If you have kids stay close to a larger city. Your kids will have more opportunity.
For anyone else looking. We took a two month road trip during the worst time of year (climate wise) and took a road trip to see where liked it best. We chose North Carolina and love it.
Back when I was a childless introvert, living on a 15 acre ranch by myself would have been living hell, and would no doubt have done terrible things to my mental health. I might not like being social, but I still went out to concerts, movies, restaurants and similar (often by myself) and doing so was always mentally invigorating. Plus going to the pub with that one friend I did have was very necessary for my mental health. Being an introvert doesn't mean you don't want to be around civilization. As a childless introvert having a small apartment in the middle of town where I could walk everywhere was the obvious no brainier, and worth every penny.
As someone who lived in Manhattan, I used to believe this.
Then the pandemic happened, and I watched how our so-called "civilization" handled it. I could not really imagine a worse outcome: it was mismanaged and terrible from the highest levels of authority down to the most insignificant end-user.
Now this introvert very much wants the option of being not around civilization at times. I don't trust civilization to remain civilized, in even a minor pinch.
I will likely build a house 100km from anything, and spend 25-50% of each year there.