Moving to Great Falls (Billings, Missoula: to rent, insurance, crime rate)

[Glitch]

My sister, who currently doesn't have Internet access, will be moving to Great Falls sometime in early October and I was hoping to give her some helpful advice. She currently lives in a small town (pop. 653) in Wisconsin and works as a Certified Nursing Assistant.

She picked Great Falls primarily because of the hospital located there and its size, figuring that her chances of getting job would improve. She has already applied at a couple of places in Great Falls, but hasn't heard back from them yet. Her biggest concern is finding a nice place to rent that will allow her to keep her dog.

From what I have been able to ascertain from reading threads here is as follows: Great Falls is a fairly conservative city with friendly people who love the outdoors. I also read that Great Falls is pretty windy, all year round. Cold in the winter (which she is used to) and cool in the summer (unlike Wisconsin).

I'm hoping what I read was accurate. Any advice would be welcome.

[GiftShoppeGuy]

Originally Posted by Glitch

My sister, who currently doesn't have Internet access, will be moving to Great Falls sometime in early October and I was hoping to give her some helpful advice. She currently lives in a small town (pop. 653) in Wisconsin and works as a Certified Nursing Assistant.

She picked Great Falls primarily because of the hospital located there and its size, figuring that her chances of getting job would improve. She has already applied at a couple of places in Great Falls, but hasn't heard back from them yet. Her biggest concern is finding a nice place to rent that will allow her to keep her dog.

From what I have been able to ascertain from reading threads here is as follows: Great Falls is a fairly conservative city with friendly people who love the outdoors. I also read that Great Falls is pretty windy, all year round. Cold in the winter (which she is used to) and cool in the summer (unlike Wisconsin).

I'm hoping what I read was accurate. Any advice would be welcome.

The wind blows year round in the Big Timber, Yellowstone basin areas.
It only really blows in Great Falls when fall turns to winter and when winter turns to spring

Great Falls "is not" windy all year long.
Truth be known... the wind blows more in Billings than it does here.

[jimj]

Originally Posted by GiftShoppeGuy

Great Falls "is not" windy all year long.
Truth be known... the wind blows more in Billings than it does here.

Wouldn't that depend on if the state polititians are in Billings or Great Falls?

[GiftShoppeGuy]

Originally Posted by jimj

Wouldn't that depend on if the state polititians are in Billings or Great Falls?

Actually, Chicago is the "windy city" when it comes to politics.
Chicago was tag lined the windy city because of all of the political B.S. that floats around during election time. The title has absolutely nothing to do with actual weather driven wind.

Chicago is not at all as windy, weatherwise, as some areas are in Montana.

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by GiftShoppeGuy

The wind blows year round in the Big Timber, Yellowstone basin areas.
It only really blows in Great Falls when fall turns to winter and when winter turns to spring

Great Falls "is not" windy all year long.
Truth be known... the wind blows more in Billings than it does here.

Thanks! I'll let her know - The wind only blows when the politicians are campaigning.

Is there much crime in Great Falls? Should she avoid moving to any particular area in Great Falls, or does it matter?

[GiftShoppeGuy]

Moving to any town or city in the country requires a bit of common sense when it comes to leaving your stuff laying around, in the yard, garage, the back of your truck.

I don't lock my truck at night, and if I'm the last one to bed at night, I might forget to lock the front door.
My wife, on the otherhand, is a native of Midland Texas... She locks everything, all the time, day or night.

If you are young and don't manage your time wisely enough with regard to parties and bars, then chances are better that things will come up missing.
The folks you choose to hang out with will also determine whether or not you will be broken into, stolen from or abused in many cases.

The habits you've gotten into where you are, will remain with you when you come.
If you are used to locking everything up where you are, then you will lock everything up here.

The crime rate of any given town, is directly determined by your habits, or lack of habits.

For instance;
Statisticaly, the crime rate might be quite low in Missoula, but when I lived there (well over 20 years), I could just about count on something being stolen out of the back of my truck once every 6 weeks in town, or my garage being broken into at least once a year....

Great Falls, on the otherhand, (I've been here since '91) hasn't produced any loss due to theft, from my garage, truck, yard or anything else.

So I determine for myself that the crime rate would be lower here, than in Missoula.
I can go into Albertsons here and shop for 40 minutes, come out, and everything is still in it's place... I could go into Rosauers in Missoula, shop for 40 minutes and it's a 50/50 chance that something will be missing when I return.

There isn't any direct separation of the classes here like there is on the west side... You'll have those who would make 65,000 a year living next door to those who would make 19,000 a year.
We are still a true community in nearly every sense. A gentle blending of middle/upper middle class. There are still plenty here that work for a living, and are proud to do it too.

Our college kids aren't all segregated to just one area of town, like they are in the Zoo (missoula) nor are our military.

People are spread out all over around here, and this is one of the reasons why we fair so much better here socially.

At any rate, common sense would be the order of the day with regard to crime, as it were. Working the night shift, or bar hopping lifestyles would require that things get locked up more frequently.

No one gets mugged here at gunpoint, or anywhere else in Montana for that matter. There are no gang wars, and since the farmers have been locking up their tanks, drug abuse in the state is down a whopping 75% in just two years.

We here in Great Falls, more often than not, still watch out for our neighbors, regardless of where they come from. We still glance out our front windows to be sure that our neighbor kids are safe.

We still care about what goes on around us here... because if our neighbor isn't safe, then chances are good we won't be either.

[Glitch]

Originally Posted by GiftShoppeGuy

Our college kids aren't all segregated to just one area of town, like they are in the Zoo (missoula) nor are our military.

People are spread out all over around here, and this is one of the reasons why we fair so much better here socially.

Thanks, that is good to hear. It would seem that Great Falls is just the right size. Anchorage, Alaska, which has a population of just over 250,000, has two areas of town where the crime rate is disproportionately higher than other areas of town. The military in Anchorage tend to live in certain areas, as do the college kids. Which is good to know before moving to Anchorage. This is what prompted my question about Great Falls.

Great Falls seems like a very nice, low stress, place to live. My sister is a very friendly, sociable person, who enjoys helping others, which is why she chose nursing as her profession. I think she will be very happy with the people in Great Falls.

I really appreciate your advice GiftShoppeGuy. You have been a tremendous help. If I didn't love Alaska so much, I would be tempted to move to Great Falls.

Thanks!

[jimj]

Listen to Giftshoppe, it's heaven on earth (so I've been told).

[jenzebel]

GiftShoppeGuy, I do not agree.

I've lived in or spent significant time in most of the larger communities in Montana and Great Falls stood out for its crime and visibly violent culture. Lots of drunks, druggies and such on the streets makes it feel unsafe. Great Falls violent crime rate of 5.2 per 1,000 people is pretty darn high. Not to mention it is infamous for the cannibalistic pedophile Nathanial Bar-Jonah.

It is the only place in Montana where my vehicle was ever broken into and things stolen.

[GiftShoppeGuy]

Originally Posted by jenzebel

GiftShoppeGuy, I do not agree.

I've lived in or spent significant time in most of the larger communities in Montana and Great Falls stood out for its crime and visibly violent culture. Lots of drunks, druggies and such on the streets makes it feel unsafe. Great Falls violent crime rate of 5.2 per 1,000 people is pretty darn high. Not to mention it is infamous for the cannibalistic pedophile Nathanial Bar-Jonah.

It is the only place in Montana where my vehicle was ever broken into and things stolen.

Statistics are just that... Statistics.
My own experience is a better indicator though.

Taking a short hop to Lincoln County back in '95 coming up from the Bitterroot through St. Regis and on through Plains, and I had car trouble between St. Regis and Paradise.
I hitched to Paradise and had a friend there bring back to my car with the parts I needed, and though I was only gone no more than two hours, my car window had been broken out and everything in the car was gone.

This happened on the road between Paradise and St. Regis... of all places.

Statisticly, there "should be" no crime really at all in that area... but based on "experience" I would beg to differ greatly.

One of the most interesting things about this is the fact that the doors were unlocked too.....


I'm not so much a big fan of statistics as I am of what really goes on. The two are completely different.
If I were to base all of my decisions on "statistics" I wouldn't be living anywhere at all, or, if I did live somewhere (based on statistics), I would most likely be robbed blind before next week at 2 o'clock.

All too often, we find those who would spend 6 months (or less) in a place, would leave, with an opinion already formed.
It takes literal years to learn any community, large or small. Having just visited a place for a short period of time, by no means makes anyone an expert on the area.

I'll use Billings as an example;
Though I've never directly lived in Billings, I have visited frequently over the years. I have friends there, and have a great deal of fun every time I visit.
Now let's say I like Billings so much that I decided to move there.
All of a sudden, I end up hating it. After 6 months, I pack up and move back to Great Falls, and then I come in here and blast Billings as being a bad place.
Just because I might have had a bit of trouble with Billings, doesn't necessarilly mean that Billings is a bad place... I never really took the time to know the community at all, so who would I be to say the place is bad or not?

Two larger cities (and surrounding smaller communities) in the state I am most familiar with are Great Falls and Missoula.
I can tell you, and in pretty short order, about both, and be accurate about it.
I know why I've chosen to live where I do.

One bad experience or incident doesn't make a town bad... but great numbers of incidences does...... Missoula is quite consistant with it's "crime" and I'm not one to be living in such a way as to provoke or otherwise encourage it.... Crime is a common thing in Missoula (and it's surrounding areas).

The incident on the road between St. Regis and Paradise didn't particularly surprise me at all really, because the areas of Mineral and Sanders Counties are some of the poorest (next to Lincoln County) in the state... folks over there don't care where their money comes from, just as long as they get it.
I left western Montana for these reasons. I got tired of the theft, damaged property and the high cost of property insurance.

I don't discount Missoula because of just one incident, I discount Missoula for the countless times crime has occured over the many years I lived there.
Is St. Regis a bad place because I had things stolen?... Probably not, but based on the "experience" of living in Missoula and running up and down the Clark Fork River corridor for years, says it probably just as well might be... you just never know, as "experience" (over long periods of time) at times, is a rather merciless teacher.
---
Wasilla?... And here I go with knowing some folks up there too... A few of which are from Great Falls...
And I had no idea that Anchorage was getting to be so large. It appears that a visit might be in order. I'm sure it looks a lot different now than it did back in '73.