Best place to live in WY MT ID?

[bigozzie]

A big difference in Western Montana is Gray winters, we are cloudy most all of the winter. Those who have lived in states with sunny winters, get depressed mid way through winter the days are short and gray.

oz

 

[Straight Arrow]

In Montana, my picks are Choteau, Lewistown, Malta, or Glasgow.

 

[Dan O]

I was born, raised and worked in Great Falls. Decent home prices and the schools are good. The wind is a constant when it's calm it's still 10 mph lol. The summers can be in the 100's and the winters can be -40 a times. The chinook winds can change the temp 50 to 60 degree's in a day. I now live west of the mountains in Seeley Lake. No chinooks here and not much wind. Missoula County is not the place to move. The liberal collage town is never bashful about passing 30 and 40 million dollar bond issues. Property tax is getting way to high. In our area they have inversions keeping the sunshine under cover for weeks at a time. I believe the Elk and Mule Deer hunting is better else where.
Check out Helena and Great Falls areas or some of the small towns near them.

 

[TheJason]

There are so many variables to this question that your best option is to take a road trip and see what areas really float your boat. Then, once you have those dialed in you can begin considering the social and economical aspects of each area. SE Idaho is a beautiful place, but has a strong Mormon influence. For some folks this is a big issue. Many folks say they don't mind wind, and then they see what wind really is around the Rocky Mountain Front or southern Wyoming. Many folks say they don't mind lack of sunshine until they spend a winter in the inland Northwest/NW Montana.

The varieties of habitat types across these three states is mind boggling. If I was a big game only guy, I'd go Wyoming in a heartbeat. If you want upland birds, then you would want to be closer to a state like Montana, western Dakotas, Idaho, etc.

I think Salmon, Idaho would be my dream location. Steelhead, chukars, elk, deer, waterfowl not too far away, wilderness, skiing, mountain biking, and it wouldn't be too far to drive to pick up some Cold Smoke.

 

[Deleted member 16014]

There is probably more variation within each of those three states than there is between their "average". I've lived in Missoula, Helena, Harlowton, Bozeman, the back of a Chevy in the Missouri Breaks for a summer, and Bondurant WY. I travel WY a lot for work, and feel I have a decent idea what WY and MT have to offer. I have spent time in N and SE Idaho, though not enough to know them well compared to WY and MT.

There are reasons that people settled certain places, and those legacy effects influence the lifestyle there. Often that's either farming, ranching, mining/extraction, religion, tourism, or some combination of those. Some people hate places with diverse people groups and tourism (Bozeman/paradise valley, Cody, Jackson, Driggs, etc.), some people thrive on it. I think it has a way of reminding you how fortunate you are to live in a place that people choose to go on vacation. It's not like the hordes are in the mountains, not hard to get away.

Case study: When I moved to WY in 2012 after grad school to work in Pinedale it was still expensive due to a previous gas boom. We ended up renting a house between Jackson and Pinedale, in a town of 100 people (in the summer) with nothing but a gas station that's never open. We soon learned why rent was cheap. It is consistently brutally cold and we don't see the ground from October to the last week of April. For instance, this morning it was -20* in Jackson. Here it was -36*. Both cold, but my car will start at -20. Some years the snow has been high enough that we can't see out of any windows in our house. Avalanches close the highway to Jackson a few times every year. Either way we drive from our house is a major migration corridor for deer, antelope, and elk...cool to see, except they're always on the road in spring and fall.

This is our 5th winter here and we've come to love it. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into but thankfully it worked out. Most people who move here get mentally defeated by the fact that everything is inconvenient. Plow the road, it blows in. Power goes out, you're low on the list. Plant a garden, it freezes every month of the year. Granted the list of pros is amazingly long.

All that to say, if I were on the hunt for a new spot I'd start by looking at the town/city culture I was interested in. Next I'd look at distance to the activities I want to do. If I wanted to spend most of my hunting season doing day hunts from my house, I'd look at a much different landscape than if I wanted pack stock and week long trips. Floating in the summer? Downhill skiing? By the time you get to that point, the level of amenities you desire and cost of living will narrow it down to a handful of spots within WY/MT/ID. Then as you've noted, dig into local knowledge. Long time locals of any location rarely have a good sense of what it's like to move there. Seems obvious, but I'd look for input from folks who've lived a few places and then been in the community you're looking at for a few years up to maybe a decade or two.

Making your own path is rewarding, though usually not easy. That risk is the cost of doing business, and the upside is high.

Good luck with your choice, feel free to send a PM.

 

[Dan O]

My preference would be to live within sight of the mountains but not up in them. The tricky thing is finding an area/city to live in that balances cost of living/services/taxes/opportunities etc without actually living there first. Of course google helps I've been doing research.

Be in sight of the Mountains but not in them. Billings would be another area worth a look. I think there is a good opportunity to live near there in a smaller community but yet find work in Billings. Billings is growing among others Bozeman/Belgrade, Helena and Missoula. Great Falls not so much.

 

[1_pointer]

There is probably more variation within each of those three states than there is between their "average". I've lived in Missoula, Helena, Harlowton, Bozeman, the back of a Chevy in the Missouri Breaks for a summer, and Bondurant WY. I travel WY a lot for work, and feel I have a decent idea what WY and MT have to offer. I have spent time in N and SE Idaho, though not enough to know them well compared to WY and MT.

There are reasons that people settled certain places, and those legacy effects influence the lifestyle there. Often that's either farming, ranching, mining/extraction, religion, tourism, or some combination of those. Some people hate places with diverse people groups and tourism (Bozeman/paradise valley, Cody, Jackson, Driggs, etc.), some people thrive on it. I think it has a way of reminding you how fortunate you are to live in a place that people choose to go on vacation. It's not like the hordes are in the mountains, not hard to get away.

Case study: When I moved to WY in 2012 after grad school to work in Pinedale it was still expensive due to a previous gas boom. We ended up renting a house between Jackson and Pinedale, in a town of 100 people (in the summer) with nothing but a gas station that's never open. We soon learned why rent was cheap. It is consistently brutally cold and we don't see the ground from October to the last week of April. For instance, this morning it was -20* in Jackson. Here it was -36*. Both cold, but my car will start at -20. Some years the snow has been high enough that we can't see out of any windows in our house. Avalanches close the highway to Jackson a few times every year. Either way we drive from our house is a major migration corridor for deer, antelope, and elk...cool to see, except they're always on the road in spring and fall.

This is our 5th winter here and we've come to love it. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into but thankfully it worked out. Most people who move here get mentally defeated by the fact that everything is inconvenient. Plow the road, it blows in. Power goes out, you're low on the list. Plant a garden, it freezes every month of the year. Granted the list of pros is amazingly long.

All that to say, if I were on the hunt for a new spot I'd start by looking at the town/city culture I was interested in. Next I'd look at distance to the activities I want to do. If I wanted to spend most of my hunting season doing day hunts from my house, I'd look at a much different landscape than if I wanted pack stock and week long trips. Floating in the summer? Downhill skiing? By the time you get to that point, the level of amenities you desire and cost of living will narrow it down to a handful of spots within WY/MT/ID. Then as you've noted, dig into local knowledge. Long time locals of any location rarely have a good sense of what it's like to move there. Seems obvious, but I'd look for input from folks who've lived a few places and then been in the community you're looking at for a few years up to maybe a decade or two.

Making your own path is rewarding, though usually not easy. That risk is the cost of doing business, and the upside is high.

Good luck with your choice, feel free to send a PM.

Great advice!

However, this just made me dislike some life decisions and myself even more. Now I get to fight traffic to get home out of a county that has nearly 2X the people of WY...

 

[CubsFan]

I think Salmon, Idaho would be my dream location. Steelhead, chukars, elk, deer, waterfowl not too far away, wilderness, skiing, mountain biking, and it wouldn't be too far to drive to pick up some Cold Smoke.

Interesting I've been researching places to check out and Salmon, ID stuck out. I like visiting a bunch of different places with the idea that I'll fall in love with one and get a vacation property there one day. What is the closest skiing to Salmon?

 

[TheJason]

Interesting I've been researching places to check out and Salmon, ID stuck out. I like visiting a bunch of different places with the idea that I'll fall in love with one and get a vacation property there one day. What is the closest skiing to Salmon?

You aren't that far from Sun Valley. XC skiing off trail wherever you look. Snowshoeing to your heart's content and you could take a rifle and a wolf tag along. It does get pretty cold in that upper Salmon valley.

If you need someone to mow the grass and keep the snakes away, let me know.

 

[----]

What is the closest skiing to Salmon?

You're ~45 minutes from Lost Trail on the Montana Border. It's a great hill.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

-17 this morning in the high desert of Wyoming.

I do not think that you could go wrong with either of the 3.

I would look at the cost of living in each area. Rock Springs / Green River is a lot like Elko, Nevada in that it is a mining town and people make good money. So, the price of everything is higher - except gasoline.

With Coal going the way of the Dodo bird parts of Wyoming may be an uncomfortable place to live.

If you move to Wyoming, I would suggest Laramie or Cheyenne.

In Idaho, if you can make it in Salmon it would be a great place to live. Idaho falls does not have a high cost of living and may be a great option with great fishing close by.

 

[JDH]

-17 this morning in the high desert of Wyoming.

I do not think that you could go wrong with either of the 3.

I would look at the cost of living in each area. Rock Springs / Green River is a lot like Elko, Nevada in that it is a mining town and people make good money. So, the price of everything is higher - except gasoline.

With Coal going the way of the Dodo bird parts of Wyoming may be an uncomfortable place to live.

If you move to Wyoming, I would suggest Laramie or Cheyenne.

In Idaho, if you can make it in Salmon it would be a great place to live. Idaho falls does not have a high cost of living and may be a great option with great fishing close by.

Why do you suggest Laramie or Cheyenne over Casper?

 

[JLDemo]

I can only put my opinion on Wyoming, as I live in Cheyenne, but we like it as a family. There is plenty to do for kids and adults plus the added distance to Fort Collins and Denver, there is also jobs here. (State Capitol, Air Force base that is always hiring civilians) and so on. Breweries? Check. Within a 30-45 minute drive to several great ones. Hunting? Depends on what you want and area, one negative about Cheyenne is you have to drive to get to any quality hunting, but who doesn't like a road trip? This is also a big selling point for me, I can hunt elk, two species of deer, bear over bait or without, mtn. lion, antelope and turkey with over the counter resident tags. Not to mention you can draw others such a better elk area, moose, big horn, mtn. goat and bison. Fishing is not a positive here but it's here, there are several lakes in town that you can take kids to catch fish but the really good walleye lakes are a short drive but are really hit or miss. Since I'm on the topic of lakes I'll tell you this, there is a beach here and we frequent it often. We camp a lot and love to wake board and water ski, there are several lakes to do this on in southern Wyo but we go to Glendo for the beach, our boy loves it and our future daughter will too I'm guessing. We also have a significant number of ski slopes around here being so close to Colorado if that's what your into, I'm just getting into it but really enjoying it. Winters are tough but manageable, the wind blows here during the winter months but it really calms down in the spring/summer so it makes lake season that much more enjoyable. With all that said, one of my favorite things about Cheyenne is the trap league. I love shooting trap and there is a ton of men and women who participate, plus the trap range is in town and serves beer. (lowest score always buys) The houses are pricey but no where near the cost of mountain places such as Jackson or Alpine. Basically there is something to do in every season for you, your wife and kids here in Wyo. No income tax either. Although not as good as Montana, the bird hunting is here. I've only NOT limited out on pheasant one outing this year and that was due to me mistaking blanks for live rounds...I think. I missed a lot that day anyhow. There is duck & geese hunting on the North Platte if you're into that. But to put a stop to this novel, if you have any questions just ask or PM me. Good luck!

 

[TheDudeAbides]

Why do you suggest Laramie or Cheyenne over Casper?

Casper is an interesting place.

I would put it a little above Rock Springs. There is some banking and commerce to supplement the energy jobs in the area. The area is still pretty energy dependent. If the energy sector goes south, then there area will suffer.

With Fracking taking it to coal, that sector is about dead. With unemployment the area may turn into West Virginia and run into issues with substance abuse. (http://america.aljazeera.com/features/2014/3/as-coal-fades-inwestvirginiadrugsfillthevoid.html)

With Fracking being more efficient than older processes, it means that more workers will be unemployed. There are many good hard working oil workers, but there is a stereotype of them for a reason. Workers generally have high anxiety, depression, loneliness, and substance abuse problems. None of the conditions get better with unemployment.

Casper does appear to be stable, but it would just be a worry moving forward. It may not be in the next four years, but it still doesn't look good.

Now, if the country moves to Nuclear Power (up 95% recycling capability,) then Casper could be a hub in Uranium mining - which can bring about some interesting concerns - The most probable concern would be radon in basements. It would be mostly solution mining, which pumps sulfuric acid into the ground to dissolve the uranium molecules and then pump them up to the surface. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_situ_leach)

The reason why Laramie and Cheyenne would be better places is the flexibility in the job markets. If every single job market in that area crashed, you could still feasibly commute to Fort Collins or North Denver for work. In Laramie, the college will always bring in students that do contribute the economy. In Cheyenne the government sector should always lead to commerce in the area.

 

[naturebob]

Phoenix beats em all. 78 degrees today. Screw that - 30 crap. Been back here 1 year now from N. Dakota. Wasted 5 years of my life now that I look back. You can live in the warmth and hunt any where. don't need to live in that Cold crap. Pretty country but not liveable for the common Man. Me and Buddies hunt all over the World. .Happy Winter..Your old friend BOB!

 

[Rancho Loco]

Wow you folks work fast! Thanks for the replies!

I'm in my mid thirties with wife and 1.5 kids, currently living in the northern plains working in agriculture. This would be a fresh start, very likely would be working in transportation, wife is an educator. I never minded harsh weather conditions of any kind (within reason of course). My preference would be to live within sight of the mountains but not up in them. The tricky thing is finding an area/city to live in that balances cost of living/services/taxes/opportunities etc without actually living there first. Of course google helps I've been doing research.
Thanks again for the replies, keep em coming!

Your present career choices are going to have a lot to do with your decision. I'd suggest you start looking there first, and then see where it leads.

 

[Irrelevant]

I think Salmon, Idaho would be my dream location. Steelhead, chukars, elk, deer, waterfowl not too far away, wilderness, skiing, mountain biking, and it wouldn't be too far to drive to pick up some Cold Smoke.

Nailed it!

 

[blb078]

Bumping this back up with some questions. I've gone through a few of the "moving to X" threads and The Warden and I are kind of in a somewhat same/different situation. Same in that we would somewhat move out west but different in that this would be our 3rd home, the others being in MO and FL that we would also "live" in.

I've been to Cheyenne and Laramie a few times and liked them both and logistically either makes sense due to being somewhat close to Denver which would allow us to fly back to MO and/or FL. However the one thing I don't like about them is how flat the land is in a lot of areas. We've been looking at places on 20-50 acres and while I don't have to have mountain views, having at least some rolling hills would be nice.

Because of this we've also look at MT and ID, there is a larger selection of homes/ranchettes/hobby farms mainly due to larger population obviously in both places and the scenery has a little less of that completely flat terrain is seems, but WY offers me a huge benefit similar to what FL does in that there is no state income tax and being self employed with what I've paid the last few years in state taxes it would be a pretty hefty savings for me if I decide to become a resident.

So with that being said can anyone recommend any other places that might not be as flat as Cheyenne or Laramie(or places around there also) but also aren't such a long drive to Denver. I've thought about the SW corner of WY and being able to get to Salt Lake City to fly out of but haven't looked too much into how much air traffic that airport gets, I'm assuming most destinations there are going to have a layover which we where hoping to avoid and is a benefit of Denver.

 

[IDFireLass]

Idaho's public schools for the most part suck!
Property taxes are high and growing. Gas is higher than most other states.
Health care can be good but there is a health gap big time and health care insurance is high.
Hunting is becoming over crowded. Those of you who have moved here in the last 10 years or so think it's good! HA! It was good! Seeing it going into the tubes every year.
Everybody that moves here is a hunter!
Travel time if not living in an urban area is 1-3 hours drive for shopping.
Leave your culture/thoughts at the border become an Idahoan in mind and body.

 

[jvanhoy]

Wow you folks work fast! Thanks for the replies!

I'm in my mid thirties with wife and 1.5 kids, currently living in the northern plains working in agriculture. This would be a fresh start, very likely would be working in transportation, wife is an educator. I never minded harsh weather conditions of any kind (within reason of course). My preference would be to live within sight of the mountains but not up in them. The tricky thing is finding an area/city to live in that balances cost of living/services/taxes/opportunities etc without actually living there first. Of course google helps I've been doing research.
Thanks again for the replies, keep em coming!

I’m just trying to figure out how he has 1.5 kids?