If Green Acres is the place you want to be, a new report can help you trade in city life for a slice of rural America.

Progressive Farmer Magazine's,"Finding Your Place" report offers, as its centerpiece, a list of 200 of the best rural places to live (by county) in America.

The list was generated using a host of data, including low population density, cost of living, crime rates, air quality, access to health care, education and leisure activities, data provided by OnBoard LLC, a real estate and demographic research firm. The magazine also factored in residents' comments and anecdotes acquired by editors who traveled to some of the counties.

The editors named a host of lesser-known counties typically overlooked by other real estate and housing "Best" and "Top" places-to-live lists primarily because the locations are so, well, far out.

Ontario County, N.Y. was ranked No. 1 on the big 200 list of hot rural spots, followed by Union County, S.D.; Oconee County, GA; Grafton County, NH; Kendall County, TX; Grundy County, IL; Lancaster County, VA.; Boone County, IN.; Blaine County, ID; and Hood River County, OR.

But that's not all.

Editors further sorted the Top 200 list to generate a Top 20 list for each geographic region -- Southeast, Oconee County, GA; Midwest, Union County, SD; West and Southwest, Kendall County, TX; and Northeast, Ontario County, NY.

They also carved out a host of Top 10 lists based on statistical categories including income (No. 1, Summit County, UT); cost of living (No. 1, Ellis County, KS); access to health care (No. 1, Pitkin County, CO) along with lowest household spending, lowest student-to-teacher ratio; highest percentage of college-bound high school grads; crime; air quality and weather (coldest, hottest, driest, wettest).

If those aren't enough categories from which to choose a location, the magazine's website offers a search engine you can use to generate your own "Best" list based on personal preferences.

Select a region, then on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 is least important to you, 5 is most important) rate the importance of living costs, low crime, clean air, good schools, access to health care, fewer neighbors, more entertainment and warmer climate, to create your own punch list of top rural counties.

Progressive Farmer hasn't just created "hot," "top," and "best" lists, but also offers crucial content to explain the trend toward a "New Ruralism" -- a shift in family values, technology, working at home, security, love of the land, second home purchases; etc. -- though citing "relatively cheap gas" as a reason is questionable. The cost of gas today can work against moving further out from work and living population centers.

The magazine also drafted content to help you choose a piece of rural property, step-by-step. Here's a sample.

• Step 1: Getting started. Know what you want. Rural property runs the gamut from timbered land to pasture; hilly to flat; and hunting and fishing spaces to personal retreats. It's up to you to tell your real estate agent what you want to help narrow your search. Also, keep in mind you can't build on all property even if you can purchase it. Wetlands, for example, my limit where you can build.

• Step 2: Browsing for rural housing. The Internet comes through for rural housing too. There are a host of listing sites dedicated to rural homes and land to help speed your search, initially, with or without the help of a real estate agent.

• Step 3: Determine land value. Just as it is with any property anywhere, an appraisal is fundamentally the best way to value rural property, especially if it's vacant land. Developed land has a level of established value. The value of a parcel of crop land is much more difficult to determine.

• Step 4: Use a check list. Your rural property shopping checklist should include your needs (What's the proximity to civilization? Recreation? Farm support?); your current and future family life stages (Are there schools for the kids?); access requirements (Does property front hard-surfaced roads? Are their easements for pipelines, power lines, railroads?); planned activities (Will what you want to do with you land conflict with local zoning ordinances?); soundness (Is the soil suitable for building, drainage?); and future plans (What's the potential resale value? Retirement use?).

• Step 5: Financing. The Farm Credit Administration (FCA), which regulates the Farm Credit System
  , is a good place to start. The administration has regulatory information and a link to institutions in the Farm Credit System, among them, lenders, Farmer Mac (the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation, a rural market kissing cousin to Freddie and Fannie Mac) and other financial institutions offering information and services related to rural and farm land, including property purchases, development and management.

Published: March 23, 2006

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Broderick Perkins parlayed a career in old-school journalism into a contemporary digital news service that really hits home. The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based editorial content and consulting service specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and related editorial consulting services. The DeadlineNews Group includes the website, DeadlineNews.com, offering real estate editorial content and consulting services, and its back shop, the Deadline Newsroom, an open house on news that really hits home. Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News. Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, RealtyTimes.com, Nolo.com, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Intuit/Quicken among more than three dozen publications. In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins most recently served as chief editorial consultant for Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home, Nolo, and writes real estate television scripts for RealtyTimes.com.