Politics around Missoula (Stevensville, Corvallis: real estate, college, income)

[G&G]

Hello all, My husband and I are moving to Montana in the next year....while we are from Minnesota we are very Republican. I am a little curious to how Missoula (thinking of moving around there, darby, stevensville...) politics are. Are the crack pot, hard core liberals overtaking from Cali? I do not want to get stuck living somewhere banging my head against the wall because they are going to move in and try to change the way of life I am expecting to have.

[NYMTman]

Missoula's already far and away the most liberal area of Montana. Hell, there's a "Hemp-fest" in town every year.

I'm from New York and lived in Missoula for several years, and your average Missoulian seemed to me to be every bit as liberal as your average New Yorker. If not more so.

My mother went to college in Missoula in the 70's and claimed that even back then (before the California invasion) it was very liberal. It is a college town, after all, and college towns tend to lean to the left.

[MontanaGuy]

Are the crack pot, hard core liberals overtaking from Cali?

No, we were already liberal before any Californians moved in. I think you'll feel right at home, Montana is generally a red state and the great majority of Montanans are pretty conservative. College towns do tend to be more liberal and Missoula has always been known for it's liberal leanings. I think it just seems more liberal because it's an outpost of liberalism in the middle of a huge area of conservatism and the contrast is very apparent. I know the word liberal has been made into a dirty word by the far right but it's just a political label after all. Anyway, I don't think you'll have anything to worry about.

[talibkwali]

Stay away from Stevensville if you want to avoid drugs! So many people come from Stevi to Corvallis to get away from the meth there.

[lorelei2873]

Missoula is kind of a hippy-ish town, but it has a lot of great selling points. It's always kind of been that way. I don't think a Republican would feel out of place anywhere in Montana. Montana's status as a red or blue state is very debatable, as we have a Democrat for a governor and two Democrats for senators. I'd say we're purple. We're kind of populist in some areas. There's a lot of talk about the new western Democrats--the gun toting, business-development minded Demos. Montana is about as individualistic and moderate as you can get. We embrace an interesting assortment of political ideals that in many states would seem completely discordant. You'll find an equal number of hard liners from both parties...but Missoula is a little more classically hippy-ish.

[G&G]

Hmmmmmm....the drug thing scares me a little, but Meth is a drug of rural backround. We find that here in Minnesota as well, a lot of farm communities have a bigger problem. We are not "radical right", I just Hate extreme political correctness and absurd Liberalism's but I won't get started or I will not be able to stop. Thanks for the tips!

[Hoosier]

I live in the Twin Cities and my wife was raised in Missoula and went to the U. Missoula is a fantastic town to live in and is so beautiful! As you may know it's very different from Minnesota. Comparing the two I do think Missoula is much more liberal than the Minneapolis area. There are many conservative families that live in the Missoula area. Regarding real estate I would recommend you consider staying in the Missoula area. It's a great place with many wonderful options for housing.

[YOU-CANT-EAT-SCENERY]

I'm just tired of most everyone looking at Californians as liberal not all of us are.

[JoeJoeMan]

Hoosier_Guy

Regarding real estate I would recommend you consider staying in the Missoula area. It's a great place with many wonderful options for housing.

Huh ? ..........It's about as expensive as it is liberal.
And lots of drugs. But you won't have to worry about the liberals moving in, as they're already here and run the town.
If you are interested in moving somewhere republician/conservative why did you ever pick western montana ? Missoula in particular, gays, drugs, tofu, greenies, you name it, and the influence impragnates the surroundings areas.

[MontanaGuy]

Missoula in particular, gays, drugs, tofu, greenies, you name it, and the influence impragnates the surroundings areas.

I'm moderately liberal but I've never even tried tofu in my life.

Regarding real estate I would recommend you consider staying in the Missoula area.

JoeJoeMan is right about real estate in Missoula. It really is high priced. Check out Realtor.com and compare some of the different towns in Montana and you'll see some dramatic differences in housing costs. Some of the smaller towns in eastern Montana are really cheap but western Montana is a whole different situation. If someone was looking for some really great deals on real estate and they don't mind cold weather take a look at places like Iowa, Nebraska and that part of the country. Eastern Wyoming is also cheap although it's not very scenic but then Wyoming doesn't even have a state income tax so that's a plus. There's alot of options besides western Montana.