If you're mostly working online and able to pull in some work from that, you could get an apartment from $600 - $800 in Albuquerque, New Mexico area. Or if you prefer to buy a house, you could get something for under $150k if you're only looking for 1-2 bedrooms, kitchen, and bath.

The further away from Santa Fe you get, and even Albuquerque itself, the cheaper everything is going to be. I love the hiking, the Sandia Mountains, and access to 25 (north and south) and 40 (east and west) can take you all the way up to Canada and down to Mexico or to California all the way east across the country to Virginia.

Weather is relatively stable, though windy at times, however it is beautiful during the day. Desert can get cold af to the point of hurt at night. Women are nice and friendly, but the state itself is seemingly isolationist: everyone tends to keep to themselves.

While I'm not self-employed, I work 2-3 jobs from home which affords me more of my paycheck. I am originally from New Jersey, where if you made 2 paychecks a month, 1 paycheck usually went to rent while the other paycheck went towards food and going out. Instead, about 1/4 of one paycheck goes towards my rent, while the rest is for other things and has afforded me the ability to do quite a bit.

My only issue that I find myself having to do is correct my W-4 with the state to offset taxes, as the state itself tends to have a higher employment tax rate which can add up, but offsetting it by $10 or $20 usually keeps everything under control. I'm sure self-employment taxes are a bit higher as well. However, you can definitely get a nice luxury apartment or house and likely afford it on a single income.

Have you considered moving out of the country instead? Because you will have to pay federal taxes, which are much more onerous than state. Otherwise, Nevada or other states with good asset protection and low/no state income tax.

Puerto Rico would avoid federal taxes.

But I don't think the OP should be making this choice based on taxes.

A citizen of the US can't avoid federal taxes anywhere

Sure they can. The first $107,600 of earnings, can be excluded from Federal Income Taxes. If you live in a foreign country. Look up the foreign earned income exclusion.

Not true! Google "puerto rico federal income tax" if you don't believe me.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2019/09/09/move-to-p...

(Despite saying "not exactly" in the title, it is in fact exactly that. Read the details. PR residents don't pay federal income tax. There's just some caveats if you're trying to move there as a tax dodge.)

Only if your source of income is from Puerto Rico.

https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc901

>> If you're a bona fide resident of Puerto Rico during the entire tax year, you generally aren't required to file a U.S. federal income tax return if your only income is from sources within Puerto Rico.

I thought that applies only to non-US citizen Puerto Rico residents. Seems like you're right, thanks for correction!

Well Puerto Rican born residents are US citizens. The IRS makes it understandably difficult to change your residence to PR as a tax dodge though.

Assuming you're not working a multi national corp that has branches in the US (and therefore reports to the irs), I can't imagine hiding income abroad is all that difficult with a few shell LLC's and trusts.

That's evading taxes, not avoiding taxes (legal distinction).

you still have to pay taxes to irs - taxes paid elsewhere

I think there are so so many variables it’s impossible to answer this question:

- do you have kids/care about education?

- do you need good internet (assuming yes)?

- do you prefer the city vs suburbs vs the countryside?

- do you care any about the predominant industries of the local economy? Or are you just caring about remote freelancing?

Not to mention considerations of family, friends you want to be nearby. And the culture of the place you live.

If your only consideration is a place to claim residence with a low tax burden and cost of living as a remote freelancer, it’s easy to list those options. If you expect good public services like education and public transportation that’s going to look quite different. If you want to support non profits or work in defense contracting, that’s also very different.

I was self-employed in Austin, TX for a long time. Had only a few clients at a time, didn't have to work that many hours, and was even able to rent a small office at 501 Studios on E. 6th St. Rent was cheap, no state income tax, lots of cool hangouts. I don't live there anymore and prices have went up since then, but still a relative bargain compared to many other states.

Many business incorporate in Delaware since they have very friendly business taxes. If i remember right, they also have no personal income tax, like Texas and Tennessee.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=best+states+to+be+self+employed&t=...

Delaware does have personal income tax. It doesn't have Sales tax.

> Many business incorporate in Delaware since they have very friendly business taxes.

No, that's not the reason at all. The reason is that the state judiciary has expertise in corporate law that other states don't, so litigation is smooth and predictable. You don't get a family court judge assigned to your corporate law case, as can actually happen elsewhere.

It is/was the same with East Texas and patent law, until recently at least. It became corrupted by donations of civic facilities by large litigators, so I think some companies have moved on.

> If i remember right, they also have no personal income tax

Most Delaware corporations are used by businesses in other states, so it has nothing to do with personal income tax.

Is 'financial' 'best' in the answer you're looking for? Or more broader aspects?