Do your homework, ask locals, look around. Texas has horrible droughts every 15 years or so. Opie's right, you need a water source. Montana has areas where there is virtually no water table, plus the mountains tend to be riddled with old mines and the nasties (like pollution) that come along. Nevada is another state with polluted old mines leaching into the watersheds. Northern Idaho, land is way too expensive. Thanks to JWR everybody wants a homestead there. The problem is, it snows a LOT and most of the back roads are impassable for months on end.