 3rd Best Survival State: South Dakota
The Mount Rushmore State scored 3rd in Disaster Security, 4th in Food Security, and 8th in Personal Security. Besides the Best Survival State, South Dakota is the only other state to score in the top ten in each category. South Dakota performed better than average in every component category except violent crime.
The 2nd Best Survival State: Maine
The Pine Tree State scored 2nd in Personal Security, 5th overall in Disaster Security, and 18th in Food Security. Low crime, low unemployment, reasonable gun laws, and an overall good showing in most categories drove Maine to second place. One place where Maine fell behind was in farmland productivity. The cold Maine winters and poor soil aren’t very productive, pushing down Maine’s food security score.
The Best Survival State: Idaho
The Gem State scored 3rd overall in Personal Security, 3rd overall in Disaster Security and 6th overall in Food Security. Idaho tops the nation in homeownership, and has low crime, low population density, reasonable farmland prices with halfway decent yields, and has better than or equal to average scores in all other categories.
If you’re already living in Idaho, good, you’ve chosen a great place to raise your family. If you’re not in Idaho, you don’t need move there to do a great job preparing yourself for future uncertainty. But you should attempt to evaluate all the aspects of your home region in order to protect your own life, property and prosperity.