MN is a lost cause I fear, now state shopping.

Would be moving my business, which needs skilled, reliable employees.

Not just guns, tell me everything.

I've lived in Indiana my entire life and absolutely love it.  Biggest draw back in my mind is the scenery, pretty flat and lots of corn

Very gun friendly state.  Lots of great people.  Low cost of living outside of metropolitan areas.

Good, reliable, skilled workers are in short supply.  Lots of manufacturing in the state and EVERYONE is hiring.  My employer hired just under 100 last year and were trying for another 100 this year.  It's been very challenging.  Everyone I've talked to, no matter what industry they are in, is having a hard time finding employees.  These are all companies with great pay and benefits.  Unemployment is low.

If you have any specific questions let me know, happy to answer anything I can

Only thing I'll disagree with post above on is the flat corn land. While it is certainly true for mid and especially the northern part of the State southern part of the State has hills and woods. I'm a transplant but I've been here 35 years and I like it just fine. Stay out of the area around  Chicago and don't buy in Marion Co either. Bloomington is another liberal island; IU screws it up.

Land prices, we want rural
Politics, current and the tends
Vaccine laws
Homeschool laws
Weather trends
Growing season
Water laws

Anything else you can think of

Land prices

Depends on the type of ground.  I've seen wooded properties go from $4-10k per acre.  Tillable $10-15k an acre.

Politics are overall very conservative outside of metropolitan areas.  Indy and Bloomington are pretty liberal.  Not really seeing a trend in any particular direction.  My AO is very conservative.  Open carry is pretty common.

Here is a pretty good rundown on vaccine laws

Homeschooling laws are pretty lax in my opinion.  More info here

Weather trends.  If you don't like the weather, wait 10 minutes and it'll change .  We definitely get all 4 seasons.  None of them prolonged or very severe in my opinion.

Good growing season.  I've known a few farmers that were able to plant corn in March, but that is atypical.  Typically see 160-180 frost free days.

I would say water laws are pretty good.  Quick rundown on them

I moved from MN to Fort Wayne Indiana 6 years ago.  I loved it.  Indiana is the most free state I have lived in.

I just moved to MI.  I really miss Indiana.

Brick

I moved to IN from NY a couple years ago and am absolutely thrilled.  My concealed carry permit took all of a week and a half.  I know, constitutional carry would be better, but I'm still pleased.  Gun rights aren't everything, but how a state handles them sure does seem to be an indication of how they tend to handle everything else you may be curious about.

The length of the growing season is great.  I'm in a zone 5B.  Last summer we grew peanuts in the home garden, something I wasn't able to do when I lived farther north.  While the corn fields don't do much for me, in and around the river bottoms the woods and hills are gorgeous.

Sorry I'm not a wealth of knowledge, but Indiana is not a place I had ever considered living in, yet it has turned out to be a great move.

Been here for 6 years now and have no complaints. Bloomington is liberal because of IU but they know not to leave city limits.

South central is hilly with lots of woods. We even have a national forest (one of the least strict NF's in the country. primitive camping, road side camping, target shooting).
My only complaint is the lack of natural water, coming from new England I miss real lakes and ponds something fierce.
Good people over all but we are getting the same heroin and meth issues the rest of the country is experiencing.

my .02 from IN's "border state," Ohio.

Indiana--GREAT place with decent, hard working people. What more can you ask for?

As usual, take a few trips to "scout out" areas. As usual, Realtors will try to BS you--but, you're a businessman, so you know that.

Your business should have no trouble getting great skilled workers.

My tip: use a website called "City Data." Punch in a city of area you are thinking about and it will tell all. ALL. Best are the readers' comments and blogs--they will tell you straight up about areas pluses and minuses.

For example:

City Data Indiana

Free Indiana Travel Brochures





meet Chris and Lisa Eck. The Eck Family farms in Elwood. They grow 'maters. I'm an old retired farmer and know them well. Hoosiers know HARD WORK!

http://www.peabodyrecreationallands.com/state?state=indiana

Stay away from the metro areas, including Bloomington.  Otherwise, you'll be fine.

I'm a transplant here from Louisiana and I love it, although I do miss the best fishing in the world...

You mean Canada! Yeah if you are used to fishing a prime place, Indiana fishing won't excite you

I’ve lived in Kansas, Illinois, Alabama, Maryland, Indiana, and a coupe of cities in Germany.

I came back to Indiana 22 years ago.

Indiana has terrible weather (extreme heat and humidity with virtually no Spring / Autumn), low income compared to housing costs, relatively high taxes ($0.29 a gallon gas tax, 3.4% + local income tax, 7% sales tax, and a constitutional amendment that allows the government to tax personal real estate at 1% and other properties at higher rates + “taxpayer approved add ons”), and people can be rude in the cities.

Land prices are very high.  We looked at 11 acres with a very average house on Saturday.  $325,000.  45 minutes by an interstate to the nearest town large enough to find employment sufficient to support a family.

If I were you - I’d look at northern Idaho.  Very fertile land with plenty of rain fall.

ETA: we sold our 1318sf main floor + 300sf loft house on 11 acres in 2015 for $265,000.  I was tired of the 51 minute - each way - commute to work.

This is highly dependent... I'm 45 minutes from my job but my wife is only 10 minutes. In '16 we bought our dream house, 6,000+ SF above average house (better insulation, geothermal HVAC, etc), oversize detached garage, in-ground pool, pole barn w/ concrete floor, and several other outbuildings on 53 acres w/ income generating potential for the price you mentioned.

IMHO, no matter where you live you're going to be taxed some way. Many states with lower income tax offset with higher sales tax or vice-versa. Or they simply don't offer the same levels of public service. I grew up in Indiana, paid fire services was something I never heard of growing up. We took fire department response for granted, but in some places fire response is privatized and you must pay for protection or the fire department could choose not to respond.

Part in bold is interesting. Out here, they only charge you if they come to your place repeatedly for stupid stuff (like you keep letting brush piles get out of control, etc).

So what is the cost for a FD call to come and play with fire?

I've lived in several states and can't fault Southern Indiana.  It's been a good place to raise kids.  I want nothing to do with a 'rich & vibrant' culture so you might say I live in a bubble.  Have to leave my county and drive a fair distance before seeing any predatory urban youth.  YMMV.

Downsides include the summer heat and humidity.  Hate that!  But, the sunshine does most of my snow shoveling.  Also, Indiana sucks for game bird hunting.  Ruffed Grouse are extirpated.  Quail aren't what they used to be.  Pheasant are an oddity.

For the most part outside of Chicagoland, Indy, and the big campus towns, Indiana is a deep red state.  Yes, it went for Obama in 2008 but that's because he campaigned here incessantly and due to a strong Klan heritage, lots of White Guilt.  Of course we learned our lesson and became one of the few states that didn't repeat vote for him in 2012.

There was also 105% voter turnout in Marion county. 100% would be highly improbable but theoretically possible. 105% represents fuckery.

Land prices are ok, just shop around. Pretty, cleared & mowed land will likely be more than land you can just run a bush hog, pull some some small trees and maybe do a little grading. Nothing a tractor with front end loader can't do.

Politics is always a mixed bag. Depends on the person. Generally I'd say Indiana is conservative, but depends on the area.

Vaccine laws are a no brainer in Indiana. Regarding schools ... you just tell them NO we don't consent to being vaccinated PERIOD. No one has ANY authority over what you choose to not put inside your body or your children's body.

Home school is good to go. Just do it.

Weather can be hot and very humid in the summer. Lots of mosquitos. The sky is mostly hazed over due to chemtrails.

Growing is pretty good. Tons of crops here. Mostly corn & soy beans.

Water laws are relatively simple. Drill a well. No one can stop you from collecting rain water if that is what you're asking.

Indiana has pretty good gun laws. You can get a 'lifetime license to carry handgun' and there is NO distinction between open carry or concealed carry. People open carry all the time. Cops do not have no authority to ask for your License or ID for open or concealed carrying unless there is reasonable articulate suspicion you have committed a crime. There's been talk about passing Constitutional carry here which would be great. There really isn't any reason to have a "license to carry".

Binary explosives/Tannerite is perfectly legal here, unlike Ohio. Ohio really lost their balls when it comes to Tannerite.

As a homeschooling parent, I love Indiana.  Do it, OP.

If it wasn’t for warmer weather, I wouldn’t consider anywhere else but indiana. Even at 1 percent property tax, my parents pay like 5k on a 160k house in IL in a not so good town.

Grew up near Indiana, always liked the Hoosier State. Would move there if the right opportunity arose

My bullet points:

Strong conservative state.  Bloomington is liberal land, mostly because of IU.   Indianapolis votes blue,  mostly due to minority voters.  Areas around Chicago are more blue.

Southern Indiana is very similar to northwestern Kentucky. Hilly, somewhat rugged areas. Brown County State Park is beautiful in the Fall.  Going north on 65, once you get past Seymour and towards Colombus, it's FLAT.

More prone to violent storms and tornadoes. Several years ago, an F-5 ripped through Henryville, north of Louisville.

I thought housing was cheap, but apparently some on here are saying not so fast.  Job market is decent. Strong agricultural base. Miles of cornfields and cornfields. Iowa Lite.

I would move to south central Indiana. Love the Colombus area. Bloomington not so much.  Easy drive to Indy and Louisville.  Northern suburbs of Louisville,  such as New Albany and Jeffersonville, are too much like Louisville for me. No thanks.  Madison IN is nice, but is half between L'ville and Cincinnati, along the Ohio River.

Just don't work for Cummins.  They treat their non exempts like shit.

Get into Southern Indiana and it's really pretty nice. Rolling hills and some nice scenery  

Clessie will haunt you now.

As long as he haunts Linebarger too.

I'm sure he will, as soon as he's done spinning in his grave.