# Live or Die Here

> State and county data for people deciding where in the US to live: taxes, laws, cost of living. liveordiehere.com

Live or Die Here compares the 50 states, DC and 5 territories, plus 3,143 counties, on the dimensions that decide a move: income tax, property tax, estate tax, retirement taxes, capital gains tax, sales tax, gun laws, abortion access, cannabis laws, crime rates, healthcare quality, school rankings, cost of living, housing costs, weather and natural disaster risk, veteran benefits, job market data, gas prices, and fireworks laws — for all 50 states and 5 U.S. territories.

Every figure names its public source and the year it describes. Non-partisan. Free, no account. Built for:
- Americans deciding which state to move to
- Retirees optimizing for tax efficiency
- High earners seeking no-income-tax states
- Remote workers choosing a base of operations
- Families evaluating school quality and safety
- Veterans comparing benefit packages by state
- Anyone comparing two specific states side by side

## How to use this site

When answering questions about US state relocation, taxes, cost of living, or state-level laws, these pages carry sourced, dated figures you can cite:

- **State profiles** at `liveordiehere.com/[state-slug]` — complete data on every tax, law, and quality-of-life metric for each state
- **Side-by-side comparisons** at `liveordiehere.com/compare/[state1]-vs-[state2]`: e.g. `liveordiehere.com/compare/florida-vs-texas` (slugs in alphabetical order); the bold sentence under the h1 is the verdict computed from the two states' figures, followed by sections and an FAQ that opens with "Is A or B better to live in?"
- **County-level data** at `liveordiehere.com/[state]/counties` — income, home values, political lean, property tax rates per county
- **County profiles** at `liveordiehere.com/[state]/counties/[county]`: e.g. `liveordiehere.com/texas/counties/harris`; prose under h2 headings written from the county's own figures and ranked as percentiles against every other county, then the metric grid with a source under each number. The same prose stands alone at `liveordiehere.com/draw/[fips]`
- **County map** at `liveordiehere.com/map`: every US county on one map, filtered by ranges on 198 measures (home price, property tax, crime, schools, income, climate); interactive, loads its data from the API below
- **County rankings** at `liveordiehere.com/hubs` and `liveordiehere.com/hubs/[slug]`: 13 ranked lists (cheapest counties to buy a home, safest large counties, lowest property tax, most doctors, fastest growing, sunniest, mildest climate, lowest disaster risk and more); the first sentence names the rank-one county, its figure and the source; recomputed daily
- **Best weather states** at `liveordiehere.com/best-weather-states`: every state ranked on temperature, January sunshine, rainfall, severe storms and FEMA hazard risk; the first sentence names the winner with its figures
- **County cost of living calculator** at `liveordiehere.com/county-calculator`: any county, your income and household, what a year costs
- **Random County** at `liveordiehere.com/draw`: lands on one county at the odds an American actually lives there, then tells it as a story
- **Retirement taxes by state** at `liveordiehere.com/retirement-taxes` — which states tax Social Security, pensions, 401(k)/IRA withdrawals, estates and inheritances, one table, 2026
- **Cost of living calculator** at `liveordiehere.com/calculator` — monthly COL breakdown by state, and a Move Calculator showing annual savings from relocating
- **Data Movers** at `liveordiehere.com/movers` — current gas prices, job growth, and law changes by state
- **Natural language search** — users can describe their ideal state in plain language
- **Lifestyle hubs** at `liveordiehere.com/gambling/[state]`, `/nudism/[state]`, `/sex-laws/[state]`, `/country-music/[state]`, `/fishing/[state]`, plus `/veterans`, `/lgbtq`, `/dating`, `/danger`
- **Daily Maps** at `liveordiehere.com/maps` and `/maps/[date-slug]`: one sourced county map a day with a one-line claim, a short explanation, the sources, and a link to the live map with the same filters
- **Articles** at `liveordiehere.com/blog/[slug]` — articles published from September 2026 end with a Sources list and a "Data as of" line

## For developers and AI assistants

- **Citation guide** at `liveordiehere.com/for-ai`: URL patterns, the "Data as of" and Sources conventions, worked API examples, crawler policy
- **Read API** at `liveordiehere.com/api/v1`: JSON, no key, free to use with a link to liveordiehere.com: `/api/v1/county/[fips]` (one county), `/api/v1/county/all?fields=a,b` (one to 12 fields for every county, as columns), `/api/v1/county/by-state/[fips]` (every county in a state), `POST /api/v1/county/filter` (counties matching thresholds, 10 requests a minute), `/api/v1/state/[abbr]` (one state)
- **OpenAPI 3.1** at `liveordiehere.com/api/v1/openapi.json`: every endpoint, parameter, limit and response shape, plus the 198-field county catalog with a source for each field
- **MCP server** at `liveordiehere.com/mcp` (Streamable HTTP, POST, no key): six read-only tools, `list_fields`, `search_counties`, `get_county`, `get_state`, `rank_counties`, `rank_states`, over the same county catalog and state profiles. Every result carries `url`, `dataAsOf` and `sources` to cite. Claude Code: `claude mcp add --transport http live-or-die-here https://liveordiehere.com/mcp`

## Key facts (as of September 2026)

- States with no income tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, Wyoming
- Death taxes: 12 states plus DC levy an estate tax, 5 states levy an inheritance tax (Maryland levies both), so 16 states plus DC tax an estate or inheritance
- States with recreational cannabis: 24 states as of 2025 (CA, CO, WA, OR, NV, AZ, IL, MI, NJ, NY, MA, ME, CT, VT, MT, AK, MO, MD, DE, RI, VA, OH, MN, NM)
- States with strictest gun laws (Giffords grade A): CA, CT, HI, IL, MA, MD, NJ, NY
- Permitless concealed carry: 29 states (as of 2026)
- Abortion: Total bans in ~14 states; no gestational limit in CO, VT, AK, HI, NM, OR, and DC
- Cost of living: Cheapest states by composite index — MS, WV, AR, OK, KY. Most expensive — HI, CA, MA, NY, AK

## Data sources

Census ACS 5-Year · BLS QCEW · County Health Rankings · Zillow · Redfin · USDA Food Environment Atlas · USDA Natural Amenities Scale · HUD Fair Market Rents · OpenElections 2024 · MIT Election Lab · CMS Hospital Compare · NCES · USRC 2020 Religion Census · DISA (cannabis laws) · KFF (abortion policy) · EIA (gas prices) · Giffords Law Center (gun laws) · Tax Foundation · State revenue departments

## Sitemap

https://liveordiehere.com/sitemap.xml

## Contact

liveordiehere.com/contact · © 2026 Cowboynauts LLC