Top Locations in Mexico for Rural Self-Reliance

Top Locations in Mexico for Rural Self-Reliance

[kkstarratings]In my previous two posts I listed the Top Places to live or retire in Mexico for 1. “Cultural Explorers” or 2. “Active Adventures.” This post is my top locations in Mexico for rural self-reliance.

There are 3 separate lists of “Top 10 Places for Mexico” because not everyone enjoys the same things. Here are the archetypes we used to order the following 20 places we visited.

Location Preference Archetypes:

1. Cultural Explorers: These are people that are interested in the history and culture of the world and their surrounding environment. They often want to live near and walk to the cultural center of older cities near temples or churches, museums, restaurants, coffee shops, nightlife, live entertainment, and fresh food markets. Cultural explorers may also be the other archetypes, but they are only secondarily interested in them.
2. Active Adventure: These are people that may enjoy cultural exploration, but are more dominantly focused on exploring nature and their own personal physical limits. They may even be drawn to extreme sports. It would include outdoorsmen, mountain bikers, white water rafters, snow enthusiasts, scuba divers, windsurfers, paragliders, and skydivers. In general, they prefer being closer to mountains, rivers, snow, and or the ocean. They may also enjoy the other archetypes, but an adventure is their dominant interest.
3. Rural-Self Reliance: These are people that may want some distance between themselves and their nearest neighbors. They may also want to grow their own foods and live off the grid if possible. They might even be interested or curious about survival systems and self-protection during social change. In some cases, they are interested in associating with smaller less traditionally defined communities. They might be interested in the other archetypes, but rural self-reliance is dominant.

This post is ordered for the rural self-reliance archetype. In general, rural self-reliance implies that you are not in the middle of town. You have a little land around you so you can grow most if not all of the food you eat. Or, you just have the land and be ready to grow food in case things get bad. If you are not growing food in advance, you probably have some food stored so you can eat until your first crop comes is harvested.

The land should be fertile and you should have a river nearby or a spring on the property so you don’t run out of water. You probably also want to be in a low density area where it will not be so easy for less prepared people to show up and cause trouble. Some reliable rain and sun will also be helpful for rural self-reliance.

You probably also want to have a relatively smaller town nearby where you can get supplies when necessary.

Here are the criteria:  Fertile soil, Reliable water supply, Predictable sun, Fair priced land, Space between you and your neighbors, Near a small town for supplies.

Links to the Top 10 places for the other archetypes are at the bottom of this page. Now, here is my Rural Self-Reliance archetype list of top places to live or retire cheap in Mexico.

Top Locations in Mexico for Rural Self-Reliance

Chapala Ajijic Mexico: Chapala-Ajijic would be the small town you would visit for small supplies. You would need to select a plot of land around the lake or the surrounding foothills. The best-case scenario would be on the lake or with a serviceable well. At 1500 meters (5000 feet) above sea level, the temperature and sun are likely near perfect for growing crops, year-round. The further you get from the lake, the cheaper the land is likely to be. This part of Mexico seems ideal for rural self-reliance types.

Tepoztlan Mexico: Tepoztlan would be the small town where you would get supplies. You would need to select a plot of land outside of town with a serviceable well. You may also be able to get land on the nearby lake or a tributary stream. At 1700 meters (5600 feet) the temperature and sun in this part of Mexico would be ideal. In fact, the village of Tepoztlan has a hippie-friendly community with spas and yoga retreats. You could even grow extra organic fruits and vegetables and sell it to the organic-friendly community growing in this area. This area is ideal for rural self-reliance types.

Patzcuaro Mexico: Patzcuaro would be where you get your supplies. You would need to select a plot of land outside of town with a serviceable well. You may also be able to find land on the nearby lake or a tributary stream. At 2140 meters (7000 feet) above sea level, it might be too cool for some crops and you would likely have a shorter growing season for others. There are also many indigenous people living around the lake that would likely know which crops grow best in this area. If you pick the right crops, this area would likely prove ideal for rural self-reliance types.

San Miguel de Allende Mexico: San Miguel has a little larger population than the first 3 suggested above. So you may need to get a little further outside of town to get that rural feeling. But at 1900 meters (6200 feet) above sea level, in this part of Mexico, it would likely prove in terms of sun and soil. Make sure to get a place with a serviceable and reliable water supply.

Oaxaca Mexico: Like above San Miguel, you would need to go further outside of town before you could consider this rural because of the size of the Oaxaca. The elevation, soil, and sun are perfect in this area if you could find land with a reliable water supply.

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Top 10 (#6 through #10)

Puerto Vallarta Mexico: Check the land behind the coastal mountain range. It may be ideal.

Guanajuato Mexico: The soil is too rocky in town, so you would need to do further research on surrounding areas before pursuing this further.

San Cristobal Mexico: This city is smaller so it has a rural feel just a few miles outside of town. But it has fairly cool weather patterns with less dependable sun, so the crops you could grow should be considered.  .

Cuernavaca Mexico: Between here and Tepoztlan (see above #2) you may find a perfect cheap piece of land that you could get for cheap. It would require further research.

Querétaro Mexico: This soil looks amazing but the city is too large. You could head towards San Miguel to the west and see if there is a more rural feel.

Top 20 Places (#10 through #20)

Guadalajara Mexico: The population here is too large hear for most rural self-reliance types.

Morelia Mexico: The population here is too large hear for most rural self-reliance types.

Puebla Mexico: The population here is too large hear for most rural self-reliance types.

Mexico City: The population here is too large hear for most rural self-reliance types.

Tulum Mexico: Too hot and too much rain for many crops.

Merida Mexico: Too hot and too much rain for many crops.

Playa del Carmen Mexico: Too hot and too much rain for many crops.

Isla Mujeres Mexico: Too hot and too much rain for many crops.

Campeche Mexico: Too hot and too much rain for many crops.

Taxco Mexico: Rocky soil.

This completes our list of top locations in Mexico for rural self-reliance. Here are links to the other two archetypes:

1. Top 10 Places in Mexico for Cultural Explorer Archetypes
2. Top 10 Places in Mexico for Active Adventure Archetypes
3. Best Travel or Retire Cheap in Paradise Locations in the World

Here is our Vagabond Buddha Youtube Channel with videos about all of my ranked retire cheap in paradise locations worldwide.

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This is Dan of Vagabond Buddha. Thank you for stopping by. The world is your home. What time will you be home for dinner?

Warning: I am not offering you these prices.  These are just my notes and estimates from the time of my visit and this post.  Your costs will likely be drastically different if significant inflation or deflation occurs or the market changes after this post.  I will not update these numbers until I am on the ground again here, if ever.