Hey dicks I'm back! J/k, well not about the being back part, but you get it. College is a bitch, and it has kept me away from this place.

ANYWAYS, I'm planning on moving back to the mainland next year from the little islands of the pacific known as Hawaii, and I need some advice on where to move. I'm having a fresh start on life and I want to move to a state that would have the most wide array of abandoned buildings, places, etc. that there could be in a state. Since I'm not a Full Member yet, and I one day hope to fulfill that dream, and I can't see the database of abandoned structures in full I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions or thoughts as to where to go. Maybe even what I should look into that would help point me in the right direction.

I was also planning to take a year off from school to explore and travel the states, or even the globe, but I'm just trying to get a head start in the general direction for where I might want to land.

Feel free to leave your thoughts and I look forward to hearing back from you all!

West by God Virginia!

New York is a great state. Philly is awesome too. I would say Jersey but the cost of living here is ridiculous.

Anywhere in the north east, But avoid jersey like Essex said.

Consider Texas. No state income tax and we still have jobs. Currently paying a buck ninety for gasoline we have a decent economy if there is such a thing these days. Real estate prices are some of the best.

My daughter just moved back here after 8 years in California and vows to never go back.

We'll keep the light on for ya. Lots to explore here.

So it really depends on what kind of things you like to explore, really. If you want old buildings with lots of history that might be torn down while you're in the building then go to the Northeast.

If you want a large variety then go to areas in the Southeast, like Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas.

If you're looking for ghost town type stuff, then Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado are your places.

It really all kind of depends.

In my honest opinion I think what you should do is kind of work out where you'd want to live based on more than exploring. Work out how long you're willing to travel from your home to go explore via car or plane or whatever.

You said you want to travel. One thing I have noticed is that if you want to travel across the country by plane then the most affordable way to do that is to live in a city that is a main hub for a major airline.

Keep in mind if you're trying to actually live somewhere you might need a job, if that's the case then you might want to look into a place that has an okay job market for the field you want to work in, or at least enough jobs that it won't be too hard to find one. Detroit seems to have a lot cost of living, plenty of abandoned stuff but not so many jobs readily available (this is based on reading various articles, I do not know this first hand).

If you want to live somewhere where you're willing to drive up to 5 or 6 hours for exploring, then you should pick something pretty central to the older industrial areas.

This question is really subjective to your preferences in a lot of ways. I will say that if you're looking for exploring related stuff, Oregon and Washington aren't your place to go. It exists, but not in any sort of abundance.

Anyways, if you have specific questions then by all means ask them, but this is such a vague and broad question that you line yourself up for really biased answers that may not be so useful to you.

Posted by EsseXploreR New York is a great state. Philly is awesome too. I would say Jersey but the cost of living here is ridiculous.

cost of living in New York isn't much better, Essex.

Ok then its agreed move to Texas !

Posted by Astro Anyways, if you have specific questions then by all means ask them, but this is such a vague and broad question that you line yourself up for really biased answers that may not be so useful to you.

I want to thank everyone so far for replying to my post. All perspectives are welcome and helpful because I am open to all views right now.

As to what you have said, Astro, I appreciate it because it gave me a little bit of everything to think about when I want to hunker down and really contemplate what I would what with locating myself, the distance I would take for abandoned locations, and the type of locations to explore.

Why my question is so vague and broad is because I'm really just open to anything until the time comes for me to start pinpointing certain states, and schools to finally settle down.

I know that I want to be an EMT/EMS and I feel that that sort of job is in high demand or at least open almost everywhere. Photography is another job I want to pursue in my free time, and my life long goal is to be a Forensic Scientist.

Like I said though I might take the first year back from the mainland to travel the states, and even go to a couple of UER meet-ups because I love what this community stands for and I would be more than happy to meet some of the awesome characters that belong to the sight that have been on here for a while; and to learn from them in the arts of urban exploration.

All in all I'm more than content with any answer I get, yet I wonder, are there any states that STILL have a good amount of abandoned asylums or hospitals still standing?

Posted by Samurai cost of living in New York isn't much better, Essex.

I'm sure statewide averages would reflect them being about the same, but being right outside of NYC in Essex County we get killed. You go to Cumberland county and things are much cheaper. But Essex, Morris, and Bergen counties are ridiculous. I find it hard to believe that anything around here would be comparable to the metro areas of Buffalo or Albany. That being said, there are plenty of expensive NYC suburbs in the state itself that would help skew the averages. So I really don't know.

Posted by KannibalKandy All in all I'm more than content with any answer I get, yet I wonder, are there any states that STILL have a good amount of abandoned asylums or hospitals still standing?

Well, you'd have to take into consideration where most of them were to begin with. Yes there are, I'm sure. But most of them are still in the East. Sounds like the west is not where you want to be at all. So I'd probably cut the US in half and begin on the east for the rest of your search for those in the criteria.

Posted by EsseXploreR I'm sure statewide averages would reflect them being about the same, but being right outside of NYC in Essex County we get killed. You go to Cumberland county and things are much cheaper. But Essex, Morris, and Bergen counties are ridiculous. I find it hard to believe that anything around here would be comparable to the metro areas of Buffalo or Albany. That being said, there are plenty of expensive NYC suburbs in the state itself that would help skew the averages. So I really don't know.

even in the rural areas of New York, where I live, the cost of living is murderous when compared with the shitty job market and associated wages.

Posted by 2Xplorations Consider Texas. No state income tax and we still have jobs. Currently paying a buck ninety for gasoline we have a decent economy if there is such a thing these days. Real estate prices are some of the best. My daughter just moved back here after 8 years in California and vows to never go back. We'll keep the light on for ya. Lots to explore here.

Lol, I'm not a dick, I'm a bastard.

Lots of job accidents and auto wrecks in W Texas.
Perfect for a EMT.
It's warm, dry and I like it... but then again I am a bastard.

Maybe a little biased here, but I'm a fan of Canada.

Polite people (including security guards!), lots of maple syrup, free healthcare (for when you fuck up while exploring) and folks are much more chill about finding you on their property.

Of course, there's the whole visa issue... but I'm sure if you tell them "I want into the country to break into shit and photograph it", they'll let you in. So long as you offer them a beavertail - never forget the beavertail.

The many reasons I like it here in Philly:

Central to the entire east coast. An hour from mountains, an hour from farmland, an hour from the ocean, a little more than an hour from NYC and Atlantic City, chock full of abandonments, literally thousands of jobs, 5th largest city in U.S.A., easy to get to hundreds of century-old abandonments, top schools, top colleges, top art scene, top music scene, just so much going for it. I'll never leave.

Posted by Radical_Ed The many reasons I like it here in Philly: Central to the entire east coast. An hour from mountains, an hour from farmland, an hour from the ocean, a little more than an hour from NYC and Atlantic City, chock full of abandonments, literally thousands of jobs, 5th largest city in U.S.A., easy to get to hundreds of century-old abandonments, top schools, top colleges, top art scene, top music scene, just so much going for it. I'll never leave.

Best of all Germantown and Camden are right around the corner

Silicon Prairie.


Microsoft's largest data center will be in West Des Moines, Iowa.

http://www.desmoin...centives/87406160/

Google puts another BILLION into their Iowa data center.

http://www.omaha.c...-2fe5866f336b.html

Facebook is building their THIRD data center in Iowa.

http://www.datacen...er-coming-to-iowa/

Like a few have said, New York, but it's expensive as tits depending where you go. If you don't hate the idea of a roommate you can get a good sized apartment in NYC, but it's such a vast area so the prices vary. Plus side to New York is that I can take a weekend trip up to so many places within a 2 hour drive.

Posted by Radical_Ed The many reasons I like it here in Philly: Central to the entire east coast. An hour from mountains, an hour from farmland, an hour from the ocean, a little more than an hour from NYC and Atlantic City, chock full of abandonments, literally thousands of jobs, 5th largest city in U.S.A., easy to get to hundreds of century-old abandonments, top schools, top colleges, top art scene, top music scene, just so much going for it. I'll never leave.

Completely agreed. I love Philly. Even if it wasn't filled with cool abandoned shit it would probably still be my favorite city.
As a matter of fact, I hope to move there in a few years.

Posted by Radical_Ed The many reasons I like it here in Philly: Central to the entire east coast. An hour from mountains, an hour from farmland, an hour from the ocean, a little more than an hour from NYC and Atlantic City, chock full of abandonments, literally thousands of jobs, 5th largest city in U.S.A., easy to get to hundreds of century-old abandonments, top schools, top colleges, top art scene, top music scene, just so much going for it. I'll never leave.

I can agree with that from what I've seen of Philly.

Mr. Essex also took me on some delightful tours of the many extremely bad neighbourhoods when I was there at the weekend - some intentional to get to places, the worst one, unintentional hahahahaha.