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Old 12-18-2016, 08:21 PM
 
Location: WA Desert, Seattle native
9,398 posts, read 8,780,620 times
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I know there is an obvious answer to this and it is Billings, based on population. But I wonder, is it considered the 1st city of Montana, or even the most important city in Montana?

While Missoula and Bozeman are smaller in total metro population, they both are homes to major State Universities. What does this count for, if much?

How about industry? Do Missoula and Bozeman come close to Billings? Tourism may come into play here as well. Even Helena may come into play as the State Capital, though metro-wise, it really is small.

Cost of living is probably similar throughout the State, perhaps Missoula a bit higher. Weather is also probably slightly better in Missoula, I am only basing that on being a little closer to the Pacific with more moderate temps.

Butte was once the largest city in Montana. I toured that area a year ago, and it really is fascinating, but doesn't seem to be a player among Montana cities today.

Thoughts?
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Old 12-19-2016, 10:22 AM
 
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I would vote Helena because it's the capital.
Fort Benton was the first "city" in Montana.
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Old 12-19-2016, 10:50 AM
 
Location: Where the mountains touch the sky
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Virginia City was the first incorporated town in Montana. Bannack was the first capital city.

Is that what you mean?

Towns are towns. I don't like towns and avoid them as much as possible. Some have more stuff, some less, some have more people some less, if you're just looking for population then Billings.
If you're looking for entertainment, lots of the hi-line towns have great festivals like the Dirty Shame.

I guess it depends on what you mean by "first" city.
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Old 12-19-2016, 04:07 PM
 
Location: WA Desert, Seattle native
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MTSilvertip View Post
Virginia City was the first incorporated town in Montana. Bannack was the first capital city.

Is that what you mean?

Towns are towns. I don't like towns and avoid them as much as possible. Some have more stuff, some less, some have more people some less, if you're just looking for population then Billings.
If you're looking for entertainment, lots of the hi-line towns have great festivals like the Dirty Shame.

I guess it depends on what you mean by "first" city.
If that was directed to the OP, (me), what I meant was which city is the most important, most prominent in the State today? Sorry if I didn't make that clear in the original post.
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Old 12-19-2016, 04:18 PM
 
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A generation ago, wasn't Great Falls the largest city? But now I understand it's Billings. Was the Air Force Base a factor?
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Old 12-19-2016, 06:10 PM
 
Location: WA Desert, Seattle native
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Here is a snapshot in time on Montana city population from 45 years ago, and 95 years ago.

1970:

Billings 61,581
Great Falls 60,091
Missoula 29,497
Butte 23,368
Helena 22,730
Bozeman 18,670

1920:

Butte 41,611
Great Falls 24,121
Billings 15,100
Missoula 12,668
Helena 12,037
Bozeman 6,183

The biggest change over the last century is obviously Butte, which once was quite large by Montana standards, some estimating the entire area had up to 100,000 residents in 1920. Was Great Falls ever the biggest city in Montana? Yes, the 1960 census shows a slight lead for Great Falls over Billings.

Last edited by pnwguy2; 12-19-2016 at 07:22 PM..
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Old 12-20-2016, 07:44 AM
 
Location: Where the mountains touch the sky
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Billings is the biggest with the most manufacturing, and is a regional center.
Helena is the capital with all the government.
Butte and Great Falls are nice places, but with the shutdown of the Berkley Pit and cutbacks at Malmstrom AFB, they aren't really booming.
Kalispell is a great place in many ways, but pretty remote for a lot of people.
Missoula is a liberal enclave famous for old hippies and the drug culture.

I guess you could say that Bozeman is the leading city because it has Montana State University which is booming, the Tech Industry, and is the destination for a lot of tourism.

A town is a town. Crowded, lots of traffic, high prices, just not my cup of tea. Not sure exactly what you mean by leading city since I don't see cities or towns as being much more than just piles of people. You go there for groceries and parts, that's where you buy clothes and that's where the Dr's are, but other than that, there's nothing special about a city.

Personally, I prefer places like Miles City, Glasgow, Havre, Lewistown, Townsend, Boulder, Big Timber, Cut Bank, Dillon, Drummond, Phillipsburg and a hundred others where there are good folks that have made a community. Where people know and care about each other. They root for each other's school teams, they donate time and money when a neighbor needs help.
They volunteer for the local 4-H club and fair, they spend countless hours on community projects, they respect each other.

They may not be very big, but they have heart an soul that's usually lacking in larger cities and towns.
If you're just looking for big, then any of the cities named in the first paragraph will do.
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Old 12-20-2016, 09:05 AM
 
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I think Billings has the best case today due it's size and the size of the area of the state that looks to it as it's regional hub. It is the first major city you get from the east, if you are leaving the east and the place that the east uses most for economic connection (export and import).






For tourism and relocation, most outsiders look past Billings. City Data does not have a sub-forum for it and it gets a fairly light amount of threads. Maybe that will change. I dunno that Outside Magazine calling it the Best City will change the level of outside interest much but maybe it won't be quite as anonymous in future.


If there is a future race it is between Billings and Bozeman. Bozeman has MSU and cache of mountains and ski resorts. 20 years from now I am sure Bozeman will push Billings much harder in raw size & overall importance. It is likely to have even more buzz & cache. It depends some on how much business Bozeman steals from Billings. In 50 years it may be full equal to Billings or beyond and almost certain to be #1 on attention.
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Old 12-20-2016, 10:07 AM
 
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There is a lot that Billings has that many in Bozeman are probably not lookng to take. If Bozeman doesn't become "#1" it will probably be because it didn't want in those overall terms.


In almost every western state there is a clear cut #1. In Wyoming, Cheyenne is pushed slightly by Casper. That is the only other case with any debate.
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Old 01-26-2017, 01:43 AM
 
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I live in Bozeman, and have done work in Helena, Butte, Missoula, Billings, and Great Falls, in the order of amount of work I have done in those cities.

-Bozeman: exploding in almost every way. No vacancy, literally. I have 0% vacancy in my rentals for the past 10 years. Let's put it this way: I put an ad on Craigslist, schedule 15 minute showings, prospective tenants enter into a bidding war right in front of me, and I can take my pick. It's crazy, and I have transitioned out of long term rentals because it's almost immoral what is being charged here. The University has got like a $225 million budget, and it shows. There is, at any given time, like 2 or 3, $40 million projects going on around campus. Crazy developments happening on the far west side of town (they built a 1000 home subdivision complete with wetlands and lakes in about 1.5 years), and the areas around downtown are now building up (upwards of 5 stories), because there just isn't anywhere to live. Housing is completely unaffordable, and unsustainable at this moment. Many, many issues... Bozeman is merging with Belgrade as we speak.

-Helena is also growing pretty fast. Some commercial development going on there, but overall, it's like Bozeman, with less growth I think. Don't know what else to say about Helena! It is a great town, good food, some decent priced parcels, and lots of outdoor recreation. I love it there, and have considered buying property there many times, but never pulled the trigger on it.

-Butte: I was just poking around Butte last spring, and I am saddened to say that it is decrepit, and falling apart in many ways. There is some effort for "urban renewal", but they are waiting on big time developers to step in, which just isn't happening. They really need to revamp their downtown to attract these people. At this point I would only advise commercial developers to buy and hold there. It's a mess.

-Missoula is a hip little town, but it has seen huge decreases in enrollment in the University of Montana, while Bozeman has seen record enrollments at Montana State University. Since they are heavily dependent on the university in Missoula, it has sort of stagnated, lots of jobs lost at UofM just last year. Not seeing much going on in developments out there. Big name brokers have been unloading property there.

-Billings is still growing, and I see a lot of businesses going in. It is basically the default city people want to invest in because of its size. I like Billings personally, but Bozeman has been stealing some investors as of late, which is a trend which I believe will continue. Still a safe bet for investments though.

-Great Falls: not really a fan of the city. Not long ago there was a big drug problem here. Not sure why, but the town just isn't as pretty as the other towns on this list (Butte is ugly, but the surrounding area is very scenic). Downtown is ehhhh, military has been divesting, but that is almost definitely going to change with this new administration. So things may change very soon for Great Falls. Good place for speculators.

So, as an investor I will rank them in this order: Bozeman, Helena, Billings, Missoula, Great Falls, Butte
As a speculator: Butte, Great Falls, Helena, Bozeman, Billings, Missoula (not seeing a recovery anytime soon for Missoula)
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