7 Places That Will Pay You to Live There

Alaska
Incentive: Annual mineral royalty dividends for all residents

Unlike the places on this list that have launched incentive programs in recent years to lure new residents, Alaska has been paying all of its residents for decades. Actually, sharing its wealth would be a more accurate way to describe it. Alaskans voted in 1976 to put at least 25% of the state’s oil money into a dedicated fund—the Permanent Fund. Money in the fund is invested in stocks and other assets, and the fund pays dividends to residents from earnings on those investments. Annual dividends have ranged from less than $500 to more than $2,000. In 2014, the payout from the state’s Permanent Fund was $1,884—more than $7,000 for a family of four.

Alaska residents, regardless of age, are eligible for a dividend as long as they aren’t absent from the state for more than 180 days a year or haven’t been convicted or incarcerated for a felony or certain misdemeanors. Residents must apply every year from January 1 through March 31 for the dividend.