thinking of moving from portland or to missoula mt (rental, credit card)

[cfuller1989]

So my wife lived in missoula mt about 12 years ago back when she was about 10 years old.... she remembers alot about it and really wants to move back there and start out our life there... i have been trying to do research on missoula and found things like climate ect.... i have ben have trouble finding jobs for both of us.... can people maybe give me a website to better look for jobs?? Can people also give me insite on how they like living there in missoiula or surrounding area's... is there alot to do down there? is missoula growing alot? thanks for all the help!!!

[Mt-7]

Hello and welcome,
here is an older thread to get you started.
http://www.city-data.com/forum/monta...-missoula.html
Good luck and let us know how it is going.

[cfuller1989]

i reviewed the links you gave me. thanks for that... is there anywhere that i could look only for jobs in missoula.... could anyone give me insight on how they like living in missoula or sounding areas... i would be thankful.

cory

[setnomacor]

...but otherwise it is pleasant. There are lots of recreational things to do here, and the people here are pretty friendly. I have lived here for 11 years, and will be moving to a warmer climate due to medical conditions. It is cold and cloudy most of the year, but certainly not as cold as other towns in Montana. Since you hav lived in Oregon, you will be used to the cloudiness.It has grown by leaps and bounds since the early 1990's, but has slowed over the last few years. My husband, who worked in the housing industry, got laid off and had to get a job in the service industry. Getting a good paying job here can be tough, wages are quite low in Montana. Housing is expensive compared to the wages. Many people I know work 2 jobs. It can be a kind of transient town, and by that I mean people are constantly coming and going, the main draw being the university, and they retreat indoors in the winter. Missoula is mainly a large trading post and this is how the town was started, serving the five surrounding valleys.THe main industry here is service, and this is one of the reasons wages are so low. Groceries are quite expensive due to the fact that there are no distribution centers within 300 miles of here, so you pay for the shipping costs at the check out. The way I always tell people to find a job is through the local job service web site. Not sure the exact, but just search Missoula job service. You can also look at the local paper site, Missoulian online. On the plus side, the summers are not too hot, the traffic is not bad (unless you are a local and have lived here when Missoula was half its size, or are from one of the out-lying areas of pop 100), and the city itself usually doesn't get as much snow as the mountains or some of the other Montana towns. If you like hiking, the city owns 2 mountains, Mount Sentinel, and Mount Jumbo(yes, it is named after a famous circus elephant it resembles) and has a multitude of trails and large recreational areas, three rivers nearby, one of them actually flowing right through town. There are many opportunites for skiing and snowboarding, sno-bowl is only a few miles from town. As far as the social scene goes, it is probably great if you go the U, or are a parent, but for me, most of my friends have moved away, and I am married with no children, so there are very few people like me here. It is difficult to find anything to do that does not either cater to nature-moms or college partiers. We do have a pretty good local college football team, and a local baseball team. Heating costs here can be quite high in the winter. For my 500 foot 2 bedroom apt, I pay about 300 per month in the winter for electricity. I am not a hunter, but there are lots of opportunities in Monanta for hunting, bow-hunting and fishing. As far as entertainment goes, we really do not have too many large acts to come through, and this is mainly because the venue(Addams Center and the U) is either not large enough or does not have quality sound. Elton John has been here once, and the Stones were here once, but we may have one large scale act per year or every other year. THere are many local bands and outdoor celebrations in the summer, and there are other smaller venues that ususally house the concerts and shows, mostly they appear in the Wilma building. I have read the average income per household here is right around 30,000 per year, and the average cost of a house is around 250,000. The only people I know who own thier own house do nothing else because thier house payment is too high. I have known many college graduates who have chosen to go back into the service industry because they could not find jobs. I have worked as a restaurant manager and had a high school drop out on my left earning more than a college graduate on my right. I cannot stress enough how difficult it is to get a high paying job with enough hours to live on. Sometimes the job has a good hourly wage, but not enough hours available. Most places will reward you for being reliable and coming to work on time, because as an employer I can tell you it can be hard to come by in a college town. Hope I helped you.

[griz134]

I live in Portland and would like to return to Missoula. I went to the U in the mid 80's, and love it there. I lived in other parts of Montana, but like Missoula the best. I had to leave to find work that paid a living wage. I got that in Portland. I would never move to Montana, and then start looking for work. You will starve to death. My current company also serves Montana, so I'm waiting out a transfer someday. I would make the same money as I do in Portland which would be a great wage in Missoula.

[Rickers]

Originally Posted by griz134

I would never move to Montana, and then start looking for work. You will starve to death.

Not necessarily, we moved here with about two thousand bucks in my wallet, no savings account and no credit cards, no job lined up, no place to live lined up, just my wife and I with our rigs loaded up like the Beverly Hillbillies. We stayed in a motel while we looked for a cheap rental and jobs. I worked for Temp companies at first until I got a real job in a machine shop. We bought our first place after we became self employed selling our artwork at gun shows and craft shows.
We have had two stores since then and have bought another property.
We now are about to re open one of our stores selling kayaks and jewelry.
Never say never is what I say. My wife and I are not afraid of taking risks in order to have a better life than we had when we were renting and working at $hittie little jobs. We have really struggled at times though, I remember us sleeping in the back of our little Toyota in a gun show parking lot with a leaky topper in the middle of winter with only two dogs to keep us warm. Now we are doing fine even through this economic rough patch. I'm starting to get bored wasting time on the computer so I'm going to start back up manufacturing jewelry and selling kayaks. Retiring early is over rated !