Housing prices are climbing in most of the world in ways that are hard to ignore. In the US, for example, the average traditional home price reached around $512,000 in 2025, while the average "tiny house" costs only about $67,000. (source)

That gap, on top of rising rents, is one of the reasons people are searching for alternative ways to live. This full list covers 15 living styles across 4 groups, from the most independent and nomadic, to the styles closest to everyday city life. Each style includes: its history, a real example, its pros and cons, and a source for every fact.

Group One: Primitive and Mobile Living

1. Tents and Yurts

Two gers (Mongolian yurts) on the Mongolian steppe, 1994. Source: Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

A round, portable dwelling traditionally made of felt and wood, used by the nomadic peoples of Central Asia for thousands of years.

History: The Mongolian ger dates back more than 3,000 years and is historically tied to Genghis Khan and his empire. It entered America more recently through William Coperthwaite, who was inspired by a 1962 National Geographic article and began building and popularizing yurt designs in the West. (Source: National Geographic)

Real example: Today, more than 60% of residents in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia's capital, still live in entire districts made of gers (called "ger districts"), a figure that reaches as high as 90% when including rural residents.

Cost & Skills: A ready-made yurt kit with foundation and setup runs roughly $6,000 to $32,000 depending on size and insulation, and assembling it needs no specialized trade skills, just basic hands-on assembly following instructions. (Source)

Pros: Low build cost, can be dismantled and moved within an hour, relatively good thermal insulation. Cons: Doesn't hold up well against harsh weather without frequent maintenance, limited living space.

2. Caves and Dug-Out Homes

A traditional troglodyte house in Matmata, Tunisia. Photo by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Using the earth's natural insulation to live directly underground, instead of building on top of it.

History: One of the most famous examples is Matmata in southern Tunisia, Berber homes dug into the sandy rock for centuries, where a circular pit is dug first, then rooms are carved around its perimeter. The area wasn't internationally known until the 1969 floods. It became world-famous after parts of Star Wars were filmed there in 1976, with one of the houses (now the Sidi Driss Hotel) serving as Luke Skywalker's home in the film. (Source: Wikipedia)

Another real example: The Sacromonte neighborhood in Granada, Spain, where the Roma settled in hillside caves starting in the 15th century after the fall of Granada, and some are still inhabited today. (Source: National Geographic)

Cost & Skills: Professionally built earth-sheltered homes run about $100 to $200 per square foot, while traditional hand-dug construction (like Matmata) relies mainly on manual labor with almost no material cost. Building it safely requires real knowledge of soil behavior and excavation engineering to avoid collapse. (Source)

Pros: Excellent natural thermal insulation (cool in summer, warm in winter) with no air conditioning, very low build cost. Cons: Limited humidity control and ventilation, structural risks if not dug properly, and difficulty running modern utility lines.

3. Treehouses

A treehouse of the Korowai tribe in Papua New Guinea. CC BY 2.0.

Wooden homes built atop large tree trunks, usually as a way of living independent from public electricity and water networks.

Cost & Skills: A basic treehouse averages $4,000 to $15,000 to build, and doing it yourself can save 50-60% on labor costs. The core skill needed is general carpentry, plus knowing how to anchor safely to a living tree without harming it. (Source)

Pros: Full integration with the surrounding nature, keeps the dwelling above flood levels and wild animals. Cons: Limited space and weight the tree can bear, ongoing maintenance of the tree itself as a living structural element, and safety risks (especially for children).

4. Van Life

Converted campervan interior by The Wee Camper Co. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Converting a van or trailer into a fully self-contained mobile home with a bed and small kitchen.

History: The idea traces back to the hippie movement and the colorful Volkswagen buses of the 1960s, but the #vanlife hashtag that turned it into a global movement was started by photographer Foster Huntington in 2011 after he quit his job and bought an old van. (Source: Wikipedia)

Cost & Skills: A DIY conversion typically costs $5,000 to $35,000 depending on how finished it is, versus $9,000 to well over $75,000 for a professional build. No prior experience is required to start, but basic carpentry, electrical, and insulation knowledge speeds things up and reduces costly mistakes. (Source)

Pros: Complete geographic freedom, cheaper than rent in expensive cities, suited to remote work. Cons: Very little space for long-term living, difficulty finding legal and safe parking every night, and maintenance and fuel costs.

5. Liveaboard Boats

Houseboats on the Navigli canal in Milan. CC BY 2.0.

Converting a yacht or houseboat into a permanent home in a marina or waterway.

Real example: The Gangplank Marina in Washington, D.C. has hosted, since 1977, one of the largest "liveaboard" communities in America, with 88 slips designated for permanent residents.

Cost & Skills: A livable entry-level sailboat can be bought for $5,000 to $15,000, on top of a monthly liveaboard marina surcharge of $200 to $800. This lifestyle requires basic sailing ability and the willingness to handle your own simple electrical and mechanical boat maintenance. (Source)

Pros: Waterfront views and calm, the ability to move between coastal cities in the same boat. Cons: Most marinas don't allow permanent residency (long waitlists for the ones that do), and maintenance and mooring costs can equal a regular apartment's rent.

Group Two: Alternative Building and Stable Self-Sufficiency

6. Earthships

Earthship buildings in Taos, New Mexico. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Homes built from solid waste (tires, bottles, cans) and covered in earth, managing their own energy and water.

History: Developed by architect Michael Reynolds in Taos, New Mexico, who built the first one in 1972 out of aluminum cans before switching to earth-rammed tires (around 800-900 tires per house). (Source)

Cost & Skills: A contractor-built Earthship runs $200 to $300 per square foot, while a self-built version using reclaimed materials can drop to around $150 or less. The work itself (hand-pounding earth into tires) is physically demanding and needs no professional license, but it does demand real physical stamina and patience over several months. (Source)

Pros: Near-complete independence from public utility grids, genuine recycling of waste as building material. Cons: High labor cost and time required to build, and building permits are difficult in many states (Reynolds himself lost his architecture license for 17 years over this).

7. Tiny Houses

A tiny house on wheels in Maine, USA. CC BY 2.0.

Homes that usually don't exceed 40 square meters, either on a fixed foundation or a movable trailer.

History: The revival of the modern movement is credited to Jay Shafer, who built a home of just 9 square meters in the late 1990s and founded the Small House Society in 2002.

By the numbers: The average tiny house in America costs around $67,000 (87% cheaper than a traditional home), and 68% of owners carry no mortgage on it. (Source)

Skills Needed: Basic carpentry covers most of the self-build, but a trailer-mounted tiny house also calls for understanding weight distribution and towing, plus basic electrical and compact plumbing work. (Source)

Pros: Much lower build and furnishing costs, easy to move (if on wheels), smaller environmental footprint. Cons: Zoning laws in many cities don't allow them as permanent residences, and very limited storage for families.

8. Log Cabins / Cob Houses

A wooden log cabin in the forest, Slovakia. CC BY-SA 3.0.

Hand-built construction using wood or a mix of clay, straw, and sand, following old traditional methods.

History: This style was revived in North America by Welsh architect Ianto Evans and his partner Linda Smiley, after they studied centuries-old clay buildings in Britain and Ireland, and built the first modern cob house in North America (moving into it in 1989), then founded the Cob Cottage Company in 1993 in Oregon. (Source: Wikipedia)

Cost & Skills: A professionally built cob house runs $150 to $450 per square foot, but the core materials (clay, straw, sand) can cost as little as $3,000 to $6,000 for a small self-built structure. Cob is famously easy to learn with no prior experience, though it demands a lot of collective physical labor. (Source)

Pros: Nearly free building materials (local earth), fully self-buildable without a contractor, good natural thermal insulation. Cons: Requires significant collective physical labor and a long time (months), and relatively weak thermal insulation if not combined with other insulating materials.

9. Off-Grid Homes

An off-grid cabin powered by solar panels. Photo by Steve Hillebrand, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, public domain.

An ordinary house, not necessarily built any differently, whose owner chooses to disconnect entirely from public power, water, and sewage networks, generating and storing everything needed through solar or wind power, wells, and tanks.

History: The modern roots trace back to America's back-to-the-land movement between the mid-1960s and mid-1970s, inspired by Helen and Scott Nearing's book "Living the Good Life" (1954), Stewart Brand's Whole Earth Catalog (1968), and Mother Earth News magazine (1970). By the end of the 1970s, more than a million people had relocated to rural America in search of this way of living. (Source: Wikipedia)

By the numbers: Home Power magazine estimates at least 180,000 American families currently live off-grid, and some market research expects that number to keep rising as solar panel and battery costs keep falling. (Source)

Cost & Skills: A full setup (solar panels, well, septic) typically runs $20,000 to $100,000 depending on the land and its complexity. The most important skill here isn't construction itself, but the ability to diagnose and maintain your own power and water systems, since there's no utility company to call when something breaks. (Source)

Pros: Complete independence from utility bills and power or water outages, freedom to choose a remote, isolated location. Cons: High upfront cost for panels, batteries, a well, and septic systems, and full responsibility for maintaining every system yourself with no backup network.

Group Three: Intentional Communities

10. Ecovillages

The community-owned wind turbines at Findhorn Ecovillage. Public domain.

Communities intentionally planned to collectively produce their own energy, food, and water.

History: Researchers Robert and Diane Gilman coined the term in 1991 in a report for the Danish Gaia Trust, which led to the founding of the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) in 1995 at a conference in Findhorn, Scotland. More than 400 registered ecovillages exist worldwide today. (Source)

Real example: Findhorn itself (founded as a community in 1962) consumes about 50% fewer resources than the British average, thanks to community-owned wind turbines. (Source)

Cost & Skills: Joining fees vary enormously: zero at some villages like Dancing Rabbit, around $10,000 in membership fees at Earthaven, and up to $40,000 for a lot lease at White Hawk. No particular trade skill is required to join, but communication and consensus decision-making matter more than any certificate. (Source)

Pros: Division of tasks eases the burden on individuals, strong social safety net, lower cost of living. Cons: Difficulty of collective decision-making (the number one reason most ecovillages fail), and a long membership period before full acceptance.

11. Communal-Ownership Agricultural Communes

A Hutterite farming colony in Manitoba, Canada (historical photo). Public domain.

Communities that live and work through collective farming, where land and income are owned jointly by everyone, not by individuals.

History: The oldest and largest surviving model is the Hutterite communities of North America, founded by Jakob Hutter as an Anabaptist religious movement in 1528 in Europe, which migrated to North America in 1874 (the first colony in South Dakota). Today, around 40,000-50,000 Hutterites live across roughly 400 farming "colonies" in Canada and the US, still managing their farms under full collective ownership. (Source: Wikipedia)

Cost & Skills: No personal capital is required to join since everything is communally owned, but acceptance requires strict religious and doctrinal commitment, along with practical farming and trade skills that serve the community (agriculture, carpentry, communal cooking). (Source: Wikipedia)

Pros: Near-complete economic security (no unemployment or rent within the community), collective education and healthcare. Cons: Major restrictions on individual property and personal decisions, and a close tie to a strict religious/doctrinal system that's hard to join from the outside.

12. Cohousing

The Marmalade Lane cohousing development in Cambridge, UK. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Each family fully owns their own independent home, but the building shares common spaces and facilities.

History: The idea emerged in Denmark in the early 1970s, and was brought to North America by architect Kathryn McCamant and her husband Charles Durrett through their 1988 book, and they designed the first American cohousing complex (Muir Commons in California). (Source)

By the numbers: There are more than 170 cohousing communities across 36 US states today. (Source)

Cost & Skills: Unit prices usually track the regular housing market in the same city, from affordable examples around $120,000 in cost-conscious developments to well over $700,000 in expensive locations. No construction skill is needed, but a willingness to attend regular management meetings and participate in group decisions is essential. (Source)

Pros: High-quality shared tools instead of duplicating them in every home, full privacy paired with a supportive community. Cons: High initial setup cost, and a commitment to attending regular meetings to manage the complex.

More Examples of Intentional Communities Around the World

The Matrimandir, the spiritual center of Auroville, Tamil Nadu, India. Photo by Matthew T. Rader, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The list above covers general patterns, but behind it are hundreds of real intentional communities around the world. Some of the best known:

Auroville (India): An "experimental universal township" founded by Mirra Alfassa ("the Mother") in 1968, inaugurated with delegates from 124 nations. Designed to hold 50,000 people, it's currently home to around 3,300 residents from 61 nationalities, making it the oldest and largest surviving international intentional community in the world. (Source: Wikipedia)

Twin Oaks (Virginia, USA): Founded in 1967 by eight people on a 123-acre former tobacco farm, inspired by psychologist B. F. Skinner's novel "Walden Two," built on income-sharing and full equality among members. Around 100 adults live there today, funding the community through their tofu and hammock businesses. (Source: Wikipedia)

Tamera (Portugal): Founded in 1995 by psychoanalyst Dieter Duhm along with Sabine Lichtenfels and Rainer Ehrenpreis in the Alentejo region, described as a "peace research village" aiming to build a self-sufficient, replicable model of nonviolent cooperation between people and nature. (Source: Wikipedia)

Group Four: Alternatives Within the City

13. Urban Co-Living

A shared kitchen in student housing in Uppsala, Sweden. CC BY 2.0.

Several people share one apartment or building within the city, splitting rent, tools, and cooking.

Real example: Habyt and Common, two of the largest co-living operators worldwide, merged in 2023 to manage more than 30,000 units across 40 cities in 14 countries. (Source)

Cost & Skills: Monthly rent typically runs $1,600 to $2,600 in major cities (including Wi-Fi, bills, and cleaning), with no upfront build cost at all. No particular skill is required beyond being comfortable living with strangers and sharing common spaces. (Source)

Pros: Noticeably lower living expenses, flexibility to change residence, a ready-made social community. Cons: Less privacy, and high sensitivity to poor personal fit between residents.

14. Housing Cooperatives

The Kalkbreite housing cooperative building in Zurich. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Residents buy a "share" in a non-profit association that owns the entire building, instead of buying an individual apartment from a for-profit developer.

History: The world's most famous example is in Zurich, Switzerland, where housing cooperatives began in the late 19th century and expanded significantly after a 1907 municipal referendum made financing easier. The ABZ cooperative alone (founded 1916) houses more than 12,000 people today. In Vienna, 43% of the city's housing falls under a similar non-profit model. (Source)

Cost & Skills: Market-rate cooperatives usually require a down payment equal to 20-25% of the unit's value, while limited-equity co-ops can have a share price as low as around $5,000. No construction skill is needed, but you're typically expected to serve on building management committees after joining. (Source)

Pros: Much lower rents than the market rate (since the goal isn't profit), and long-term stability with no risk of sudden eviction. Cons: Very long waitlists to join in the cities where it works well, and limited spread outside Europe.

Important note: This is entirely different from unauthorized building occupation ("squatting"), which spread across Europe in the 1970s and 80s (Amsterdam, Berlin) as a protest against housing crises. Most of that movement has become formally illegal in recent years (the Netherlands fully criminalized it in October 2010), and some historically squatted buildings later became formal housing cooperatives after legal negotiation. I'd advise against treating squatting as a practical option today; legal cooperatives are the practical, sustainable alternative. (Source)

15. House Sitting / Workaway

A person caring for several dogs on a walk. Photo by Wikimedia user Colin, CC BY-SA 3.0.

A mobile way of living without a fixed home, by staying in other people's houses in exchange for caring for the property or their pets while they travel, or in exchange for simple daily work hours.

History: One of the best-known platforms in this space is TrustedHousesitters, founded by Andy Peck in Britain in 2010, which today connects members in more than 140 countries. Workaway operates on a slightly different model: exchanging 4-5 hours of daily work (farming, carpentry, teaching) for housing and food. (Source)

Cost & Skills: Entry cost is nearly zero: TrustedHousesitters annual membership runs $129 to $299, and Workaway membership is only about $49 a year. The skills needed depend on the platform: basic pet care and responsibility for house sitting, and practical skills (farming, carpentry, teaching) for Workaway. (Source)

Pros: Nearly zero housing cost while traveling, a chance to live a genuine local experience in a new country. Cons: Not suitable as a permanent or stable housing solution, and requires high flexibility and real commitment to the agreed-upon tasks.

In Summary

Fifteen styles, from a cave in Tunisia to a shared apartment in a city center, but they all share one thing in common: lowering individual cost by sharing resources or giving some of them up, to varying degrees of independence and sharing.

All Sources Used

• Tiny House Statistics 2025 – illustrarch
• Yurt – National Geographic Education
• Matmata, Tunisia – Wikipedia
• Cave dwellers of Granada – National Geographic
• Van-dwelling – Wikipedia
• Earthship History
• Ianto Evans – Wikipedia
• Back-to-the-land movement – Wikipedia
• How Many People Live Off-Grid in the US – Battlbox
• Robert Gilman – Wikipedia
• Findhorn Foundation History
• Hutterites – Wikipedia
• Kathryn McCamant – Wikipedia
• Auroville – Wikipedia
• Twin Oaks Community, Virginia – Wikipedia
• Tamera – Wikipedia
• Alternative Housing in the U.S. – StorageCafe
• Co-Living Market Report – Market.us
• Cooperative housing in Zurich – Shelterforce
• Squatting – Wikipedia
• TrustedHousesitters – About
• Yurt Cost Guide – HomeGuide
• Costs of Building an Earth-Sheltered Home
• Treehouse Cost Guide – HomeGuide
• Van Conversion Cost Breakdown – The Van Smith
• Affordable Liveaboard Sailboats – Life of Sailing
• Earthship Cost Guide – HomeGuide
• Cob House Building Cost – Angi
• Off-Grid Solar System Cost Guide – This Old House
• What It Costs – Earthaven Ecovillage
• Cohousing Costs – Cohousing Association of the US
• Co-living NYC: Common in Crown Heights – Brownstoner
• Market-Rate and Limited-Equity Co-ops Explained – ROC USA

All images in this article are from Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons or public domain licenses, with photographer and license credited under each image. Note: market-size figures (like the number of co-living units) are rough estimates that vary between research firms.