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Old 12-28-2012, 03:51 PM
 
Location: Houston
15 posts, read 58,064 times
Reputation: 27

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I love that Missoula is both industrial and suburban, and I also love how close it is to the mountains. Overall, Missoula's environment seems really friendly and inviting. However, I was disappointed to read on wikipedia that its population is almost entirely made up of white people. I'm not opposed to temporarily living in a place where one race makes up 92% of the population, but it's really important to me that the place I settle down in is diverse.
So I've been having a lot of difficulty finding a place like Missoula (a small town feel, near mountains, industrial and suburban), but more diverse. It doesn't necessarily have to be in Montana. Also, it doesn't matter to me which race is in the majority, but I don't want any race to be much higher than 70%. I would also prefer if no minority is under 1%.

Just to note: I'm still in school right now and it will be a while before I buy a house, so I might change my mind by then.
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Old 12-30-2012, 10:30 AM
 
28 posts, read 59,377 times
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We currently live in Portland Oregon, which has a "apparently" similar vibe as Missoula, (we havent lived in Missoula, but will be relocating, hence I'm reading the forums) and even though the statistics show that we have little diversity for a larger city, there are a good number of multi-ethnic communities here. And its not as cold. The other town I can think of that would be very similar to Missoula is Ann Arbor, Michigan (lived there too) with the University, similar climate and liberal vibe, with more diversity, because of the university and the fact that its located in Eastern Michigan/Detroit metro area. One thing about Portland, is that housing is more expensive, but Ann Arbor is probably similar to Missoula in cost. Hope that helps!
-Shammah 98's wife
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Old 12-30-2012, 11:11 AM
 
Location: Lehigh Valley, PA
2,309 posts, read 4,360,441 times
Reputation: 5355
Quote:
Originally Posted by bluegardener View Post
I love that Missoula is both industrial and suburban, and I also love how close it is to the mountains. Overall, Missoula's environment seems really friendly and inviting. However, I was disappointed to read on wikipedia that its population is almost entirely made up of white people. I'm not opposed to temporarily living in a place where one race makes up 92% of the population, but it's really important to me that the place I settle down in is diverse.
So I've been having a lot of difficulty finding a place like Missoula (a small town feel, near mountains, industrial and suburban), but more diverse. It doesn't necessarily have to be in Montana. Also, it doesn't matter to me which race is in the majority, but I don't want any race to be much higher than 70%. I would also prefer if no minority is under 1%.

Just to note: I'm still in school right now and it will be a while before I buy a house, so I might change my mind by then.

The entire state of Montana just this year reached barely over one million residents.
There is little diversity because there is statistically no population in the nations fourth largest state.
Missoula and Bozeman are the most diverse cities in Montana.

By your naivete concerning Montana you would find it extremely difficult to exist in such a geographically isolated environment.

There's a reason why Montana and the remainder of the intermountain northwest is without " diversity "
it's because statistically this region of the nation is the least populated in the country and not due to some " white supremacy cultural ideal.

I was a resident of Helena Montana for 14 years so my knowledge concerning such is without question.

Also the ability to purchase a home of average value in Missoula would mean that you would be making three or four times the amount of the average Missoula resident.

Due to Missoula's popularity as a destination city in Montana highly educated workers accept relatively low pay for the privilege of living in Missoula.
That means your competition for anything outside minimum wage employment would be extremely high.

For further reference study an area completely before making commentary on said area because you are coming off looking a little asinine.
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Old 12-31-2012, 12:37 PM
 
297 posts, read 791,501 times
Reputation: 278
If Missoula is not diverse enough for you, then no place in Montana will be, because it and Bozeman, being the university towns, are the most diverse. True, Missoula doesn't have the number of black people I was used to, growing up, but on the other hand it has more Native Americans and NA culture.

I think by saying any place has to be X amount of one race or another, you're limiting yourself. And from your post, I don't think Montana is for you.
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Old 01-01-2013, 12:17 PM
 
Location: North Dakota
10,230 posts, read 13,737,164 times
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There are few places in the west that would suit a diversity requirement like that. About the only place I can think of might be a place like Boulder, Colorado.
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Old 01-03-2013, 07:29 PM
 
Location: Houston
15 posts, read 58,064 times
Reputation: 27
Quote:
Originally Posted by julian17033 View Post
The entire state of Montana just this year reached barely over one million residents.
There is little diversity because there is statistically no population in the nations fourth largest state.
Missoula and Bozeman are the most diverse cities in Montana.

By your naivete concerning Montana you would find it extremely difficult to exist in such a geographically isolated environment.

There's a reason why Montana and the remainder of the intermountain northwest is without " diversity "
it's because statistically this region of the nation is the least populated in the country and not due to some " white supremacy cultural ideal.

I was a resident of Helena Montana for 14 years so my knowledge concerning such is without question.

Also the ability to purchase a home of average value in Missoula would mean that you would be making three or four times the amount of the average Missoula resident.

Due to Missoula's popularity as a destination city in Montana highly educated workers accept relatively low pay for the privilege of living in Missoula.
That means your competition for anything outside minimum wage employment would be extremely high.

For further reference study an area completely before making commentary on said area because you are coming off looking a little asinine.

I'm sorry that you misinterpreted my questions. I was in no way attacking Montana for having little diversity, and I understand that if an area has a relatively small population, it would have less diversity as well. Honestly, that's just common knowledge. You didn't really need to inform me of the reasons behind Montana's lack of diversity because they're not relevant to my post. My point is, I was disappointed because environmentally speaking, Missoula meets a lot of my criteria except for the fact that it has little diversity.

I love that Montana is geographically isolated, in fact I mentioned in my post that I was specifically looking for a place near the mountains. I may be naive about Montana, but that in no way indicates that I would have any trouble living in a place similar to it, and you have no reason to assume that I haven't lived in a geographically isolated area already.

I'm researching Missoula, as well as many other areas, to prepare me for when I do have a steady job and enough money to buy a house, however I did mention that it would be quite a while before I bought a house. I was already aware of the heavy job competition and high mortgage, in fact it was one of the first things I learned about the city. But again, it's irrelevant to the post because this post is strictly about comparing Missoula to cities with similar environments.

I'm guessing that as a former Montana resident, you must have been offended by me mentioning Montana's lack of diversity. But there's no need to come down on me; I'm just here to learn and I truly didn't mean to offend anybody.
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Old 01-03-2013, 07:36 PM
 
Location: Houston
15 posts, read 58,064 times
Reputation: 27
Quote:
Originally Posted by MontanaGyrl View Post
If Missoula is not diverse enough for you, then no place in Montana will be, because it and Bozeman, being the university towns, are the most diverse. True, Missoula doesn't have the number of black people I was used to, growing up, but on the other hand it has more Native Americans and NA culture.

I think by saying any place has to be X amount of one race or another, you're limiting yourself. And from your post, I don't think Montana is for you.
I mentioned that the place I was looking for does not have to be in Montana. Perhaps I'm limiting myself, but I don't plan on spending the rest of my life in a place where most of its people are the same race, even if that race is my own race.
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Old 01-04-2013, 09:15 AM
 
56 posts, read 223,402 times
Reputation: 78
Quote:
Originally Posted by bluegardener View Post
I mentioned that the place I was looking for does not have to be in Montana. Perhaps I'm limiting myself, but I don't plan on spending the rest of my life in a place where most of its people are the same race, even if that race is my own race.
Since you're asking in the Montana forum, most responders will only know about Montana and the general area around Montana. There are a couple of folks that hang out here that have some experience with the Appalachian area around West Virginia, but for the most part, the mountains we know are in the Rocky Mountain region and maybe the Pacific northwest. As to your desires: (a small town feel, near mountains, industrial and suburban), with no race more than 70% of the population, there most likely isn't anything in this region. The northern plains, northern rockies areas were "settled" originally by caucasians (although, technically the American Indian tribes were here first). Slave ownership was rare/nonexistent, so people of African descent weren't historically brought to the area. After slavery was abolished, African American populations were typically attracted more to warmer climates and the bigger cities where employment was available. The same thing has happened with other immigrant populations. As a result, if you want the racial diversity, you're probably going to have to look either more to the east coast areas, or a larger city in the west, like Portland, Denver, Colorado Springs, Sacremento, or Seattle.
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Old 01-04-2013, 11:20 AM
 
Location: Houston
15 posts, read 58,064 times
Reputation: 27
Quote:
Originally Posted by 24522 View Post
Since you're asking in the Montana forum, most responders will only know about Montana and the general area around Montana. There are a couple of folks that hang out here that have some experience with the Appalachian area around West Virginia, but for the most part, the mountains we know are in the Rocky Mountain region and maybe the Pacific northwest. As to your desires: (a small town feel, near mountains, industrial and suburban), with no race more than 70% of the population, there most likely isn't anything in this region. The northern plains, northern rockies areas were "settled" originally by caucasians (although, technically the American Indian tribes were here first). Slave ownership was rare/nonexistent, so people of African descent weren't historically brought to the area. After slavery was abolished, African American populations were typically attracted more to warmer climates and the bigger cities where employment was available. The same thing has happened with other immigrant populations. As a result, if you want the racial diversity, you're probably going to have to look either more to the east coast areas, or a larger city in the west, like Portland, Denver, Colorado Springs, Sacremento, or Seattle.
I was considering Seattle as well! Are you familiar with the area? Thanks for your help.
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Old 01-04-2013, 11:32 AM
 
Location: Houston
15 posts, read 58,064 times
Reputation: 27
Quote:
Originally Posted by SHAMMAH98 View Post
We currently live in Portland Oregon, which has a "apparently" similar vibe as Missoula, (we havent lived in Missoula, but will be relocating, hence I'm reading the forums) and even though the statistics show that we have little diversity for a larger city, there are a good number of multi-ethnic communities here. And its not as cold. The other town I can think of that would be very similar to Missoula is Ann Arbor, Michigan (lived there too) with the University, similar climate and liberal vibe, with more diversity, because of the university and the fact that its located in Eastern Michigan/Detroit metro area. One thing about Portland, is that housing is more expensive, but Ann Arbor is probably similar to Missoula in cost. Hope that helps!
-Shammah 98's wife
I'll have to do more research on it but so far Ann Arbor looks like a lovely place and it's closer to family too! Thanks so much!
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