If the last year and a half of isolation hasn’t been enough for you (or you have realized that you really don’t need as many friends as you thought you did), you might be looking for somewhere remote to go. So, where is the most remote places that you can live? Or go on vacation?
There are many areas of the United States where no one lives, though many of these areas are public land, like state and national parks, forests, etc. and living there is either not allowed, or the land itself is truly uninhabitable. The map below shows these areas in black, along with areas where the permanent population is under 16 people per square mile in orange. This means that people can be ¼ mile apart from one another, which does allow for plenty of breathing room. Any areas in white are more densely populated.
Of course, these non-populated areas are popular vacation spots. Using our non resident population database, we can see the locations that while during the week (or on a normal day) are empty, they fill up with tourists frequently.
So, if you want to get away, or live somewhere remote, where are you going? In the southeast, there are not many options, only scattered bits of areas in the Appalachians from Georgia to Pennsylvania. More options exist from northern New York up through Maine, but weather is often a challenge for some people. The map below shows this area in detail. There are areas along the Mississippi River that aren’t crowded, but it is a floodplain, and not advisable for long-term living. Along the same line, the coastal swamplands from New Jersey to Florida – including such highlights as The Great Dismal Swamp, the alligator infested Everglades, or the appealing Tate’s Hell or Alligator Point national forests of the gulf coast of Florida—are all open for new residents, though probably not desirable to many. Your secluded oasis might be harder to find than you thought.
If you are looking for the most remote place in your state, we’ve got you covered. We took the distance weighted population potential for each block group, showing just the least accessible for each state. What we discovered is that the least accessible point in the continental US is in western Nebraska! So, the “Middle of Nowhere” is located near Arthur, Nebraska a few miles from the junction of Nebraska highways 61 and 92. Other places that are very remote include Isle Royale, Michigan, in Lake Superior just a few miles offshore from Thunder Bay, Ontario (we didn’t count getting away from Canadians, because they are generally nice). Again along the Canadian border, Maine’s most remote location in in the far north near the border as well. Rhode Island’s most remote is on Block Island, on the other side from the small village of New Shoreham. Even Washington D.C. has a most remote place, though as we all know, there is no getting away from people in our densely populated capital.
So want to get away? Want to be alone? It might be harder than you think.
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