Best states to call “home” for OTR truckers

And you can carry concealed, no permit required.

State income tax is 2.5%.

But real estate is expensive.

Overall cost of living outside of that is 40 or 50 cents on the dollar compared to the communist state.

 

New Hampshire wouldn't be a bad choice. The granite state is pretty small as in even the 'large' cities feel like small towns. No income tax.* No sales tax.*

You won't be sweating balls like in TX, NV, AZ. No Mexican border nonsense with shippers and receivers that barely speak English. No tire chain laws.

Why the asterisks? 9% sales tax on restaurants, rental cars, and hotels. 5% tax on investment dividends/interest. (if I'm not mistaken this form of 'income tax' will be removed in the future.)

Also NH isn't exactly the greatest state for truckers. Streets are narrow, less freight, low population, but it neighbors a lot of busier states. Residency requirements are lenient so in theory an OTR driver could just get a mailbox, update their employment address, take their paystub to the dmv, and bam! you're a legal resident now who can avoid paying taxes.
(no rent either if you live in your truck)

 

Well Alaska is out of the question.

 

I live in NY too but will hopefully will be OTR soon too with no place to call my own...Now you got me thinking about getting a license outside of filthy NYS too

 

The correct answer is Texas.

 

@sandman77
Plenty of trucking in Las Vegas. Are you interested in OTR or regional or local?

 

I imagine after this next upcoming tax season there is going to be more drivers asking this question. I'm retired and even in retirement I have considered getting the heck OUT of Virginia. I was born In Texas and have some friends on the East coast of Florida. State and other local taxes here are horrible.

 

I was raised in Maryland and everything there has me priced out economically. So I moved to the South, to Arkansas where our house was about 33K or so dollars on a 15 year 6% to pay. It was paid in 6 years. Instead of some horrible 250,000 dollar note back east. And a few acres for the truck if needed. (On some gravel)

Everything here in the south including property taxes (Around 115 dollars annually on the homestead act, frozen due to handicapped exemption within) is much better economically than back east.

Utilities were sometimes paid a year to 18 months advance. A few hundred for water and not much more for natural gas. Electric has risen however. When I first came here to live, it was 30 a month for 800 megawatts. Now it's more like 90 as inflation kicked in. Much better than a few hundred for power and 1400 twice a year for oil.

(Side note, alaska is the highest expense monthly, our oil bill for 9 months summer into winter that year pending house sale was about 700 to 1500 a month. To maintain heating is to maintain the health of the building. Kill the heat and nature makes it unliveable in a few months there.)

I can go on. But you will find some states way better economically than your Empire state and elsewhere.

Not to mention being free states too. There are things you can do here in Arkansas that are totally and flat illegal in the Empire state and get you put into prison instantly there. At the moment we don't do tolls or emissions or inspection. Just a single 29 dollar car or 43 dollar SUV license plate annually and done. You can run straight pipe if you like. Or none at all.