How we score
Every score except mesh is a percentile among the counties of the same state: 10 is the best in that state, 0 the worst. North Carolina is the first state, so for now that means its 100 counties. It says how a county compares, not whether it is good in absolute terms.
Land cost
Farmland value per acre (counted twice) and median home value, cheaper is better.
Rain
Rain from April to September, averaged over 1991–2020.
Sun
Average daily solar energy at the county centre.
Growing
Frost-free days at the nearest weather station, plus the share of prime farmland soils.
Rules
The county rules we confirmed for RV living, tiny homes, chickens, goats, bees and composting toilets. Allowed or no zoning = 1, with conditions = 0.6, not addressed = 0.5, restricted = 0. Rules we could not confirm are left out, not guessed. If a county has none confirmed, this score is blank and drops out of the overall.
Clean
Active Superfund sites (counted three times) plus Toxics Release Inventory facilities, per square mile. Fewer is better.
Hazards
FEMA's National Risk Index score and the number of federal disaster declarations in 10 years. Lower is better.
Farm country
Farms per square mile and the number of goats kept in the county.
Mesh
The share of the county within 10 km of an active MeshCore repeater, divided by 10. This one is not compared with other counties.
The overall score
The weighted average of the scores a county has. On each state's page you set the weights, starting with North Carolina. The default weights every factor equally.
Sources
- US Census TIGERweb county boundaries retrieved 2026-11-13
- Census ACS 5-year 2019–2023, tables B25077 (median home value), B25064 (median gross rent), B01003 (population) retrieved 2026-11-13
- USDA NASS Census of Agriculture 2022 (Quick Stats bulk file) retrieved 2026-11-13
- NOAA NCEI nClimDiv county series, averaged 1991–2020 retrieved 2026-11-13
- NOAA 1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals, annual/seasonal, nearest station with freeze data retrieved 2026-11-13
- USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 by ZIP (phzmapi.org), weighted by ZIP land area in the county retrieved 2026-11-13
- USDA NRCS Soil Data Access, map unit farmland class by soil survey area retrieved 2026-11-13
- NASA POWER climatology, all-sky surface solar (kWh/m²/day) at the county centre retrieved 2026-11-13
- FEMA National Risk Index, county table retrieved 2026-11-13
- OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 retrieved 2026-11-13
- EPA Superfund National Priorities List sites retrieved 2026-11-13
- EPA Facility Registry Service, Toxics Release Inventory facilities retrieved 2026-11-13
- DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center, open public EV charging stations retrieved 2026-11-13
- MeshCore public map (map.meshcore.io) node adverts; active = heard by the map server in the last 30 days (updated_date) retrieved 2026-11-13
County rules come from each county's own ordinance, linked on its page with the date we read it. State rules link to the statute or agency page.