There are three that are the most popular. SD,TX,and FL. We chose SD but it was a toss up between SD and TX.
You can see some good info on the site of the mail forwarding service we use. ALTERNATIVE RESOURCES
They give a number of reasons why SD is a good choice.
Clay (WA5NMR), Lee (Wife), Katie (cat).
Full Timing in a 2004 Winnebago Sightseer 35N, Workhorse chassis, Honda Accord toad
Or if you hate people, and want to be alone. Check out density of the population. We love Wyoming. No state income taxes, sales tax, but you can shop in Billings, about the lowest density of population except for Alaska. Wife and I both have some hermit in our genes. Live 20 miles from 2 towns. Cody has a population of 9,000 now, becoming a big city, and Powell has a population of 7,000. We force ourselves to go to town at least twice a month.
If you love to live amongst heavy populated areas then Wyoming is not for you. In fact we would like to put a fence around the state and refuse entry to any tourists or incoming residents. LOL. That is why you always see the bumper stickers up here. "you've seen Wyoming, now go home". Or, "if you kill a wolf we'll let you stay"
BTW, did I mention we have the cheapest gas in the nation now?
Depends on how you plan to live. We're pretty much on the move all the time, so our choice was made on purely financial factors - income tax (none), vehicle registration costs (low), insurance rates (low). For us, South Dakota filled our needs. But if you're more stationary, you may have other requirements. We don't figure sales tax is important, because we're almost never in one place long enough. We save up our major purchases for times we are in states with no sales tax - Montana, Oregon, etc.
We use Americas Mailbox in Rapid City as our residency agent and mailing service. And this summer we'll actually go there to renew our driver's licenses.
Things you may need to consider depending on your circumstances are whether you're locked into a health care plan with geographic restrictions, whether the state you domicile in has estate tax implications, things like that.
al
Fulltiming since Apr 2007 in 2000 Rexhall Aerbus, towing 2012 Honda CRV. 44 of the lower 48 so far.
I recently considered changing our 'domicile' from SD to TX. We have been S. Dakotans since we went FT 5 years ago. Time to renew DL's so I looked into changing address to TX.
Mail forwarding service costs...about the same
Getting DL's, Voting, CCW, Jury Duty.......about the same (slight + SD)
Medical coverage....VA so same
Vehicle Inspection....TX has yearly (or when in state)SD none
State Income Tax....same none
Sales tax.......varies with city/county sales/excise 6.25% and up in TX, 4% and up in SD.
Estate Tax..TX none at this time (could change Jan. 2013) SD none
Weather......TX summer Hot/humid SD summer Comfortable (can be hot but not humid) TX winter Comfortable can be cold/windy SD winter Forget about it. But being on wheels can follow good weather so doesn't matter which state has what unless you have to renew DL's in winter (SD could be tough)
Then comes vehicle insurance.....we carry FT'rs policy on 5th wheel (just like a home owners policy) and the coverage on truck. If we changed our address to TX it would 'double' our cost for 5th wheel and a 50% increase on truck.
That pretty much changed our minds........we're staying South Dakotans.
FL has high rates also but we didn't consider FL........don't like it much summer or winter. Personal choice.
So check out each state.........then decide what fits your circumstances.
We were going to pick SD or Tex when we were looking into fulltime.. But, couldn't due to Health Insurance reasons..
We were 55, so Medicare was long way off.. And besides, since we were in Oregon, we would have to pay a Sales tax or whatever they call it if we transfered our vehicles there..
The Income Tax had very little effect too, since we both left our jobs behind..
The top states for fulltimers are fine for most, but be sure and check out everything that may effect you before deciding to change states...
We almost overlooked our health insurance but someone mentioned that to me before we took the leap into fulltiming..
wynn144 wrote: Just want a Homestate for mail services and registration and DL. We will be living full time in our RV so south in the winter we will go.
Just remember you have to be a legal resident in one of the 50 states so make sure you do all the things necessary, i.e., register to vote, pay whatever taxes they require, and affirmatively abandon your previous domicile. If you own property in some other state, it may still have its greedy hands on you if you lived there for some period of time. That's not to say you can't own property in multiple states, you just have to make sure those states can't claim you as a resident. Lots of posts in this web forum about the perils of domicile.
2002 Keystone Cougar 286, 8,400lbs loaded, pulled with a 2004 F150 Supercrew, 5.4, 3.73 gears. Retired and enjoying life
WyoTraveler wrote: Or if you hate people, and want to be alone. Check out density of the population. We love Wyoming.
BTW, did I mention we have the cheapest gas in the nation now?
You also rank among the top for bitter cold long miserable winters.
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