Moving to Sheridan (Buffalo, Big Horn: for sale, houses, utilities)

[justmarried]

Hi! My husband and I are planning on moving to Sheridan at the end of the summer. He works with a man who had lived there for 20 years. The man told him that the cost of living is extremely high there, especially the cost of food and gas/electric bills (he told us they come from the same company). Does anyone know if that is true? I checked out Sheridan statistics on the website, but it did not include anything regarding those two things...does anyone know? We are currently coming from Boise. We both grew up in small Idaho towns our whole life, and live outside of Boise in what used to be a small town. Our population is expected to grow by some astronomical number of like 500,000 in the next 10-12 years. It sickens us, and we will not be here when that happens! We were just married 2 weeks ago and went to Wyoming on our honeymoon looking for a new place to raise our family. We fell in love with Sheridan. The man my husband works with also told him that Sheridan received something like 6 feet of snow last year and the whole town shut down for a day or two...is that true? Thank you for any insight into these questions!

[azwyo]

I live in Buffalo and go to Sheridan often to shop. To me it does not appear that Sheridan is a pricey place.

[Earniefan]

It seems the cost of housing is rising in Sheridan, you can look up houses for sale there on realtor.com it's pretty up to date. They did have the roads closed for a few days this last winter, I'm not sure it was due to heavy snow fall though, might have been. The whole state had well below zero temps for a couple of weeks, it finally warmed up to 10 degrees and we were all running around like it was 60 out. After having temps that were close to 50 below, not wind chill actual temp, 10 degrees felt really good. I believe this played a factor in the weather up there, that and the wind blows and causes drifts on the roads. It may have been six foot drifts as opposed to six feet of snow. Jgussler and Kristinwy will be able to tell you for sure.

[ElkHunter]

The cost of utilities in Sheridan is rediculously low. I don't know why that guy would say anything different. I have a 1600 sq ft home. Course, I live by myself. However, my gas and electric bill last month was $67. Last year, when I had my AC running (I have central air) the worst it got was $154. That's gas and electric. In the winter, it was a little worse, it got up to about $205 during a bad month.

Snow? Yeah, we get some. Less then Buffalo did last year. haha We're kind of nestled up against the Big Horns and the storms boil over top of us and land just East of town. We'll get 4 inches and 10 miles East will get 14 inches.

I have a 4 wheel drive truck. Last winter, I never locked in the hubs. We got one bad storm and the ground was already warm so it melted away in 3 days.

Yes, it is true that it's hard to find housing here. But it's available, just gotta look. It can be expensive. My daughter and her husband just bought a home last fall. $118k The home is a 2 bedroom upstairs and an unfinished basement. So it has a great deal of potential. A good sized lot, has a single detached garage.

But houses move fast here. When they were looking, a house would become available and 5 or 6 hours later, it was gone. So when you look, get your ducks in a row. Get pre-approved and be ready to move quickly.

[justmarried]

Thank you so much for the advise!

[justmarried]

Thank you also for the advice!

[Meg Lesher]

It is true that all the utilities are under one banner in Sheridan and the area. I think its called Montana-Dakota Utilities, but it's been a while and I could be wrong. Utility expenses will depend in part by how well you're insulated. Air conditioning in Sheridan is optional, unless you live in a trailer. Food is expensive there; they say it's because they have to truck it so far. Housing isn't cheap, but probably less than Boise. The road crews in Wyoming know what they're doing; don't worry, just be prepared. And that six feet? nah. Not half that except in the mountains. Expect the heaviest snows in Spring.

[RescueMeFromAL]

I'm going to be moving to sheridan in a week and was wondering on the cost of utilities. I live in AL right now and it is outrageous how high gas/elec. is. An average winter month would run you between $500-$600. I don't know how people do it here its not like this is a rich state by any means. So i'm glad to hear that the utilities are low.

[justmarried]

Good luck on your move. From what others have written me, the cost of utilities in Sheridan does not appear to be any higher than average, in fact one gentleman said his gas & power bill combined last month was something like $67. He said that he does live alone, however he lives in a 1600 sq. ft. house. People have said that in the dead of winter, the utility bills may get to around $250/mo., and I'm from Idaho. I think that's about average for people who have to deal with winter cold temps. Good luck again!

[tallgirl]

Did you guys forget about the blizzard back in March that shut down Buffalo and Sheridan and all the surrounding roads? People trapped out on Hwy 16 and Hwy 14 overnight, in their cars, and they needed to be rescued by snowmobile the next day!?? That was a wild blizzard. My friend got stuck here in town, unable to get to her house and her husband was stuck at home with no heat, no phone and no electricity, 25 miles from Buffalo.