2,000 nuclear warheads

The majority of America’s roughly 2,000 nuclear warheads are concentrated in Montana, North Dakota, and Nebraska, with smaller stockpiles in Wyoming and Colorado, according to Nuclear Forces.

Any direct strike on these sites could unleash catastrophic radiation. For instance, states housing missile silos — like Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota — could experience anywhere from 1 Gy to 84 Gy of radiation, while just 8 Gy is considered lethal.

That’s why analysts like Newsweek suggest that the U.S. states farthest from nuclear infrastructure might offer the best chances of survival.

Their list includes: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Washington D.C., Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. Other relatively safer options include Washington, Utah, New Mexico, and Illinois.

“This is based on the average radiation exposure risk calculated for each latitude and longitude point, using a scale measuring the estimated cumulative radiation dose after four days in grays (Gy), a unit of ionizing radiation dose,” Newsweek explained.

Long-term survival – two places

Even with some states offering a buffer from the initial devastation, experts caution that no location in the U.S. is completely risk-free in a full-scale nuclear scenario.

Scientific American warned in 2023 that “a concerted nuclear attack on the existing US silo fields — in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, Montana, and North Dakota — would annihilate all life in the surrounding regions and contaminate fertile agricultural land for years.”

For those thinking long-term survival, geography matters even more. Investigative journalist Annie Jacobsen told Steven Bartlett on The Diary of a CEO podcast that countries in the Southern Hemisphere, like New Zealand and Australia, would offer the highest chance of survival during a nuclear winter.

“Places like Iowa and Ukraine would just be snow for 10 years,” Jacobsen explained. “So agriculture would fail, and when agriculture fails, people just die.”

She emphasized that radiation and a damaged ozone layer would make sunlight deadly in many parts of the world, forcing survivors underground and sparking brutal fights for food.

“Everywhere except for in New Zealand and Australia,” she said, “those are the only places that could actually sustain agriculture.”

Aside from long-term food security, their distance from major nuclear powers also makes them far less likely targets in an initial strike.

Jacobsen’s advice is blunt: “No one is truly safe in a nuclear war. But if you’re looking for the best possible odds of survival, and the ability to grow food when the rest of the planet freezes, pack your bags for down under.”