For a while, I was trying on old phones. I had LineageOS on my Samsung Galaxy S2, and it had a lot of problems (camera did not work, it would sometimes get hot and reboot, etc). Not the best experience but it was fun to try when my S2 got old.
Recently I feel like alt OSes have become really mature. I have been using a de-Googled /e/OS on a Fairphone 3+ for 1.5 years and I don't have anything to complain about the system. Even the store now works very well.
So I'd say, for your next phone, choose something that is well supported by those alternative OSes (typically Fairphone is), so that you can try, and fallback to stock Android if that's not working for you.
It's based in the Netherlands. Not sure how difficult it is for Fairphone to work in the US, my understanding is that the US carriers are trickier than others.
Recently I feel like alt OSes have become really mature. I have been using a de-Googled /e/OS on a Fairphone 3+ for 1.5 years and I don't have anything to complain about the system. Even the store now works very well.
So I'd say, for your next phone, choose something that is well supported by those alternative OSes (typically Fairphone is), so that you can try, and fallback to stock Android if that's not working for you.