A few things to say before the topic.

Just wanted to tell all sorry have not been around in awhile lots of things have been going on in this neck of the woods lost my mother august 7 in kissimee florida. Going through lawsuit with siemens corporation over a lemon transformer that exploded taking her life. you can google it and see the footage its a big d@mn mess. Anyway first time I could get on the net in awhile so thought I would contribute to the only site you need to come to for all your prepping needs.So here you go! AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!!!!!!

Choosing a retreat location

A diverse local economy is of great importance when evaluating potential retreat locales. Unless you are retired or about to retire, the opportunity to find steady work pre-TEOTWAWKI is also very important. Depending on the scenario you envision, you should probably look for a town with:
A robust, growing economy
A good mix of jobs in dry land farming, ranching, mining, industry, high technology, and service sector jobs
City and county governments that are pro-business
A “Farmer’s Market” on summer evenings and/or weekends (evidence of sufficient small scale truck farming)
A good mix of established local businesses such as a grocery store, sewing shop, car parts store, hardware store, and so forth.
A high rate of church attendance. Even if you aren't religious personally, a high ratio of church attendance equates to a high ratio of law-abiding citizens.
And a town without:

A single industry economy
Predominantly government payroll jobs
A predominantly retired population
A large seasonal tourist population
A large seasonal student population
Lots of bars
Tattoo/piercing parlors
Welfare dependency
Nearby prisons
Nearby military bases

Do your homework in detail before you buy!

Attitude Adjustment--Yours! (SA: Survival Mindset)
Just as important as finding a town that fits your needs is re-making you to fit your new town. For someone accustomed to the Big City pace of life, this can be a major adjustment.
Get to know the local way of doing things in your new town. Get accustomed to the pace of life. Don’t expect to get a lot done during deer season. (Nearly every building contractor, plumber, and electrician will be out in the woods, with tags to fill!) Dress like the natives. Don’t be ostentatious. Don’t whine about the lack of “good shopping” or culture. Learn how to pronounce the local names quickly. Don’t stand out. Join the local church.

Don’t just talk about preparedness. If you have concerns about the future --do something about it: Plant a vegetable garden, get weapons training at Front Sight, learn how to can your own vegetables, change your own motor oil, learn how to knit and darn, take up hiking, help a friend (or a local church) with a building or remodeling project, et cetera.

The difference between a genuine survivalist and an armchair commando (a.k.a. “Tommy Tactical”) is that a genuine survivalist collects useful skills whereas an Armchair Commando collects gadgets that he doesn’t know how to use.

Rethink your budget and your priorities in life. Here are some examples:

Cut out unnecessary travel.
Sell your jet ski and buy a canoe. Sell your television(s) and buy a general coverage short wave receiver.
Sell your fancy engraved guns, and commemorative guns, and customized “race” guns. Replace them with practical guns in non-reflective durable finishes.
Make sure to buy guns from a private party with no paper trail. Sell off your guns that are chambered in oddball calibers such as 16 gauge, 28 gauge, .280 Remington, .240 Weatherby Magnum, .35 Whelen, .25-20, and .41 Magnum. Replace them with guns in the most common standard calibers like: .30-06. .308, .223, .45 ACP, .40 S&W, 12 gauge, and .22 Long Rifle. (In Canada and Oz, that list should also include the venerable .303 British rifle cartridge. )
Sell your Beanie Baby (or whatever) collection on eBay and use that money to buy storage food.
Sell your Rolex and buy a half dozen inexpensive used self-winding watches. (These will come in handy for coordinating tactical rendezvous and guard shift changes.)
Sell your fancy late models cars and replace them with 5 to 10 year old low mileage American-made 4WDs with good ground clearance. When you move to the country you don’t want to stick out or be the focus of envy, so it is better to have older and dinged up vehicles than to have ones that look nearly new.
Get out of debt.
Live frugally.
Dress down.
Prepare for the worst case Schumeresque situation. Thus, you will always be ready for less severe circumstances and you can take them in stride. Such preparations will take a lot of money, but ask yourself:: What is your life and the lives of your loved ones worth to you? If being truly prepared requires moving to a small town in a lightly populated region, then so be it!

Excellent post! I'm fortunate enough that I was pretty much raised to live this way, but for those who are learning...it's not as hard as you think. The biggest town within a 30 minute drive is about 5k population, and I very seldom have to leave to find what I need.

Anyhow, if you plan to have a BOL in a small town, you should plan to spend enough time there to become a member of the community. Lots of small towns are very slow to accept newcomers, I live in one of them. It took about 2 years for my neighbors to warm up to me, and I only moved from about 20 miles away. Be kind, don't judge based on things like appearance, lifestyle and accent, and people will warm up a lot faster. If you have something you can offer your neighbor, share it with him/her. Something as simple as an offer to get excess fruit from your trees can be the beginning of a lifelong, potentially life saving friendship.

I'm not trying to jack this thread, but I've spent 90% of my adult life in the backwoods where everyone knows everyone, and thought I might help someone who plans to bug out there.

To add a few things, since we did this 4 years ago....all of what is mentioned above is good advice!
1) work IS important! We spent a lot of time driving to make sure the drive to work was acceptable, the road was workable (although this only works if you can try it in all seasons) We elected to stay with the same job and just move location to somewhere more private and remote, so we set a radius of time and miles.
2)land quality is important. If you can't farm it even minimally, it's pretty much worthless as a survival spot to restart or continue life. You can tell what the soil is easy enough by checking out what is growing on it. Also by asking if you can take a soil sample when you are looking at it. We wanted enough forested area to be able to cut and have fire wood for life (if properly managed)
3)check local zoning laws and how well the town polices you. We wanted to not have a HOA feel withthe town coming out and making a complaint over everything...we wanted to be left alone. In our state, they have "right to farm" communities, where there is little restrictions to having chickens, or anything. We felt that was important. We also wanted to be able to burn brush and some of our trash (in a barrel) as the dump is a ways away. Shooting without hassles on our own land was also important.
4) Find a local mentor. Husband had a close co worker who's father in law lives in town and we were able to find out a lot more details than we normally would.

I have it all set up here in the BIG city right now. If it would ever come to a point that would force me to make a relocation, I would have to just stand my ground!

I WILL DROP AT LEAST 10 of them for every one of me!

CHEERS!!!

BRING IT ON!!!!!!

I left my home town area for about 10 years for work, when I came back this year, everyone that I knew was kind of standoffish, but I found a way to get back into their good graces, I would pick a half a bag of Alabama Red Peas ( I grow a lot and no one here had heard of them) and give them to my close and not so close neighbors, now any time I have a problem or need help, I know of at least 4 or 5 of these people I gave fresh peas to would be here to help. Also it don't hurt you're standing at all by helping out with local projects that churches or local government has going on at the time.
Sweat equity carrys a lot of weight with the old timers and not so old neighbors.

Yes country folk can be tandoffish but when you finally get them warmed up they will do damn near anyhting for you. I was born in and returned to the same small Alabama town years later and finally after motnhs and months am friends with AlOT of neighbors.

Your list is good except for the advice of not moving near a military base.
In situations where lawlessness breaks out being near a military base gives you a reasonable level of security and a ready market for your produce. My BOL is within 15 miles of the back gate of an Army base and I am planning on them being one of my best customers...

Great advice. When I'm out of Uncle Sam's hold I'll have to refer back to this to find somewhere to live.