USNews article on Bozeman (Big Sky, Bridger: ski resort, home, university)

[NYMTman]

This should really hit home on this forum.

Money: Best Places to Retire: Bozeman, Montana - US News and World Report

Best Places to Retire: Bozeman, Montana
By Alison Go
Posted 9/20/07

The people of Bozeman, Mont., don't want this story to be published. They want the writers and photographers out, and they want the media to forget that their beautiful, once little town exists. "There's the idea that 'foreigners,' as we call them, are going to destroy old-time Montana," says Connie Lord, a longtime Bozeman resident and native of the state. When Lord returned to Big Sky Country after moving away for work, she discovered a transformed city. "What happened to my sleepy little town?" she wondered.

Bozeman—an outdoorsy sanctuary tucked within the Rocky Mountains, just 93 miles north of Yellowstone National Park—anchors Montana's fastest-growing county. Bozeman is home to Montana State University, but it has also become a mecca to vacationers and tech-industry workers, along with retirees looking for peace, quiet, culture, community, and the great outdoors.

Winters in Bozeman offer excellent skiing at the nearby glitzy Big Sky Ski Resort and local favorite Bridger Bowl Ski Area. For the warmer months, hiking trails snake through the foothills and canyons in every direction, while the Gallatin, Yellowstone, and Madison rivers, less than an hour's drive away, are teeming with avid fly fishers (fish, too).

A historic downtown boasts cafes and boutiques and serves as the venue for a seemingly endless number of art fairs and music festivals. Opportunities abound for horseback riding, and dude ranches outside town attract tourists and sometimes even locals. The university, the Emerson Center for the Arts and Culture, and the Museum of the Rockies add their own energy, culture, and academic pedigree to the scene.

[JoeJoeMan]

Wait 'till those retirees spend a couple good old fashion winters there. And the shine wears off. I doubt I could find the article but a while back someone did some research and wrote an article about new comers moving to the bozeman area, and it stated that about 80 percent of them leave disolutioned within about 5 years.
The article stated that the typical case is a guy wanting to move to the area for the outdoors, fishing,hunting, but after a couple years, it wears off, and then the guy wants to then leave. And of course he's dragging the wife and/or family around with him.
Well at least this article wasn't written about the western part of the state...not that we need it, we get enough of those 'best place' articles written about the area.
Notice to that it's about retirees and the wealthy moving to the bozeman area, it's not a place to move a family and try to make a living, if you ain't got a good bank account to start with, you'll have one heck of a time of it, trying to scratch out a living in bozeman or western montana for that matter.
But hey, come on up, if you don't beleive me and find out for yourself.