South Carolina

The large cities in South Carolina include Charleston on the coast, Columbia in the center, and Greenville in the northwest. All three have metro areas in the 800,000 to 900,000 range. Charleston is a truly lovely city, but given its location in the high-risk flood and hurricane zone, best not added to. The foodshed mapping of Kurtz et al. (2020) suggested that Greenville might require quite a large foodshed even with a low-meat diet. Columbia is more easily provisioned but its metro area, which sprawls over six counties, is likely to be larger than you want.

South Carolina does not seem to be the most promising state for conservative migrants to consider, unless you want to move to one of the big cities, which I don’t recommend. Smaller cities frequently appear to have chronic economic issues or shockingly high crime rates that are suggestive of such issues. A few of the most promising that are located away from the coast or the metros are the following:

 

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Wisconsin

Day and Hall (2016) think the southeastern quadrant of this state, extending along the western shore of Lake Michigan up to Green Bay, is all unsustainable because of its urbanization. I strongly disagree, with the caveat that living in the overly large, politically targeted city of Milwaukee should be avoided. Green Bay, for example, is evaluated by Kurtz et al. (2020) as being easily fed from nearby farmland if a less meat-heavy diet were adopted. It has little over 100,000 people, with low unemployment, crime, and cost of living; it has a port on Lake Michigan’s Green Bay but is largely well above sea level, though some areas have flood risks. This is a place that could be ideally situated for sustainable urban life.

 

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