Where in Montana (Billings, Missoula, Great Falls: to rent, crime, vacation home)

[RemingtonTx]

Hey all....... I'm am Thinking about moving to Montana and I've never even been there...I'm Wanting to find a Small Town...Where I can find a house and enjoy the country life as I know it.. My problem lyes here though I'm not going to have a chance to go see where i want to live before i move it's kinda gonna be an adventure.. LoL.... So I was Curious if anyone knew of some Nice small towns in a good area with good country people that I might like....

[LSUTigers]

Lewistown is a nice town in central Montana with decent mountain scenery. There are three or four mountain ranges around there, the Little Belt mountains are beautiful in my opinion. There are only a few towns left in western Montana that can truly be considered "rural" anymore, from what i saw on my trip there this summer. The problem is thousands of people are moving into western Montana so the small towns are getting bigger and bigger. If you want the true small town experience you will have to go to central or eastern Montana.

[RemingtonTx]

Hi there thank you for your reply.... I lived in a small town in missouri of about 4,000 and im wanting to go small than that but im afraid that if i go to small there wont be anyone in my age range.... I'm hoping to eventually open a ranch in montana... mabye one day and im really just lookin for a town like i had in mossouri but in montana... do you live in montana??

[LSUTigers]

nope i don't live in Montana, but i am hoping to one day. I'm at the University of Illinois for graduate school at the moment. I'm from Louisiana originally. There is one company in Bozeman that I might be able to work for, so we'll have to see if there is a position there for me with that company once i'm done with school. Bozeman is not the small town that you are looking for, but it is a nice city in Montana. I'd have to rent some place for 5 years or so to afford a "starter house", but that is the price to pay i guess...

Unless you are a multi millionaire with money to blow, there is not a place for you in western Montana to have a ranch. Only land is central and eastern Montana is cheap enough to justify agricultural operations outside of hobby ranches. Lewistown has a population of about 6,000, but if may be hard for you to meet many people your age.

If I move to Montana, i plan to live and work in Bozeman until i retire. Then i'll retire as a farmer and live in some beautiful farm country in central Montana between Great Falls and Lewistown. I saw some scenery just north of the Little Belt Mountains that was gorgeous without all the vacation homes cluttering the scenery!

[RemingtonTx]

Yeah i hear you bout the millionare thing.... Graduate school thats nice.... Thanks for your help though I greatly appriciate it....I guess im just gonna have to google montana, and small towns in montana...I saw a movie and It made me want to move there...and i guess I've just got my heart set one it...something about the small town life that just sucks u in once you have that experience you never want anything else... Althoug I grew up in a huge city.. But once i moved to my town before this one i miss it so much just wish i could find the same thing in montana.. Again thanks for your help...

[LSUTigers]

I drove from Glacier National Park to Sheridan, Wyoming in one day this summer and drove through a LOT of country. There are nice, quaint small towns like Choteau, Roundup, and Lewistown sprinkled in central Montana. The vibe you get from these towns is a lot different than the vibe you get from a "small town" in western Montana like Whitefish.

[RemingtonTx]

Thanks for your help LSU

[Carolina_Belle92]

Best small towns in Montana are in western Montana. I'm from the Bitterroot, and I may be a *little* biased, but Stevensville, Corvallis, and Hamilton are some of my favorite places in the world. You can't go wrong... beautiful scenery, virtually no crime (aside from DUI's and such), very friendly people (expect to be waved at by random strangers in pickups), and a nice breath of fresh air. Believe me, the Bitterroot is wonderful.

Also, you may want to look at the Flathead area... Whitefish is GORRRRRRRGEOUS. Sorry, LSU, but you're making it seem as though Whitefish isn't a nice place...? It's really very nice.

I'm going to recommend the southwestern part of the state. It really is very nice.

[rickers]

I don't think LSUTigers has given you a fair description of western Montana at all. There are many real nice small towns in the west part of the state. Whitefish is not typical at all, its a freaking ski destination resort. Look at towns like Eureka, Seeley Lake, Lincoln, Trout Creek, Thompson Falls, Polson, Deer lodge etc. For a real small town atmosphere how about Dixon, Hot Springs, Darby, Polebridge, Martin City, Troy or Olney. I doubt if LSUTigers went through any of those towns let alone spending enough time to really get the true feeling for the western part of the State.

[LSUTigers]

I'll admit that i didn't go through ALL of western montana this summer. I drove from Yellowstone to Bozeman to Missoula to Glacier National to Sheridan, Wyoming. So I went through Big Sky, Bozeman, Three Forks, Helena, Missoula, Whitefish, Kalispell, Great Falls, Lewistown, and Billings. From my tourist eye, it appeared as though towns in western Montana are much more involved with tourism/skiing than towns in central and eastern Montana. I'm arguing that to get a truly agricultural experience that you need to go to central or eastern Montana.