So for income and tax purposes what state is best to live in?

If you HAVE to live in FL I would suggest the Sebation area.

 

Live with your mom

 

You better stock up on bug spray. Every time I go to Florida I get eaten alive, literally. A group of us got chased off of a golf course a few years ago by yellow flies. A lot of back yard pools were screened in, but those little no-see em's can fit through the screens and bite you anyway. California sucks in a lot of ways, but we have very few biting bugs out here.

 

Depends how rural you want to get, but there's plenty of everything in Washington state: job opportunities, land available, climate variety, geography (mountain ranges and the ocean within two hours in western Washington, and everything in between). Having lived here my while life, I'm kinda biased in my opinion, but Pierce County has plenty to offer. You could look in places like Graham, Eatonville, Orting, Roy, McKenna, just to name a few small towns.

 

Orlando! Ugh! I don't think Sanford is to overgrown yet, but it's very redneck.
I haven't been to FL in a while. Last time I was there we went fishing at the Melbourne causeway and human feces from all the boats was floating in the water.
And watch out for sinkholes.

 

What's the cost of living like up there though? I come from the Midwest where our state has one of the lowest it seems.
If I had a dollar for every Californian I met that had moved here because of that alone, I could buy my own truck and trailer outright. Lol.

 

Uummm...
It's really pretty here!

You can Google cost of living state by state and get comparison studies.

Sadly, Washington state is on the higher end. Money magazine has us listed at 44 out of 50 for affordability. Much of that has to do with he fact of how many people are moving here in spite of the cost. They're coming here for he jobs and the variety of weather, terrain, etc.