Homesteading

What Your Zoning Code Says About Off-Grid Living

3,143 U.S. counties each write their own zoning code. Here's what to look for before you buy off-grid living land.

What Makes Land Good for Growing Food?

USDA has mapped soil quality for 95%+ of US counties. Here's what actually makes land good for growing food, and how to check before you buy.

How to Start Homesteading With No Experience

Nearly a third of US farmers have 10 years of experience or less. Here's how to start homesteading with no experience: what to learn, buy, and skip first.

Arkansas Ranks #1 for Off-Grid Living. The Data Surprised Us Too.

Arkansas ranks #1 for off-grid living in 2026 according to GoOffGrid.tools research scoring 1,167 county data points. Perfect scores on water and food production. Here's what the data shows.

Five Things Homesteaders Wish They Had Checked Before Buying Their Land

Five due diligence mistakes homestead buyers make before buying rural land, and how to catch all of them from public records before you visit.

What Would GoOffGrid.tools Have Told Pa Ingalls Before He Staked His Claim?

We scored the Little House on the Prairie homestead. Charles Ingalls got a 90 out of 100. Pa chose good land. He just bet on the wrong owner.

What 19th-Century Homesteaders Got Wrong About Land and What Modern Buyers Still Miss

Little House on the Prairie is back. Here's what the Ingalls family really faced on the Kansas prairie, and what modern land buyers still get wrong.

How Many People Live Off-Grid in the US?

No agency counts off-grid Americans. The most-cited estimates (~250,000 people, ~180,000 families) are old and unsourced. Here's what we can actually measure.

How to Evaluate Rural Land for a Homestead: A Beginner's Guide to What Actually Matters

How to evaluate rural land for a homestead: the water, soil, growing season, access, and zoning checks that decide whether a parcel can feed and house you.

What to Look for When Buying Rural Land for Off-Grid Living or Homesteading

What to look for when buying rural land for off-grid living: water rights, zoning, solar, hazard exposure, soil, and buildability. All checkable before you visit.

I Grew Up Living Off the Land. That's Why I Built GoOffGrid.

I grew up off-grid on Kauaʻi, growing our food and reading the ocean. Here's why I built GoOffGrid to help others find land that can support that life.

By Tyler Robinson