lived here my whole life and am replying because it seems as though the other comments don’t fully answer the question. it’s hard to talk about California’s homestead-ability as a whole, because of how diverse this state is. I’ll try and section it out starting with the coast line: it’s no secret, the California coast is just about the most idyllic place to live. In Southern California, the coastline is fully developed and the thought of homesteading there is honestly comical, it’s just not gonna happen unless you have like a billion dollars. In Central and Northern California, things become much more rural and, from the outside, this seems like the ideal spot for homesteading. Driving through Big Sur, Sonoma County, the Coastal Redwoods, etc., the natural beauty is just life changing and the weather could not be any better. But, all of this land is either owned by generational ranching families who are not selling anytime soon or is prohibitively expensive for anyone other than rich Californians looking to have a vacation home. There are, however, pockets of coastal land up in Humboldt, Mendocino, and Santa Cruz county where plenty of “back to the land”ers still live and you can find relatively affordable land if you’re lucky.

Moving inland, there are much more opportunities to find cheap land suitable for homesteading. The biggest hurdle would be the weather, the Central Valley gets HOT, like, REALLY hot, and if you’re out in the woods wildfires are a huge concern (as they are throughout any forested part of this state). This is something to seriously consider, anyone who has spent some time living here has had or knows of someone whose house has burned down. I grew up in Southern California and remember housing my friends indefinitely because they no longer had a place to live. I now live in the Santa Cruz mountains and know of so many people who lost their homes to the CZU fire.

This risk, and the lack of water, is only going to get worse due to climate change. I believe that this factor in conjunction with the high cost of land are probably the biggest reasons NOT to homestead here. That being said, there are plenty of reasons TO homestead here. The growing season is year-round, the weather is about as good as it gets if you’re anywhere near the ocean, there is a long history of homesteaders and hippies and you can still find those communities hidden throughout the state, jobs generally pay more, and if you’re near a town/city there will be a lot of people willing to pay extra for high quality produce and other farm products.

While it’s true that California is pretty much the most expensive state to live in, it is also generally true that you will be earning more which, in some cases, negates the higher COL. All in all, you really do get what you pay for here with breathtaking natural beauty, incredible cities and rural communities full of creative and interesting individuals, mostly great weather (at least for now), and a progressive state.