All 19 layers.

Every county in the lower 48 scored 0–100 against a homesteading rubric weighted toward water, timber and access. 2,192 disqualified, 917 ranked.

The one layer that ranks instead of excluding. The top 150 counties are individually clickable — each balloon carries its rank, five sub-scores (water, land, access, risk, value) and the raw numbers behind them: forest %, precipitation, growing season, snowfall, wildfire %, radon zone, density, home value, water doctrine.

Source: NLCD 2021, NOAA 1991–2020 Normals, USFS WHP 2023, EPA, US Census, Zillow ZHVI

Population change for every lower-48 county, 2020–2024, split into natural change (births minus deaths) and net migration.

The County Screen tells you what a county is; this tells you which way it is going, which decides whether the school, the clinic and the grocery are still there in fifteen years. All 3,109 counties are individually clickable, and each balloon separates natural change from migration — they often point opposite ways. Shrinking on deaths but gaining migrants is an ageing county being replenished by newcomers, and is a good sign; growing births with people still leaving is not. The ramp is brown-to-blue rather than red-to-green on purpose: growth means services survive and also means neighbours and rising prices, so which end you want is your call.

Source: Census Population Estimates vintage 2024, TIGER/Line geometry

Median depth of catalogued water wells by county, with quartiles and a rough drilling cost.

The cost layer for water. Water Rights tells you whether you may use it and rainfall tells you how much arrives; this tells you what it costs to reach it, which on raw land is often the single largest expense of making a parcel habitable. At $30–60 a foot, a 90 ft well and a 650 ft well differ by $20,000–35,000 before a pump. Read the 25–75 spread, not just the median — within-county variation frequently exceeds the difference between counties, because valley alluvium and upland bedrock are different aquifers that happen to share a courthouse.

Source: USGS NWIS national groundwater site inventory

The 18 prior-appropriation states, where buying land on a creek does not give you the right to use the creek.

Only the difficult states are drawn. Unshaded is riparian — the good case. This is the layer most people do not know to look for until after they have bought.

Source: State water law doctrine

Moderate, High and Very High wildfire hazard potential. Unshaded means low risk.

Turn off Moderate to see only the serious ground. Reads fire likelihood, not destructiveness — the Southeast lights up for frequent low-severity pine fires, which is not the same problem as the Western crown-fire risk.

Source: USFS Wildfire Hazard Potential 2023

Mapped earthquake ground motion (Ss, MCE_R short-period, in g) — the figure building codes are written against.

This layer exists because of one fact the rest of the map hides. The County Screen's best counties cluster in the Missouri and Arkansas Ozarks, and the New Madrid seismic zone runs directly underneath them: New Madrid County MO maps at 3.17 g against Los Angeles County's 2.02 g. Eastern crust is old and unbroken, so it carries shaking far further than California's. That is not a reason to avoid the region — it is a reason to know before you build, because it changes foundations, chimneys, basements and whether local builders have ever detailed for it.

Source: USGS seismic design maps, ASCE 7-16

EPA radon zones 1–3, predicted indoor screening levels.

All three zones draw by default. Untick Zone 3 (and usually Zone 2) so only Zone 1 shows — then shaded means avoid, like everything else.

Source: EPA Map of Radon Zones

Share of each county's mapped soil that USDA classifies as prime farmland, under the strict definition.

Partly here to argue with the County Screen. Its top Ozark counties are often 3–5% prime farmland: superb for woodlot, pasture and a creek, poor at field scale. Counties an hour east in the Delta run 35–55% and score worse on nearly everything else. Neither is wrong — they are different homesteads. Land that qualifies only if irrigated or drained is reported separately, because that is a capital project with a permit attached, not a property of the ground as you find it.

Source: USDA NRCS SSURGO via Soil Data Access

Frost-free days in eight bands, on a diverging scale that goes red at both ends.

Too long is as wrong as too short. Draws everything by default — leave ticked only the bands you would actually accept and it behaves like the other filters.

Source: NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals

Distance from each county's most remote corner to the nearest hospital with an emergency room.

Metro rings tell you how far you are from a city; this tells you how far you are from a trauma bay. Counties are banded by their worst corner rather than their centre, deliberately — a centroid sits near the county seat, which is exactly where the hospital is, so ranking by centroid puts three quarters of the country inside 15 miles and says nothing. Balloons name the nearest facility and flag Critical Access hospitals, which are capped at 25 beds and stabilise-and-transfer rather than treat. Straight-line miles, so treat it as a floor on the real drive.

Source: CMS Hospital General Information, Census gazetteer 2024

Distance rings around 70 US metros, scaled by population: 50 miles at 250k up to 200 miles at 8.5M.

54% of all US counties fall inside a ring, so read these as "how deep in" rather than pass/fail. The edge of a ring is not a wall.

Source: US Census metro population

The same population-scaled rings for 21 Canadian metros.

Context for the northern border. Toggle independently of the US rings.

Source: Statistics Canada

Population-scaled rings for 59 Mexican metros.

Context for the southern border, and the reason the border zone reads the way it does.

Source: INEGI

Population-scaled rings for 15 metros across Central America and the Caribbean.

Rounds out the hemisphere view. Off by default for lower-48 work.

Source: National statistical agencies

Statewide building-code adoption in three bands.

Deliberately ambiguous. "Not Resistant" means cheaper and freer to build off-grid, and also less regulated construction around you. Decide which direction you want before switching it on, or leave it off.

Source: IBHS building code adoption ratings

Seven states removed on firearms law.

An independent tickbox, not baked into anything. Untick it and those seven states come straight back. You are not stuck with anyone else’s politics.

Source: State statute

Nineteen states removed on homeschool regulation.

The single biggest lever on the whole map. Dropping this one rule adds roughly 800 counties — West Virginia would take the top three outright, at 84–92% forest and 47–50″ of rain. Untick it if it does not apply to you.

Source: State statute, HSLDA regulation tiers

Köppen classes A–E with all 25 sub-classes.

Background context rather than a filter. Leave off unless you want the backdrop.

Source: Köppen-Geiger classification

Three hand-drawn regions: the southern border, Tornado Alley, and the north Florida hurricane corridor.

Approximate by design and labelled as such — a sanity backdrop, not a data layer. Leave off unless you want the outline.

Source: Hand-drawn