What's the Best Place To Live In Montana? (Billings, Missoula: houses, employment)

[nanasfj40]

I'm from California and am thinking about retiring in Montana. I HAVE to get out of this state!!! I've been toying with the idea of Idaho and yesterday I thought about Montana.

I'd be looking for a place with some acreage outside of a larger town. Any ideas what might be a nice place?

[jaymes0823]

Originally Posted by nanasfj40

I'm from California and am thinking about retiring in Montana. I HAVE to get out of this state!!! I've been toying with the idea of Idaho and yesterday I thought about Montana.

I'd be looking for a place with some acreage outside of a larger town. Any ideas what might be a nice place?

Hello. It depends on what you like for outdoor recreations. North Idaho, Coeur d' Alene, offers milder winters with a good deal of snow. It also offers the mountains and tons of fishing opportunities. There is a beach in CDA and in Sandpoint. The nice thing about CDA, Idaho is it;s close proximity to Spokane, Washington.
If you want a good economy, lots of opportunity and lots of outdoor activities, CDA is a great choice. In Montana, the economy is "iffY" at best. Bozeman, MT is booming right now, but Bozeman has REALLY cold winters.
I dont like Missoula at all. it is not as cleaned up as Bozeman and often, i find rude people there, but there are plenty of good people there as well. it's just not my choice. Billings is a larger town, i dont know much about it. But if i were you , i would go to Ceour D Alene, Idaho. look it up on the web, there are lots of photos available.
good luck!

[wurd4wurd]

Originally Posted by jaymes0823

Hello. It depends on what you like for outdoor recreations. North Idaho, Coeur d' Alene, offers milder winters with a good deal of snow. It also offers the mountains and tons of fishing opportunities. There is a beach in CDA and in Sandpoint. The nice thing about CDA, Idaho is it;s close proximity to Spokane, Washington.
If you want a good economy, lots of opportunity and lots of outdoor activities, CDA is a great choice.

We moved to Coeur d'Alene by way of New Hampshire, but we are originally from Vermont. In the two years that we have been here the winters have been very mild with hardly any snow. We definitely had more snow in 2005 than in 2004 for which the ski areas were most thankful. Keeping in mind that we were used to -30 degree temps for weeks at a time in Vermont, for us Coeur d'Alene is winter light. As for great employment opportunities - many people commute to Spokane for better pay and better jobs.

[MTer]

Originally Posted by nanasfj40

I'm from California and am thinking about retiring in Montana. I HAVE to get out of this state!!! I've been toying with the idea of Idaho and yesterday I thought about Montana.

I'd be looking for a place with some acreage outside of a larger town. Any ideas what might be a nice place?

How far outside of a larger town?

And how do you define larger town? In MT, 30,000-40,000 is considered a major city (e.g., Helena, Butte).

Third, what do you consider "acreage"? Montana has lots of ranches with 1000s of acres, whereas some people (those used to living on dinky urban lots where houses practically touch neighboring houses) consider 1/2 acre a lot of land.

You will pay more for land close to the cities, especially in growing areas such as Bozeman, Missoula, the Flathead (Kalispell, Whitefish, Columbia Falls). In rural counties, land is less. Also in general, land is cheaper where it's not forested mountains--so in the eastern part of the state, overall.

Montana winters, at least in some parts of the state, are not terribly cold (as someone else claimed). They're actually much nicer than winters in the Midwest, for example. The lack of humidity makes winters very nice. However, weather depends on where you live in MT. Montana is a very large state, and the mountains impact weather a lot as well. You'll find the Flathead and Missoula generally colder than, say, Bozeman, Helena, and Butte--but everything is relative, and all of Montana is colder than most of (other than the high elevations) California.

[RudyS2MT]

This has been my answer to such questions for years... higher mountains, better skiing.... closer to big cities and transportation. (a guy can try... lol!!)

[Montanaman1]

I have 20 acres 14 miles east of Butte, one mile east of the Continental Divide. I also plan to retire here. I'm partial to South Western Montana, but have been to the Eureka/Libby area and it is also beautiful. Tho more "trendy".

Good Luck

Rick

[Montanamomb]

I live in the very NW corner of Montana and I absolutely LOVE it. If you're looking to "retire" and don't have to worry about making a sustainable income, then Northern Idaho (Bonners Ferry area) and NW Montana (Troy, Libby, Yaak) are the current "Hot Spots" for people moving up to "Get away from it all".....try www.libby.org (broken link)

[Lehi]

I was intrigued with the town of Libby after seeing a picture of it on the Internet. It was on my list of places I had to see when I went to Montana a couple years ago. I have since learned that Libby has issues with asbestos due to vermiculite mining. I'm not sure how serious this issue is but you might want to do more research before making Libby your home.

http://www.epa.gov/region8/superfund/libby/

[MHT]

Originally Posted by nanasfj40

I'm from California and am thinking about retiring in Montana. I HAVE to get out of this state!!! I've been toying with the idea of Idaho and yesterday I thought about Montana.

I'd be looking for a place with some acreage outside of a larger town. Any ideas what might be a nice place?

Depends on what you mean by a larger town. Great Falls is a super place to live. Large enough to have everything you need but has a small town feel. Several smaller towns in the area. Billings is larger. Bozeman is beautiful but very expensive (as is most of MT). Missoula is nice also.

[NativeMontanan]

Originally Posted by MTer

You'll find the Flathead and Missoula generally colder than, say, Bozeman, Helena, and Butte--

Hello ???
The only thing colder than Butte is West Yellowstone...
That's why the population of Butte is low low low...that is except there being a bit of Pit....

But all of the advice given regarding Montana's weather may have come from those whom have been here 20 years or less.

We do need a winter of '78...Any seconds here? Was hard on the livestock. Overcast, so when it was 40 below and lower for at least a straight week... they couldn't even get solar warmth. We don't need that; it was extreme. But I think a good Montana winter may thin a bit of the population that think Montana really is this warm. Tires go flat in the winter in Montana....

Am I starting to sound like the old man in the rocking chair, LOL. Montana does/did have winters. The last 10 years have had temps WAY above normal and WAY BELOW normal in moisture. Most forests haven't been "cleaned out" in close to 100 years, so its about time for Mother Nature to dry things up and clean house.

How many have read about the cleaning of the forest that happened between Idaho and Montana about 100 years ago? Talk about primitive, but necessary to have what you see today. The forests are getting old again...its almost 100 growth and need to be cleaned.
Either search on Fire 1910 or go here
http://www.missoulian.com/specials/1910/mountains.html (broken link)

I haven't been snowed in for more than a day for the past 10 years. Used to be, LOL, snow higher than one's vehicle and drifts twice as high. No Joke. One of the things I was looking forward to when I retired is I wouldn't have to travel to a day job, buck the drifts, and have the car engine compartment fill with snow and stall in the middle of nowhere. Shucks!!! We need snow and cold for that. But heck all that happened before cell phones. But wait I guess we still aren't in cell range out here.

Then again maybe those days are gone. We are coming out of an ice age....or as the Gorelappers say Global Warming.