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Whenever you hear an analogy about something being isolated or desolate, its usually created with one of these five states.
I understand there is a popular show about urbanization in Montana and that it recently passed 1 million population, so I suspect it will be a favorite in this poll.
However, Alaska has sextupled its population since 1950, while Montana hasn't even doubled its population in the same period. The Dakotas seem to be enjoying decent growth and good press these days also. Don't know much about Wyoming other than they saw a recent 14% bump which is impressive.
"Dramatic population increase" - moving into the next state peer group or higher (Idaho, Nebraska, New Mexico, etc).
Montana: Population 1.1 million, land area 147,000 sq mi
Wyoming: Population 577,000, land area 98,000 sq mi
Alaska: Population 733,000, land area 663,000 sq mi
North Dakota: Population 780,000, land area 71,000 sq mi
South Dakota: Population 887,000, land area 77,000 sq mi
I'll go with Montana. Outdoor rec seems to be increasingly important to people over the years, and it's close to some already expensive states (WA, OR, increasingly ID) so it's a natural place for people from there to migrate to.
I would agree that Montana's natural recreational assets are likely to generate strong growth in the state in upcoming years. The Bozeman area in particular has become very popular with remotely working professionals.
Alaska has a very high cost of living, long dark winters and is overly dependent on the energy sector. While Wyoming has some of the most exceptional natural wonders in the world (i.e. Yellowstone), the state's key population centers are generally in more desolate surroundings.
The Dakotas have some solidly prosperous cities but aside from the Rapid City/Black Hills region of South Dakota, neither state is going to draw people much for non-economic reasons.
I'm going to say Alaska. Due to climate change and thinning ice in the arctic, the Northwest Passage could become passable for long periods of time and if this happens, Alaska would become one of the most valuable pieces of US land because of its control over the bottleneck between the Pacific and Arctic. Anchorage also happens to be very centrally located internationally for cargo shipping.
None of the above have anything to write home about as Idaho, Arizona, and Utah are the leaders in population growth. Alaska has been in recession for a few years now and may just be breaking even in population. But to answer your question I think it would be Wyoming and Montana on a percentage basis. Population and demographics are changing with covid, with increasing working from home. This trend actually started before covid.
I can see Rapid City being the next Boise albeit on a smaller scale. Montana and Wyoming - I don’t know that there’s much room for growth. The nice/desirable areas are already too expensive to really draw substantially more growth. Cheyenne you would think would have grown more being so close to Denver and on the Front Range. Alaska is great but it’s far too isolated and it has weird migration trends. People don’t tend to stay there for long it seems.
Between Rapid City and Sioux Falls, I think South Dakota has the brightest future.
None of the above have anything to write home about as Idaho, Arizona, and Utah are the leaders in population growth. But to answer your question I think it would be Wyoming and Montana on a percentage basis. Population and demographics are changing with covid, increasing working from home. This trend actually started before covid.
I’d say Sioux Falls growing by 25% in the past decade is fairly significant, especially since it’s on the “Midwest” side of SD.
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