My favorite site for comparing places in America is city-data.com (the forums are fun, too, though anecdotal). It seems that they recently posted a whole bunch of top 101 lists for everything from Top 101 counties with the highest percentage of residents that keep firearms around their homes to Top 101 counties with the highest percentage of residents that had a sunburn in the past 12 months. (!) Those of a libertarian bent might want to stay away from the Top 101 cities with the biggest local government total salary and wages expenses per resident and the Top 101 cities with the biggest property tax revenues per resident. Have fun!