What part of the US is best for quirky people?

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For the purpose of this discussion, assume the US is divided into 5 regions:

- East Coast
- Midwest
- South
- Intermountain West
- West Coast

I've never lived on the East Coast or the Intermountain West so I can't really comment on them.

From my experience, out of the places I've lived, the West Coast (outside of Los Angeles) seems to be the best and the South is the worst for quirky people (including but not limited to Aspies), although it's not that bad in big cities in the South, just the rural areas. I feel there's much less of an expectation to conform on the West Coast compared to the South. The Midwest is a mixed bag though it greatly depends on the locale and whether you're in an urban or rural area.

Does anyone else who has lived in multiple regions in the US feel this way? What about the East Coast and the Intermountain West? I've always been under the impression that the Intermountain West was settled in the 1800s by people from the East Coast, Midwest, and South who were outcasts or otherwise quirky and may have included a disproportionate share of Aspies but it'll be great if anyone living in that area, especially the rural areas, can comment.

I don't know what "Intermountain West" means.

The answer depends on the type of quirkyness. For example, being a recluse with weird pets might be easier in a rural area.

This also depends on one's ethnicity. Being an ethnic minority can be difficult enough in some places, and worse if one is also "weird."

I would say the State of Alaska. Part of the soul of an Aspie longs for the life of a hermit and Alaska is about as close as one can get to that.

The “intermountain West” is west of the Rockies and east of the coastal ranges of the Pacific States (e.g., Sierra Nevada, Cascades).

FML, I'm Asian though I've generally gotten more flack from other Asians for being weird than from whites. Though most white folks seem to assume that my quirks are due to me being Chinese than attributing them to AS.

Never heard the term before, but I am sure that this is what the OP meant.

West of the Prairie/Wheatbelt (which would be the "Midwest").

And east of the West Coast.

The Rocky mountain states of Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho.

You might consider a rural area. In cities there can be more of an expectation of conformance.

Readers Digest used to have a column called "Most interesting character". Organizational systems like school, corporations, and government seem to run in a mechanical way that has little room or tolerance of "characters".

In out of the way places like rural small towns, there can still be found person to person connections that have a greater allowance for the difference of characters. However, a lot of rural American is also slowly being ossified into urban patterns. Also just because there are fewer people. it does not follow that they will be better.

Well, I would say most of the US has a pretty vile way of treating autistic people. That being said the region which would be the best for autistic people and perhaps other quirky people would be the West Coast. A disproportionately large amount of autistic people are also from the LGBTQ community and many autistic people backgrounds where they are harmed and mistreated because of it. Therefore a more liberal city like San Francisco or Portland that offers some of that acceptance would be a better place.

I have no clue, but here's a map for reference:

I don’t base a place to live on quirkiness, but rather the potential size of an animated sitcom fanbase (Simpsons and South Park in particular).

However, there is often an overlap, since I have also observed that most animated sitcom fans tend to be of either the artsy hipster or the punk-anarchist subsets.

I don’t actively seek out those subsets, just people who like animated sitcoms.

I came to the conclusion that NYC, the Bay Area and Seattle have the biggest fanbases, but those are the three most expensive metro areas, completely out of reach for anyone who doesn’t have a 6-figure income.

Large cities are loud and crowded. Not the best choice for someone with sensory sensitivity. Quirky and autistic are two different things. The best place for an autistic person depends on the individual's needs and wants.

The "Rocky Mountain" states...but west of the actual Rocky Mountains.....is what's called the "Intermountain West." Of course, I'd have to add the eastern parts of the Pacific states to this.

This is an arid/semiarid area. If you've watched the Road Runner, this is a typical "Intermountain West" landscape (at least in the lower elevations).

Basically Utah, Arizona, Nevada and Idaho.

I know that Utah and Idaho societies are dominated by the LDS church. Also, Idaho is considered Pacific Northwest by many, but I don't think Boise or Pocatello would be considered "quirky". Not even sure about Spokane. Maybe there are some quirky areas in those cities, but they're certainly not in the same league as Seattle or Portland.

There's a pretty "quirky" guy here who's from Spokane......

Salt Lake City, and Salt Lake County are relatively liberal places-----even the LDS folks are liberal there.

Boise is sort of a liberal place----but the Idaho Panhandle has had white supremacist types living there for a long time.

As for Texas, Austin is considered the "quirky" city, but I've heard people say Austinites are a bunch of posers in that category. In Houston, there's a neighborhood called Montrose, which was once very quirky in the 70s and 80s. It was also the center of Houston's LGBT community. Sadly, due to gentrification, those days are gone, and Montrose is just another enclave for the super rich.

I am not sure about El Paso, Dallas-Ft. Worth or San Antonio. The Deep Ellum neighborhood in Dallas may be considered quirky, but I am not sure.

Panhandles of any state seem to be conformist central.

ALL the best quirky places tend to be high cost-of-living. places like NYC, Seattle, Olympia [WA], Bellingham [WA], San Fran, L.A., various places in new mexico, nevada, oregon, rhode island, texas [esp. austin and san antonio], the city of new orleans.