The isolated homestead is a fantasy that doesn’t hold up to reality, as evidenced by the Great Depression, South African farmers, the Bosnian War and many other tragedies throughout human history. Instead, I’m personally looking at mid-sized cities with good infrastructure, resources, etc
I fully agree (I've lived remote; most have no idea what living without electricity/running water is like). In reality: people/teamwork/knowledge are our greatest resources (especially in a crisis). This is why population density is usually a plus with local resources secondary (assuming the local people are of the have cultural unity). Example: Japan, one of the most dense and resource limited places on the globe, is also one of the wealthiest.
Relocating to anticipate of economic/political collapse really puzzles me. Because knowledge/life skills are usually local. Every year one can get more efficient at growing/harvesting/preserving their own food in their local area. Over decades of fine-tuning, one can grow/trade food from local resources.. Not to mention the friends/family support one can build up over the years.
Another problem with the relocate approach: nobody can predict a Black Swan, nor what resources will be in demand. Drought? Famine? Plague? War? One might be moving directly into the fire they are trying to flee and bring no experience to this new challenging environment.