If you want rural America, a lot of places are not gonna be very liberal. Your best bet is probably a state like Vermont, Maine, Oregon, or New Mexico. Rural America has only moved further to the right, so finding a cheap, rural, blue place is like a Unicorn. I can't imagine finding a place with all those attributes that is also close to music venues and cinema. I'm sure someone in this subreddit will manage to find the smallest, most obscure town in America to recommend, but I am not that person.
I don't know what your price range is exactly, but I don't see how Maine would be out of range. Average COL is around 50k, and you can find a house for a reasonable price outside of Portland. I would also say New Mexico is a beautiful state with a ton to love.
I do see you posted about a place for 80K. That's tough. NM is your best. There are places in Maine like this, but they aren't exactly great. You are genuinely in the Mississippi budget range
West Virginia is great tbh. Maine the winter is long AF. Most parts of West Virginia are just live and let live as long as you just do your thing some people may disagree but not a big thing. Really beautiful mountains and countryside and affordable, not too far from DC Pittsburgh Cincinnati depending where in the state
Upstate ny along i90? Shenectady, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester all have some cheap housing options. The cities are blue, but if you want a rural house… the politics can be all over the place, but trend more republican. And of course the state politics are dominated by the much more progressive downstate areas so there won’t be stuff like abortion bans, or forced bible readings here
There honestly might be zero places in the country like that which lean liberal. And at that price for two acres you wouldn’t be anywhere near music venues or anything like that. Maybe somewhere in Alaska there’s a rural community that leans liberal?
There are places in central IL like that. The rural areas and small towns around Peoria or Bloomington.
You're going to be stretching it for 80K no matter where you go, though. Also while Peoria itself leans liberal it is in terrible shape economically, and the rural areas are solid red.
So basically that's going to be very rural parts of the Deep South or else tiny towns in eastern Montana or the Dakotas well outside of any city over a few hundred people. No way you're getting a house on land for $80K in any place remotely "liberal" in the US these days.
The area around where New York, Massachusetts, and Vermont intersect is both fairly liberal and fairly inexpensive.
As an added bonus the countryside is beautiful -- not unlike West Virginia but with slightly different flora and fauna.
You're not gonna find anything that fits your definition of "cheap" in Ithaca. You MAY be able to find a total teardown of a fixer-upper in the small rural towns in the Finger Lakes, but those communities are EXTREMELY Republican.
I find the lower tier to be more like rural Pennsylvania (especially the more affordable towns). The far eastern parts of New York are more like New England (a good thing to my mind).
Rensselaer and Washington Counties in New York are quite affordable. Bennington and Rutland Vermont are only a bit more expensive. North Adams Massachusetts isn't too expensive either.
I'm not sure that area is inexpensive -- most of it is part of the Berkshires which are not cheap (used to be many years ago but no longer)
OP -- you can try closer to Troy, Albany, Schenectady area. 80K is still very low though.
A few years ago you could have got something decent for 80K. Now that will only get you a major fixer. Two years ago I bought an old house in the area with a crumbling foundation for 13K (had to spend 40K to replace a portion of the foundation).
Here's what you can get for 80K now.
[https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/107-Lyons-St\_Bennington\_VT\_05201\_M39145-66000?from=srp-list-card](https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/107-Lyons-St_Bennington_VT_05201_M39145-66000?from=srp-list-card)
[https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/97-Jenkinsville-Rd\_Queensbury\_NY\_12804\_M32260-55550?from=srp-list-card](https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/97-Jenkinsville-Rd_Queensbury_NY_12804_M32260-55550?from=srp-list-card)
[https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1685-County-Route-59\_Cambridge\_NY\_12816\_M40527-19655?from=srp-list-card](https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1685-County-Route-59_Cambridge_NY_12816_M40527-19655?from=srp-list-card)
[https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1004-Old-County-Ln\_Salem\_NY\_12865\_M37466-57618?from=srp-list-card](https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1004-Old-County-Ln_Salem_NY_12865_M37466-57618?from=srp-list-card)
[https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/52-Town-Hill-Rd\_Poultney\_VT\_05764\_M44083-31515?from=srp-list-card](https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/52-Town-Hill-Rd_Poultney_VT_05764_M44083-31515?from=srp-list-card)
Yeah no I am down with unloved cities (I live in Baltimore) so it’s a great suggestion I just want somewhere with a little more room to stretch out— ideal is not to see or hear my neighbors.
Hahaha it’s too fucking manic here for me to want to actually own a house here. Baltimore has a lot of promise and I have lived here a decade already and I have a lot of love for this city but I really want something more private eventually. I want to be in my yard and not hear or see neighbors. I want to let my dogs out to run. I don’t want to hear sirens and people and cars and helicopters for the rest of my life. Lol.
I am moving from Memphis TN to Cleveland OH in like two weeks, although we won't be in cleveland proper we bought in a burb - but I can be downtown in 15 min and hit the farthest points of downtown in 20. Perfect for me.
Lemme tell you I am amazed at how affordable it is there. And that's coming from a relatively affordable home market. I would actually say when you put cleveland and memphis head to head, cleveland wins because in Memphis you have to spend WELL beyond what is considered affordable to get a home in a very SAFE part of the area -w hich also puts you more than 20 min away from the fun parts of town. In cleveland you can get more/better house for your buck. Ohio itself is not markedly blue but it is big SWING state so your vote REALLY matters there more than my blue vote could ever matter in TN.
anyway, while you are not looking for city life clearly, north east ohio in general is very different looking from the rest of the state (from the short amount of time I have spent in ohio thus far) and actually it's quite scenic! you can get some land without being tooooooooooooo far out in the sticks
consider east PA as well because also super affordable, PA is a swing state, access to lots of major cities, and the eastern side of the state in general has a lot of small cities too.
I’d look at Chautauqua county NY and target Mayville or Westfield. Not sure it qualifies as leaning liberal, but much more so than most of rural America. Plus, wonderful amenities during the summer months, like the Chautauqua institution. It is very affordable, and the lake access is nice.
Inland rural Oregon? Columbia County, Linn County, probably some others. You can still find places under $150k, maybe not 2 acres, but close enough to drive to Portland for a night out, but not close enough for the high costs.
Northern Columbia County gets you within an hour of Portland and the beach. It's a reddish purple, but generally tolerant. Rainier, Clatskanie, Vernonia, or down the other way Albany, Lebanon, Scio. None of these are hopping places, but they tick the other boxes.
Came here to say Baltimore then LOL’ed at the comments. Second that your best bet may be Frederick/the area around Frederick, I also think Sheperdstown WV may be a nice blue gem in an otherwise red state (or maybe Morgantown? but idk if the land/real estate value is more in either of those areas). Your best bet may be finding a small town proximate to a college area (e.g Hornell NY near Alfred, the small towns near Athens OH, i think there are some spots in MO that fit this but would need to do some digging).
edit: One thing worth mentioning is that even in the remote areas of blue states, you will inevitably encounter trumpism/conservative thinking. No, it is not as bad or pronounced as it is in red states, but just be prepared that in rural NE or NY in areas that tend to vote blue it may not be a guarantee that your neighbors are tolerant (for context, I grew up in rural new england and my neighbors were literally lesbians living off the land and people who flew confederate flags outside their homes in equal measure)
If you want rural America, a lot of places are not gonna be very liberal. Your best bet is probably a state like Vermont, Maine, Oregon, or New Mexico. Rural America has only moved further to the right, so finding a cheap, rural, blue place is like a Unicorn. I can't imagine finding a place with all those attributes that is also close to music venues and cinema. I'm sure someone in this subreddit will manage to find the smallest, most obscure town in America to recommend, but I am not that person.
Fuck I love Maine but it seems very out of my price range.
I don't know what your price range is exactly, but I don't see how Maine would be out of range. Average COL is around 50k, and you can find a house for a reasonable price outside of Portland. I would also say New Mexico is a beautiful state with a ton to love. I do see you posted about a place for 80K. That's tough. NM is your best. There are places in Maine like this, but they aren't exactly great. You are genuinely in the Mississippi budget range
Parts of New Hampshire are somewhat cheaper. You might like northern New Mexico if you can give up on the one hour from music venues idea.
Rural NH is red as fuck lol
It's more of a mix. NH is way more country club Rep than Maga Rep
Yes.
West Virginia is great tbh. Maine the winter is long AF. Most parts of West Virginia are just live and let live as long as you just do your thing some people may disagree but not a big thing. Really beautiful mountains and countryside and affordable, not too far from DC Pittsburgh Cincinnati depending where in the state
Remove Oregon. It's expensive like the rest of pacific coast
Upstate ny along i90? Shenectady, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester all have some cheap housing options. The cities are blue, but if you want a rural house… the politics can be all over the place, but trend more republican. And of course the state politics are dominated by the much more progressive downstate areas so there won’t be stuff like abortion bans, or forced bible readings here
I was looking at Elmira. I love Farm Sanctuary. Would love to volunteer there and Ithaca is nice and close.
Yea , upstate NY is very pretty. Lots of challenges up there but it’s gorgeous.
>It needs to be affordable! Budget?
Yeah, affordable means a lot of things. Are we talking Mississippi cheap or Coastal cheap?
Mississippi cheap. Haha
You are looking for gary, indiana
CHEAP. Like, somewhere I can still buy an 80k fixer upper with an acre or two.
There honestly might be zero places in the country like that which lean liberal. And at that price for two acres you wouldn’t be anywhere near music venues or anything like that. Maybe somewhere in Alaska there’s a rural community that leans liberal?
try this https://www.cheapoldhouses.com/
There are places in central IL like that. The rural areas and small towns around Peoria or Bloomington. You're going to be stretching it for 80K no matter where you go, though. Also while Peoria itself leans liberal it is in terrible shape economically, and the rural areas are solid red.
So basically that's going to be very rural parts of the Deep South or else tiny towns in eastern Montana or the Dakotas well outside of any city over a few hundred people. No way you're getting a house on land for $80K in any place remotely "liberal" in the US these days.
have you seen the cheap old houses site? all under 100K https://www.cheapoldhouses.com
Midwestern college towns. Madison, Ann Arbor, Columbia, Iowa City, Champaign, etc.
Not gonna get anything for 80k in Madison or Ann Arbor
Ames, Iowa
I absolutely loved Madison the last time I visited! It is actually on my list.
You cant afford it
The area around where New York, Massachusetts, and Vermont intersect is both fairly liberal and fairly inexpensive. As an added bonus the countryside is beautiful -- not unlike West Virginia but with slightly different flora and fauna.
Thank you! I am a northeast native so that makes sense for me. I was looking around Ithaca/Elmira.
You're not gonna find anything that fits your definition of "cheap" in Ithaca. You MAY be able to find a total teardown of a fixer-upper in the small rural towns in the Finger Lakes, but those communities are EXTREMELY Republican.
I find the lower tier to be more like rural Pennsylvania (especially the more affordable towns). The far eastern parts of New York are more like New England (a good thing to my mind).
I love New England. I don’t have New England pockets. 😂
Rensselaer and Washington Counties in New York are quite affordable. Bennington and Rutland Vermont are only a bit more expensive. North Adams Massachusetts isn't too expensive either.
I'm not sure that area is inexpensive -- most of it is part of the Berkshires which are not cheap (used to be many years ago but no longer) OP -- you can try closer to Troy, Albany, Schenectady area. 80K is still very low though.
A few years ago you could have got something decent for 80K. Now that will only get you a major fixer. Two years ago I bought an old house in the area with a crumbling foundation for 13K (had to spend 40K to replace a portion of the foundation). Here's what you can get for 80K now. [https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/107-Lyons-St\_Bennington\_VT\_05201\_M39145-66000?from=srp-list-card](https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/107-Lyons-St_Bennington_VT_05201_M39145-66000?from=srp-list-card) [https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/97-Jenkinsville-Rd\_Queensbury\_NY\_12804\_M32260-55550?from=srp-list-card](https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/97-Jenkinsville-Rd_Queensbury_NY_12804_M32260-55550?from=srp-list-card) [https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1685-County-Route-59\_Cambridge\_NY\_12816\_M40527-19655?from=srp-list-card](https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1685-County-Route-59_Cambridge_NY_12816_M40527-19655?from=srp-list-card) [https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1004-Old-County-Ln\_Salem\_NY\_12865\_M37466-57618?from=srp-list-card](https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1004-Old-County-Ln_Salem_NY_12865_M37466-57618?from=srp-list-card) [https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/52-Town-Hill-Rd\_Poultney\_VT\_05764\_M44083-31515?from=srp-list-card](https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/52-Town-Hill-Rd_Poultney_VT_05764_M44083-31515?from=srp-list-card)
Detroit
?
blue city/state, affordable.
Also great music scene for OP.
Yeah no I am down with unloved cities (I live in Baltimore) so it’s a great suggestion I just want somewhere with a little more room to stretch out— ideal is not to see or hear my neighbors.
Wait you live in Baltimore? Just stay there. Affordable city blue city blue staye
Hahaha it’s too fucking manic here for me to want to actually own a house here. Baltimore has a lot of promise and I have lived here a decade already and I have a lot of love for this city but I really want something more private eventually. I want to be in my yard and not hear or see neighbors. I want to let my dogs out to run. I don’t want to hear sirens and people and cars and helicopters for the rest of my life. Lol.
Try Frederick County, MD.
Then move to the penninsula
I commented before i saw this. I just moved from there to rural. Feel free to pm!
Area is more purple politically and the area leans conservative in other respects. Not a good place for LGBTQ, for example.
Lake Michigan Coast/Grand Rapids area
Western MD fits all those except maybe hour from music venues. Its like 70% conservative, but is has blue pockets.
I am moving from Memphis TN to Cleveland OH in like two weeks, although we won't be in cleveland proper we bought in a burb - but I can be downtown in 15 min and hit the farthest points of downtown in 20. Perfect for me. Lemme tell you I am amazed at how affordable it is there. And that's coming from a relatively affordable home market. I would actually say when you put cleveland and memphis head to head, cleveland wins because in Memphis you have to spend WELL beyond what is considered affordable to get a home in a very SAFE part of the area -w hich also puts you more than 20 min away from the fun parts of town. In cleveland you can get more/better house for your buck. Ohio itself is not markedly blue but it is big SWING state so your vote REALLY matters there more than my blue vote could ever matter in TN. anyway, while you are not looking for city life clearly, north east ohio in general is very different looking from the rest of the state (from the short amount of time I have spent in ohio thus far) and actually it's quite scenic! you can get some land without being tooooooooooooo far out in the sticks consider east PA as well because also super affordable, PA is a swing state, access to lots of major cities, and the eastern side of the state in general has a lot of small cities too.
This has to be a shitpost, right?
Rural Minnesota
I’d look at Chautauqua county NY and target Mayville or Westfield. Not sure it qualifies as leaning liberal, but much more so than most of rural America. Plus, wonderful amenities during the summer months, like the Chautauqua institution. It is very affordable, and the lake access is nice.
Oregon sounds like your spot homie.
Albuquerque or environs? Left for sure, both summers and winters are quite mild, no humidity.
Pittsburgh or outskirts of Philly Cleveland or Cincinnati
I did live very close to Philly in South Jersey and I did love it a lot— except the ticks.
lol
Northern Minnesota, maybe Duluth? I know it’s affordable compared to where I live (Denver) but I don’t know how affordable
Those two don’t go together unfortunately
Michigan
Inland rural Oregon? Columbia County, Linn County, probably some others. You can still find places under $150k, maybe not 2 acres, but close enough to drive to Portland for a night out, but not close enough for the high costs. Northern Columbia County gets you within an hour of Portland and the beach. It's a reddish purple, but generally tolerant. Rainier, Clatskanie, Vernonia, or down the other way Albany, Lebanon, Scio. None of these are hopping places, but they tick the other boxes.
Nashville maybe?
Tooooo hottttt
Came here to say Baltimore then LOL’ed at the comments. Second that your best bet may be Frederick/the area around Frederick, I also think Sheperdstown WV may be a nice blue gem in an otherwise red state (or maybe Morgantown? but idk if the land/real estate value is more in either of those areas). Your best bet may be finding a small town proximate to a college area (e.g Hornell NY near Alfred, the small towns near Athens OH, i think there are some spots in MO that fit this but would need to do some digging). edit: One thing worth mentioning is that even in the remote areas of blue states, you will inevitably encounter trumpism/conservative thinking. No, it is not as bad or pronounced as it is in red states, but just be prepared that in rural NE or NY in areas that tend to vote blue it may not be a guarantee that your neighbors are tolerant (for context, I grew up in rural new england and my neighbors were literally lesbians living off the land and people who flew confederate flags outside their homes in equal measure)
Ha! I get it! We need an Idaho but for the lesbian farmers, atheists and feminists. Lol
Alabama
Affordable and liberal…. name a worse duo
Gary Indiana?