The 15 Best States for Tiny Houses

Editor's Note: This story originally appeared on LawnStarter.

Looking to downsize? Some states are more ideal for a tiny house than others. To mark TinyFest California this March, LawnStarter ranked 2024’s Best States for Tiny House Living.

We compared states on the legality of constructing a tiny home.

We also looked at the suitability of building in an urban setting based on average yard acreages and in a remote environment based on off-grid lifestyle-friendliness, a separate LawnStarter ranking that consists of 23 key factors.

Find out where to build the tiny house of your dreams in our following ranking. To learn how we ranked the states, see our methodology at the end.

1. Vermont

• Overall Score: 89.07
• Legality Rank: 1
• Urban Lifestyle Rank: 2
• Remote Lifestyle Rank: 15

2. Kentucky

• Overall Score: 85.34
• Legality Rank: 1
• Urban Lifestyle Rank: 14
• Remote Lifestyle Rank: 3

3. Arkansas

• Overall Score: 84.60
• Legality Rank: 1
• Urban Lifestyle Rank: 5
• Remote Lifestyle Rank: 16

4. Maine

• Overall Score: 83.80
• Legality Rank: 1
• Urban Lifestyle Rank: 4
• Remote Lifestyle Rank: 20

5. Minnesota

• Overall Score: 78.32
• Legality Rank: 1
• Urban Lifestyle Rank: 21
• Remote Lifestyle Rank: 4

6. Montana

• Overall Score: 76.39
• Legality Rank: 1
• Urban Lifestyle Rank: 18
• Remote Lifestyle Rank: 10

7. Alabama

• Overall Score: 74.45
• Legality Rank: 1
• Urban Lifestyle Rank: 6
• Remote Lifestyle Rank: 28

8. Georgia

• Overall Score: 73.40
• Legality Rank: 1
• Urban Lifestyle Rank: 12
• Remote Lifestyle Rank: 23

9. Texas

• Overall Score: 72.91
• Legality Rank: 1
• Urban Lifestyle Rank: 39
• Remote Lifestyle Rank: 2

10. Kansas

• Overall Score: 70.35
• Legality Rank: 1
• Urban Lifestyle Rank: 37
• Remote Lifestyle Rank: 7

11. Missouri

• Overall Score: 69.97
• Legality Rank: 1
• Urban Lifestyle Rank: 27
• Remote Lifestyle Rank: 11

12. Idaho

• Overall Score: 68.45
• Legality Rank: 1
• Urban Lifestyle Rank: 23
• Remote Lifestyle Rank: 17

13. Nebraska

• Overall Score: 67.68
• Legality Rank: 1
• Urban Lifestyle Rank: 45
• Remote Lifestyle Rank: 6

14. Illinois

• Overall Score: 67.29
• Legality Rank: 1
• Urban Lifestyle Rank: 41
• Remote Lifestyle Rank: 9

15. South Carolina

• Overall Score: 67.23
• Legality Rank: 1
• Urban Lifestyle Rank: 13
• Remote Lifestyle Rank: 31

Behind the Ranking

First, we determined the factors (metrics) that are most relevant to rank the Best States for Tiny House Living.

We then assigned a weight to each factor based on its importance and grouped those factors into 3 categories: Legality, Space, and Lifestyle. Here are the categories and factors:

• LEGALITY: Tiny House Legality Score
• URBAN LIFESTYLE: Average Yard Acreage
• REMOTE LIFESTYLE: Off-Grid Lifestyle Index

For each of the 50 U.S. states, we then gathered data on each factor.

Finally, we calculated scores (out of 100 points) for each city to determine its rank in each factor, each category, and overall. A state’s Overall Score is the average of its scores across all factors and categories. The highest Overall Score ranked “Best” (No. 1).