"The grass is always greener..but eventually it's just going to be grass". Pick up an Outside magazine..they have an edition each year that selects the "10 Best Places To Live In The US". Look at the previous years. You'll probably see a pattern. Very few "best places" remain a "best place". The trouble with looking for the "best" place now is that there's 1000s of other folks looking for the same thing. Find a location that is what you think will be what you want in 10 to 15 years. If you want a town with a pop. of 25K..look for one with 5K that has strong city planning and a culture you feel comfortable with. If you think 5 or 10 acres is "enough", get 20. Trust me, if you start with a small-ish town, it will grow into what you want.
My wife and I moved to SoCal from the Silicon Valley 30 years ago. We thought we'd found nirvana. Compared to the Bay Area, there was no traffic, homes you could actually afford, and homeless people were non-existent. Now SoCal is Silicon Beach. Condos that were $150K are now $900K. It seems like all the people from the Bay Area (including the homeless) followed us to SoCal. The weather is great, but that doesn't make up for the negatives. I keep seeing more and more National Forest property being closed to hunting/shooting and reserved for hikers and bikers. The only thing keeping us here is friends, family, and Prop 13. Even if we left for another state, the CA FTB would track us down and tax our retirement income..yup..they claim it was made in CA so even if you leave, you'd get taxed as though you still live in CA. ggrrrrrrr.