Tiny Living Capitals of America: Off-Grid, Tiny Living, & Homesteading

Instagram is helpful when discovering the tiny living capitals of America. Tiny living can consist of many different types of lifestyles such as off-grid and homesteading. Living off-grid is popular amongst those in tiny houses on wheels since you’re moving around frequently. Homesteading is rising in popularity no matter what size your house is since it helps reduce cost of food.

To us here at Tiny House Community, we believe tiny living is a mindset of sustainability and intentional living. Reducing our living footprint and reusing the world we live in is important when it comes to the tiny house movement. Whether you’re in a tiny house, living off-grid, or learning to homestead, tiny living can provide a wealth that is uncommon in today’s society.

Diving deeper into tiny living, the folks at NeoMam and HomeAdvisor collected anonymous data from Instagram tags with locations and generated some amazing results. Let’s find out what they learned.

Here are the three tags they followed:

#tinyliving

#offgridliving

#homesteading

Within each of these tags, they collected the number of likes, comments, the location, and a few more details. The team didn’t include posts without a location and kept it within the United States. Then they standardized the city and state data. From there, the data was ranked based on the number of photos from each hashtag. This gave us the top locations.

(Click here if you’re interested in looking at the full research behind this project.)

The best thing is the interactive map they created with that data. Feel free to explore America below.

Next up we’ll take a look at the top 10 states in each hashtag.

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Top 10 States for #tinyliving From Instagram

For our first list, we’ll take a look at the tiny living capitals of America. These states ranked the highest with the most pictures

It’s no surprise that many of these states are in the top 10. States such as California and Florida are the hottest places to live in a tiny house today. Colorado has many zoning laws allowing tiny houses. Texas has a few popular tiny house communities around. Even North Carolina is ever-growing in tiny popularity.

Here are the top 10 states with the most #tinyliving tagged photos.

1. California
2. Florida
3. Colorado
4. Texas
5. Oregon
6. Washington
7. Arizona
8. North Carolina
9. New York
10. Utah

BONUS: Top 10 Cities for #tinyliving

While some of these cities I expected to see in the top 10, others caught my eye, such as New York, NY. That’s when I remembered that #tinyliving doesn’t necessarily mean a traditional tiny house. As far as I’m aware, the city of New York doesn’t allow tiny houses specifically, but there are many places to live which are considered tiny spaces (less than 600 square feet).

Here are the top 10 cities that had the most photos tagged with #tinyliving.

1. Portland, OR
2. Austin, TX
3. Sarasota, FL
4. Los Angeles, CA
5. San Diego, CA
6. Denver, CO
7. New York, NY
8. Seattle, WA
9. Orlando, FL
10. Colorado Springs, CO

Top 10 States for #offgridliving

Many of these states make sense for off-grid living. Places like Hawai’i and Alaska would be top choices for off-grid only due to the nature of the location. Some states are mainly underdeveloped and have land available without city hookups, such as Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. For those, off-grid may be the only option without spending a fortune to get city hookups installed.

Florida doesn’t strike me as a great place to live off-grid. I lived there for 15 years and I wouldn’t want to be in an undeveloped area when the hurricanes hit. However, if it’s in a developed area and simply not hooked up to city utilities, I would do it hands down. (If you’ve never been to Florida, most of the undeveloped land is prone to flooding or swampland.) This list definitely proves me wrong for off-grid Florida living.

Here are the top #offgridliving tagged photos:

1. California
2. Colorado
3. Arizona
4. Oregon
5. Hawai’i
6. Florida
7. Alaska
8. Utah
9. New Mexico
10. New York

BONUS: Top 10 Cities for #offgridliving

The cities have three underdog states that aren’t listed in any of the top ten: Alabama, Idaho, and Maine. These cities have quite a few tagged photos for off-grid living. Are you learning about the US off-grid living as much as I am?

1. Kimberly, AL
2. Page, AZ
3. Bend, OR
4. Portland, OR
5. North Salt Lake, UT
6. Ash Fork, AZ
7. Twin Falls, ID
8. Taos, NM
9. Pahoa, HI
10. Mars Hill, NC (Tied with North Waterford, ME)

Top 10 States for #homesteading

Homesteading is ever-increasing in popularity as the price of living continues to climb. Homesteading can be small or large, from urban homesteading to a full-fledged farmland homesteading.

If you’ve always wanted to lead a self-sustainable lifestyle, homesteading is a great place to start. Even growing a few vegetables for your family on the back porch is useful. The best part about homesteading is you don’t need to live in a tiny house.

Here are the top tagged states with #homesteading photos:

1. California
2. Texas
3. Washington
4. North Carolina
5. Tennessee
6. New York
7. Pennsylvania
8. Georgia
9. Virginia
10. Colorado

BONUS: Top 10 Cities for #homesteading

Although homesteading appears to be the most popular along the East coast within the states. The top slot for homesteading cities is far from that in Livermore, Colorado.

1. Livermore, CO
2. Asheville, NC
3. Peacham, VT
4. Dallas, GA
5. Carer County, TN
6. Saylorsburg, PA
7. Powell Butte, OR
8. Liberty, MA
9. Longmont, CO
10. Dickinson, NC (tied with Saratoga Springs, NY)

Who Are the True Tiny Living Capitals of America?

There are several states that steal a space in all three hashtags. Although some may not be surprised, it’s great to see the data in action. Here are the true tiny living capitals of America:

1. California takes the #1 space in all three hashtags. This makes the most sense, seeing as big names such as Jay Shafer live in California. While many populated areas still don’t allow tiny houses, there are quite a few places that are warming up to the idea of #tinyliving.
2. Colorado takes the second position as another tiny living capital. The state ranks 3rd for tiny living, 2nd for off-grid living, and 10th for homesteading. Colorado has continued to grow with its new zoning laws that allow tiny houses in Park County. I bet homesteading will continue to gain popularity in this state as more people move in with their tiny houses.
3. New York ranked higher than I would have imagined. This was the most surprising state to see, as I don’t usually hear a lot about tiny houses in this state. Could New York be an underdog when it comes to the tiny house movement?

Shoutouts to states that hit two out of the three hashtags. I’d still consider them a tiny living capital of America:

1. Florida wasn’t popular for homesteading but hits the #2 spot for tiny living and 6th for off-grid living. I can understand why homesteading probably isn’t as popular as you may think. Most of the tiny houses live in the bustling areas of Orlando and Sarasota, according to the top cities listed in the full research data.
2. North Carolina is growing in popularity, especially around Asheville and the mountains surrounding. This state grabbed the 8th position for tiny living and the 4th position for homesteading.
3. Oregon surprised me. In all the research I’ve done for tiny houses, I don’t see this state appear very frequently.
4. Arizona is a great place for living off-grid with all the sunshine. This desert state made its way into the 7th position for tiny living and 3rd for off-grid living.
5. Texas is still fairly popular with tiny house communities. There are many that continue to pop up as the movement grows more.
6. Washington falls along with Oregon in level of surprise. Washington is 3rd in homesteading and tiny living.
7. Utah grabbed some love from tiny living and off-grid living. Similar to Colorado, Utah is becoming more tiny-friendly.

Underdog states that are growing in popularity.

1. Alaska was only listed in the top 10 for off-grid living. However, there are still many tiny houses that live there. Check out the interactive map to explore this area.
2. Hawai’i is another off-grid only state. Even though it didn’t make it into the top 10 for anything else, tiny houses are growing in popularity there now.
3. Tennessee was 5th for homesteading. For me, it was no surprise seeing as Tennessee and Kentucky are popular for horses and farm. It has such beautiful countryside, who wouldn’t want to homestead there?
4. New Mexico only grabbed a slot for off-grid living, in 9th place. While it doesn’t appear popular with tiny living and homesteading, perhaps it’s growing!
5. Pennsylvania found it’s way to the 7th position for homesteading.

How do you feel about these tiny living capitals of America? Are there any states you were surprised by?

Sources

For the full research behind this project, including the sources visit https://bit.ly/OffGridCapitals.

About HomeAdvisor

HomeAdvisor provides homeowners the tools and resources they need to complete their home improvement,
maintenance and repair projects. With HomeAdvisor, homeowners can view average project costs, find local
prescreened home professionals and instantly book appointments online. In 2017, HomeAdvisor merged with
Angie’s List to help form ANGI Homeservices Inc.

About NeoMam Studios

NeoMam Studios is a creative studio on a mission to create digital content that online audiences will want to
share. They also helped produce the famous Disney tiny house designs.

Original Source: HomeAdvisor