If you are a US citizen planning to become a full time traveler, digital nomad, or early retiree living a nomadic life, one of the first things you need to sort out is your domicile. Your domicile is your legal home base, the state that stays your permanent address even while you are on the road for months or years at a time. It affects your driver license, your voter registration, your insurance, your taxes, and how you file all your official paperwork.

This post is not legal advice. I am not a lawyer or a tax advisor. Everything here is based on my own personal experience establishing domicile in Texas. Please talk to a domicile lawyer and a tax advisor before you make any decisions or take any of the steps I describe below.

Pick a state you’d actually call home

Three states come up again and again in the full time travel and digital nomad community: Texas, Florida, and South Dakota. All three have no state income tax, which is a big part of the appeal.

But before you pick one just because it has no income tax, I’d encourage you to think about it differently. Pick a state that you consider home for the rest of your life, one you have 100% intention to return to after a brief or extended trip abroad. This is not just a mailing address. It is the place your life is legally anchored to, so it should actually feel like somewhere you’d want to plant roots someday.

Why I picked Texas over Florida and South Dakota

Here are the reasons Texas won out for me.

1. I have family relatives in Texas. I am already familiar with the state and have visited many times over the course of my adult life.
2. Texas has no state income tax, and that includes no state tax on capital gains.
3. You don’t need to own a car, a home, or any property to switch your driver license to Texas and establish domicile there. Most digital nomads and full time travelers don’t own any of these. Texas doesn’t require it. You may be asked to sign an affidavit swearing under oath that you don’t own a car, but that’s it.
4. Texas has good international airports with many direct nonstop flights to many parts of the world. That makes international trips a lot more convenient without having to route through multiple domestic connections first.
5. Texas is a beautiful state with a lot of green space once you step outside the major metropolitan areas. If you value peace and quiet, there is a lot to like once you get away from the big cities.
6. The weather is more tolerable than the other two options. It is not miserably humid the way Florida can be, and it is not cold the way South Dakota gets. Texas has its own weather extremes depending on where you are, but overall I find it easier to live with year round. That said, this is less of a concern when you are a full time traveler, since you have the flexibility to just leave and escape the weather during the harsher seasons anyway.
7. Texas has more job opportunities, which matters if you are an early retiree and might want to briefly go back to work for fun at some point. This actually happened to me. I retired early in my mid 40s, and then about a year and a half later I took a job in Texas for six months before quitting again.
8. Affordable homes, in case you ever want to buy again in the US later in life. Somewhere in the countryside with good proximity to international airports and healthcare is a realistic option in Texas in a way it is not in a lot of other states.
9. Texas is home to the Escapees RV club, based in the small town of Livingston. Honestly, that town alone cemented my decision to settle on Texas for domicile. It is lovely, peaceful, and quiet, just outside the busy metro area of Houston, and about an hour’s drive from Houston’s international airport. You do not need to own an RV to join the club. Their mail service address is recognized for legal purposes, including a driver’s license, voter registration, IRS filings, passport, insurance, and Social Security.
10. Jury duty is easier to manage as an Escapees RV club member. The local county may offer a jury duty exemption for members who are traveling, and the organization is familiar with this process since they work with members facing it regularly.
11. Livingston has good, reasonably priced ACA marketplace HMO plans available, in the same town where the Escapees RV club headquarters is located. That made it easy to get solid healthcare coverage tied to the same town I chose for my domicile, without having to hunt for a different area with better plan options.

If Texas sounds right for you too

and some of these reasons resonate with you, here are the steps I followed to establish my domicile there. As always, consult with your own lawyer and tax advisor before executing any of this. I am simply sharing my personal experience to help you prepare your own plan.

1. Before anything else, think about whether your situation is more complicated than mine. Everything in this post assumes you are location independent when it comes to income, which is true for most people living a nomadic or digital nomad lifestyle. If you own a business or rental property in your current home state, or you earn or rely on income tied to that state, your situation is different from what I describe here. None of that applies to me, since I don’t own a business or rental property, and I am an early retiree. But if it applies to you, I’d strongly recommend working through this with a lawyer and a tax professional before taking any of the steps below.
2. Read my post on mail. It explains the logistics and rules around addresses, including mailing addresses versus physical residential addresses, and how banks and other institutions treat each one differently. This is important to understand before you start changing addresses anywhere, so take the time to read the whole post rather than skimming it. The structure matters, not just the individual points.
3. Read my post on banking. It’s just as important to understand how banking works in the US while living as a nomad worldwide, since your bank accounts and how you manage them will be affected by this whole process. Again, read it in full rather than skimming, since the pieces build on each other.
4. If you are new to Texas, visit the state first to explore it for a month or so. Pick a small town like Livingston, home of the Escapees RV club and about an hour’s drive from Houston International Airport. Ask yourself honestly, is this the place I’d consider my domicile for the rest of my life, the place that, if I ever decide to buy a home again after I’m done with full time travel, I’d actually want to buy in. For me, the answer was yes.
5. Check which health insurance plans are available in the county you are considering, since ACA marketplace options vary quite a bit by location. This matters before you commit, because some counties have far better carrier options than others. In my case I found good HMO options from carriers like UnitedHealthcare and Blue Cross in the county, where Livingston is located. I carry an ACA plan for coverage in the US, plus a separate private policy for my international travel. I have a whole post on health insurance for full time travelers if you want coverage that works both in the US and abroad.
6. If you decide to make Texas your domicile after that exploratory visit, contact the Escapees RV club mail service to ask about the process. They will offer some guidance, but they are not legally responsible for establishing your domicile for you. You will need to handle the actual steps yourself, with the help of a lawyer if necessary. If you are still in Texas during your exploratory visit, I’d recommend visiting the office in person. The staff is friendly and the facility itself is beautiful.
7. To sign up for the Escapees mail service, you first need to join the Escapees RV club for a small fee. You don’t need to own an RV to join. The whole process can be done online, and it requires a notarized USPS form, which can be done through a video call to verify it is you. Make sure you read my post on mail before you do this.
8. Once you are approved for the Escapees mail service and they give you your new address, file a change of address with USPS to your new Texas address. This makes sure any mail still trickling in to your old address gets forwarded, and it also creates an official record of your move.
9. After that, start updating your address with your banks, credit cards, cell phone provider, insurance, and any other organization you do business with. I assume by now you’ve read my mail post in full, since it covers important details on how each of these organizations handles the address change.
10. Wait a minimum of 30 days from the date your banks issue a monthly statement showing your new Texas address. The reason for the 30 day wait is that the Texas DPS office will ask for bank statements, insurance statements, or cell phone bills when you apply for your driver license, and those documents need to be at least 30 days old. That said, the 30 day requirement may be waived if you are surrendering an out of state driver license in exchange for a Texas driver license, so it is worth checking on your specific situation before you plan around the wait.
11. Make an appointment online with the DPS to apply for your Texas driver license. I’d recommend picking Livingston for the appointment, since that office is familiar with the Escapees RV club. Schedule the appointment far enough out to give your banks, insurance, and cell phone provider time to issue statements showing your new Texas address, at least 30 days old by the appointment date. Bring your US passport and social security card, since the process is for a Real ID.
12. If you have a car registered in a different state, consider selling it before applying for your Texas driver license. As a full time traveler spending most of your time overseas, you likely don’t need a car sitting unused back in the US. Selling it also saves you the headache of transferring registration from your old state to Texas, and Texas won’t require car insurance for the driver license application if you don’t own one. If you do sell your car, I’d recommend getting a non-owner liability insurance policy with your Texas address, in case you need to rent or drive occasionally when you are back in the country. That policy document can also serve as one of the accepted proof of address documents when you apply for your Texas driver license.
13. Cut all ties with your current state before applying for the Texas driver license. This includes selling your car and home if you have them, clearing out any storage units, updating all your official records and banks to your new Texas address, and removing your voter registration from your current state. Nothing should still be tied to your old state, including your employer or client if you quit your job or wrap up a contract partway through the year. Make sure any tax forms tied to that income, like a W-2 or 1099, get updated with your new Texas address before they’re issued for the year.
14. Attend your appointment in person in Livingston to apply for the driver license. If you already hold a driver license from another state, the process is straightforward. You surrender your old license, take the vision test, get your photo and fingerprints taken, and submit documents proving your Texas address. Online bank statements, insurance statements, and cell phone bills can fulfill that requirement. For proof of identity, bring a valid US passport and your social security card.
15. You can register to vote in the same application when you apply for your driver license.
16. It takes about 2 to 3 weeks to receive your driver license and voter registration card by mail.
17. Sign up for the local library in Livingston in person. You will need to show proof of address, and physical mail (not a printed online statement) sent to your new Texas address will satisfy that requirement. They will mail you a library card about two weeks later. I really love this library, it is beautiful and quiet, and they also offer digital books online, which is perfect if you are a digital nomad or traveling full time.
18. Pick a primary doctor and dentist in Livingston for all your future visits, and stop seeing any doctor or dentist in your previous state. Even if you are healthy and do not usually see a doctor, make a point of doing your annual checkup in Texas. Your legal domicile is now Texas, and it is worth treating it that way consistently.
19. If the tax filing deadline is still far away, go ahead and file a change of address with the IRS. But if you are close to filing your taxes anyway, you may not need to do this separately, since filing your return with your new Texas address updates the IRS records at the same time. Check with your tax advisor on which approach fits your timing.
20. When it is time to file taxes, file with your new Texas address. If you moved mid year, you may still owe state tax to your previous state for the portion of the year you lived there. Consult with your tax advisor on this.
21. Go through everything in your life one more time and make sure nothing is still tied to your previous state. Avoid visiting your previous state if you do not have to, including avoiding connecting flights through that state. This does not mean cutting off family or friends who still live there. Of course you can still stay in touch with them. It is about your official ties to the state, not your personal relationships. In my case, all my family relatives are in Texas, which worked out perfectly for me.
22. Vote in Texas in person at the local polling location assigned to you by the county, in every election if you get the chance. It is your civic duty, so make the effort to do so.
23. This one is not required for domicile, but if you are an early retiree who is curious like me and wants to experiment with new things in life, you could test out what it is actually like to work and live in Texas. This is what I did. I interrupted my worldwide full time travel for a little over six months to work in Texas, leased an apartment, bought a brand new car, and furnished the place from scratch. After I left the job, I sold the car and the furniture, and resumed early retirement and traveling again. I am glad I did it. Texas is still my home state and the only state I return to between trips overseas.

That’s the full path I took. It is not a fast process, and it takes some patience, especially the 30 day waiting period for statements. But once it is done, you have a stable legal home base that lets you travel as much as you want, fully disconnected from the state you used to live in.

Mail and Jury Duty

I’d strongly encourage you to read my post on mail in full, not just skim it. In that post I cover how addresses work for banks, your driver license, voter registration, jury duty, insurance, passport, and a handful of other cases where your address matters more than people realize. It is the kind of thing that is easy to get wrong if you only read parts of it, so take the time to go through the whole post before you start changing anything.

Banking

I’d also recommend reading my post on banking in full. It covers how to manage your banks, credit cards, and brokerage accounts while living as a nomad worldwide, along with details that are easy to overlook if you are only skimming for the highlights.

Again, please don’t treat this as a substitute for real legal and tax advice. Talk to a domicile lawyer and a tax advisor who can look at your specific situation before you start this process.