Burn the Map · opening soon

Find out where in the world your life actually fits, visa and all.

(Yes, including the one you've only ever seen on Pinterest.)

Burn the Map ranks countries, US states and US counties on how well each one fits your values and preferences, then lays out the visa routes each place offers. We're finishing it now. Leave your email and we'll tell you the day it opens.

Who built it

We built it for our own next move first.

I moved to Mexico in 2021, and I've lived in three towns here since (Bruno, my Tulum rescue, has come along for every one).

Burn the Map started as the tool my partner, our friends and I used to weigh where to go next. Now it's built for anyone weighing the same thing.

Every score in it comes from open public data, with the date it was last checked right next to it, so you always know how fresh the number is.

Why it's hard to decide

Right now the research probably lives in forty open tabs.

Plus a saved board and a group chat where somebody keeps sending listings in Portugal.

Every "best places to move" list you find was written around the writer's budget and the writer's idea of a nice winter. It has no idea you'd rather skip hurricane season, or that a fourteen-hour trip home for the holidays is where you draw the line.

It's called Burn the Map, and it starts with you instead.

You start with what you need close by (family, an airport, a hospital you'd trust) and what you'd rather not live with, plus who's moving with you. It ranks every place on those answers.

Have concerns about safety, healthcare, budget, climate, schools, languages, politics, residency requirements… yeah, you can customize all of that. Then you mark your deal-breakers and decide how strict to be about each one.

Your income is optional. Add it if you want the visa check, and leave it blank if you don't (you'll still get your ranking).

So you end up with a shortlist that fits, the visa routes worth a closer look, and the cash number you'd need on day one.

What you'll have when it opens

Rank countries, US states and US counties on your values and preferences, so you can start from a shortlist that already fits.
See every visa route each place offers, and once you add your income, the gap in dollars a month on the ones you don't meet yet, so you can see exactly how far off you are.
Open a file on every place with prices compared with the US average, the seasons, the named natural hazards, the nearest airport and the healthcare, so you can get to know a place before you fall for the photos.
Work out your day-one cash and a 90-day plan, with the deposits, flights, first month's rent and a six-month cushion added up, so you can give the move a budget and a date.
See your travel time home and your clients' workday, door to door to the people you'd fly back for, and a US client's workday in your new time zone, so you can keep both the holidays and the 9am call.
Take a one-page brief to your immigration attorney with your situation and your likely routes, so you can spend your first paid hour on the questions only they can answer.

Your top matches will be free.

We'll share pricing for the full version the day it opens, so you can see your shortlist before you decide anything else.

Tell me when it opens

Questions

When does Burn the Map open?

We're finishing it now, and we haven't set a date yet. Leave your email and you'll hear the day it opens.

What will it cost?

Your top matches will be free. We'll share pricing for the full version when it opens.

Is Burn the Map legal advice?

It's research, and it's the homework you'd otherwise do across forty tabs. Visa rules change, so you take the lawyer brief to a licensed immigration attorney and let them make the call. Your first hour with them just goes a lot further.

Can I look at moving within the US only?

Yes. You can look worldwide, at just the US, or both, and the US view goes all the way down to the county.

Who is it for?

Anyone weighing a move, across the country or out of it, whether you're going solo, as a couple, with kids, retired or still working.

What happens to my email?

We use it to tell you when Burn the Map opens and to send a few updates before then. We don't sell it, and every email has an unsubscribe link.

Be the first to see where you'd land.

Leave your email and we'll tell you the day Burn the Map opens.