Probably not, but here’s a guy who has done the science! u/HunkyUnkie at Reddit put together the following criteria to create this map (below):

From HunkyUnkie:

This map scores the continental US for long-term small-community survival during a zombie apocalypse using a multi-criteria spatial analysis across ~12,500 hex cells (~250 sq mi each). Each cell is evaluated on food production capacity (soil quality, growing season, forest type for game/forage, pasture for livestock, and fishable waterways), water security (precipitation, perennial stream density, stream order, and lake access), climate survivability (heating demand vs. firewood supply, summer heat stress, and natural hazard exposure), threat exposure (local population density, proximity to major metro areas, interstate highway corridors, and terrain ruggedness), and practical sustainability (existing structures and navigable waterways) – with cells near major population centers hard-capped regardless of other factors, since surviving the initial outbreak matters before anything else does.

Scenario Assumptions

• Full societal breakdown, no grid power, no gasoline
• Target survival unit: small community (20 -150 people), roughly pre-industrial tech level with modern knowledge
• Long-term viability (5+ year horizon), but initial outbreak survivability is weighted heavily

Grid

• Hexagonal tessellation covering CONUS, ~250 sq mi per cell (~12,500 cells)
• NAD83 CONUS Albers Equal Area projection (EPSG:5070)

Data Sources

• Elevation: USGS GMTED2010 (mean and standard deviation products, ~1km resolution)
• Climate: PRISM 30-year normals (800m) – annual precipitation, Tmean, Tmin, Tmax, frost-free days
• Land Cover: NLCD 2021 (30m) – deciduous/conifer/mixed forest, pasture, cropland, shrub, developed, open water
• Soils: STATSGO (USDA/NRCS) – non-irrigated soil capability class
• Hydrology: NHDPlus – perennial flowline length, Strahler stream order, waterbody area
• Roads: Major road network (interstates and US highways)
• Population: US Census tract-level data, areally apportioned to hex grid
• Hazards: FEMA National Risk Index (tract-level composite hazard score)

Scoring Architecture

All raw inputs are normalized to 0-1 using 5th/95th percentile min-max scaling. The composite score is a weighted linear combination of five domain scores, each built from sub-components:

Domain 1: Food Capacity (35%)

• Crop production (30%): Soil capability class I–III percentage, frost-free days, growing season precipitation
• Wild game & forage (30%): Deciduous forest weighted highest (mast production, game habitat), mixed forest, conifer, shrub
• Livestock potential (20%): Pasture/hay percentage, precipitation as forage productivity proxy
• Aquatic food sources (20%): Perennial stream length, max stream order (fishery productivity proxy), lake/waterbody area

Domain 2: Water Security (20%)

• Annual precipitation (35%), perennial stream length (30%), max stream order (20%), lake area (15%)

Domain 3: Climate Survivability (20%)

• Heating balance – firewood supply index (forest cover weighted by type) relative to heating degree day proxy (35%)
• Summer heat stress – inverted mean annual Tmax (30%)
• Natural hazard exposure – inverted NRI composite index (20%)
• Growing season length – frost-free days (15%)

Domain 4: Threat Exposure (15%)

• Local population density – log-transformed, inverted (40%)
• Metro proximity – linear distance decay from nearest metro hex (pop density ≥ 1000/sq mi), 200km max effect radius (30%)
• Major road corridor exposure – interstate/highway length within cell, inverted (20%)
• Terrain defensibility – DEM standard deviation as ruggedness proxy (10%)

Domain 5: Practical Sustainability (10%)

• Existing structures – piecewise scored, peaks at 5–20% developed land (50%)
• Navigable waterway access – binary, stream order ≥ 5 (50%)

Knockout Filters

Cells are zeroed regardless of other scores if:

• No perennial streams, no lakes, and precipitation < 300mm (no reliable water)
• Mean annual Tmax > 35°C (dangerous for sustained outdoor labor)
• Population density > 5,000/sq mi (metro core, unsurvivable at outbreak)

Interaction Penalty

If any single domain scores below 0.15, the composite is penalized proportionally to prevent high composite scores in cells with a critical weakness.

Metro Proximity Cap

After composite calculation, scores are hard-capped based on distance to nearest metro hex:

• < 50 km: capped at 0.3
• 50–100 km: capped at 0.6
• 100–150 km: capped at 0.85
• 150 km: no cap

This reflects the reality that proximity to large populations dominates initial outbreak survival regardless of a cell’s resource quality.

I live in Illinois, so I wanted to compare the Illinois map to see where the best closest escape destination would be:

Closest: Clinton County, surrounding Carlyle Lake

Best: portions of Pope, Saline, Hardin and Gallatin counties, due west of Evansville Indiana. Also: Fulton County, northwest of Springfield.

Largest: West Central Illinois, beginning in Adams county at the southern end, following the Mississippi north to Mercer County, and the expanding east to just short of Peoria.