Considering Montana! (Billings, Missoula, Great Falls: apartments, rentals, house)

[Hummingbird88]

Hey y'all!

My boyfriend and I need a change of pace, and scenery. We have been researching some places and I think we both agree that Montana may be a nice fit for us. We just don't know which city would be best! I have read about Missoula. I think it sounds decent for us. At least the price range seems reasonable for us on a lot of the housing postings I have seen on Craigslist.
Anyway I come here for suggestions!

Here is a little bit about the two of us.
We are from Austin which is great and beautiful but we have both lived here all our lives (I spent 2 years in Jacksonville Florida about 5 years ago) however it is getting way too expensive and crowded in general.

Were both 25 and wanna try to relocate somewhere we can set up a life for ourselves and future children.

Currently i work at a coffee shop which I love and my boyfriend works for a health food company as a delivery driver, I am not sure what he would do if we relocated, but he has worked as a driver/courier for quite some time.

We both love the outdoors, have 2 dogs, and enjoy going out to eat awesome food and have drinks or see a movie now and then. Pretty simple people just looking to get away from the hustle and bustle that Austin is becoming (sort of on my end). I tend to be a bit more social but we both are sort of home bodies. I am also into fitness (yoga) and he enjoys video games (working towards being a writer) and is a musician.

Other things I will note are that neither of us has traveled much, he went on a few senior trips to Europe and I have only ever been all over Texas, lived in a northern part of Florida, and we recently went to Las Vegas which I thought was perfect weather and beautiful.

That's another thing, the weather.
Austin gets zero snow, so I have had no experience living in, or commuting in that type of weather or climate, I think he is a little more confident, however it would clearly take some getting used too! We are just used to hot, humid, and more hot!

Sorry for such a long post, we are open to any towns in Montana, and we also researched Wyoming and I am for Colorado but Montana seems to be the middle ground. We do plan to visit a least two places before we make a decision! Thanks for the input!

[Hummingbird88]

Um so responses are helpful. Thanks.

[notoriouskelly]

Montana isn't as plugged in as Austin so don't expect too much response here or on craigslist

Missoula is as good a start as any - my only dislike there is the traffic getting from one part of town to another (true of all Montana cities except Great Falls) but after Texas it might seem a breeze.

Plenty of amenities, college town, beautiful country near and reasonable cost of living.

I've been snow birding between Montana & Arizona for several years and Montana is great!

[NDak15]

Hey y'all!

My boyfriend and I need a change of pace, and scenery. We have been researching some places and I think we both agree that Montana may be a nice fit for us. We just don't know which city would be best! I have read about Missoula. I think it sounds decent for us. At least the price range seems reasonable for us on a lot of the housing postings I have seen on Craigslist.
Anyway I come here for suggestions!

Here is a little bit about the two of us.
We are from Austin which is great and beautiful but we have both lived here all our lives (I spent 2 years in Jacksonville Florida about 5 years ago) however it is getting way too expensive and crowded in general. Missoula isn't crowded but it is expensive. Wages in Montana are low and in Missoula often don't do a good job keeping up with the cost of living.

Were both 25 and wanna try to relocate somewhere we can set up a life for ourselves and future children.

Currently i work at a coffee shop which I love and my boyfriend works for a health food company as a delivery driver, I am not sure what he would do if we relocated, but he has worked as a driver/courier for quite some time. I highly recommend you don't move there without jobs lined out first and these kinds of jobs are not ones you want to move there for.

We both love the outdoors, have 2 dogs, and enjoy going out to eat awesome food and have drinks or see a movie now and then. Pretty simple people just looking to get away from the hustle and bustle that Austin is becoming (sort of on my end). I tend to be a bit more social but we both are sort of home bodies. I am also into fitness (yoga) and he enjoys video games (working towards being a writer) and is a musician. Plenty of outdoor activities are available but many of these activities still cost money.

Other things I will note are that neither of us has traveled much, he went on a few senior trips to Europe and I have only ever been all over Texas, lived in a northern part of Florida, and we recently went to Las Vegas which I thought was perfect weather and beautiful.

That's another thing, the weather.
Austin gets zero snow, so I have had no experience living in, or commuting in that type of weather or climate, I think he is a little more confident, however it would clearly take some getting used too! We are just used to hot, humid, and more hot! Weather will be a shock, not only due to the cold and snow but also inversions which can lead to poor air quality.

Sorry for such a long post, we are open to any towns in Montana, and we also researched Wyoming and I am for Colorado but Montana seems to be the middle ground. We do plan to visit a least two places before we make a decision! Thanks for the input! I would advise wherever you move to research carefully the cost of living and the wages. You can't eat scenery.

[georgiainwyo]

It is my understanding that the cost of living in Montana, especially Missoula or the NW part, is high compared to Austin. I have a friend who lived in Wyoming most of her life, but has been in Austin for several years. She has owned a few homes there, and has recently contracted to have a new one built. The very nice home she is paying less than $200K for would easily be over $300K in Missoula. From her accounts, Austin has a low cost of living compared to the Wyoming/Montana area. FYI

[WJK993]

It would be very hard to live in Missoula on the wages from barista and delivery driver jobs. Besides, half the university students moonlight as baristas, it seems. If you think Las Vegas had perfect weather, that might a spot to consider. Montana weather, especially in Missoula, has a lot of cold and gray days. This January has been unusually sunny and warm (highs in the low 40s many days instead of the 20s) but don't count on that. I'd highly recommend you visit any place you're thinking of moving at least twice -- once in the summer and again in the winter.

[historyfan]

Shoot. Have an adventure. Come up for the ski season and work at a resort or summer season dude ranch same deal. Get something where housing is included in pay.
Everything is more here than in Austin except the pay in your present fields. So you will either need live on half as much as you do now or each have 2 jobs.

[Hummingbird88]

Originally Posted by notoriouskelly

Montana isn't as plugged in as Austin so don't expect too much response here or on craigslist

Missoula is as good a start as any - my only dislike there is the traffic getting from one part of town to another (true of all Montana cities except Great Falls) but after Texas it might seem a breeze.

Plenty of amenities, college town, beautiful country near and reasonable cost of living.

I've been snow birding between Montana & Arizona for several years and Montana is great!

I know I know, I am just getting excited for possibilities and impatient.


Aside from Missoula we looked into Livingston, and Bozeman which I guess is right near that area. We've been looking into most of Eastern Montana. All of which seems reasonable as far as renting goes, we won't be buying for some time.


As far as jobs, it doesn't look as if any area of Montana is heavily populated with Starbucks so hopefully transferring wouldn't be a problem. I will likely be in the management category by the time we move. I am currently a shift supervisor. I make a decent wage here, but not decent in terms of how long I have actually been working for this company.


The rents I see there are WAY lower than what we are paying here, we are currently in a small 1br (533 sq ft) and pay $875 for that, not including utilities.
I have found some really nice rentals in the $575-$700 range, that are like 2 bedrooms and on acreage so it seems like a steal!

I have also done research on comparing states we are interested in, lots of information on the sites I have checked out, and between Montana and Arizona, Montana wins!

We are still doing research on things and we are trying to plan a trip for the fall, to Montana.

Any other input is much appreciated and we appreciate the responses!


Keep em comin'!

[marknboo]

Well come on up. I moved back to MT after living in many diff areas of the country, Palm Springs,CA, Phoenix,AZ, Charleston, SC, St. Petersburg, FL, Yep Montana is the best, it's nice and quiet, a little chilly at times but I'll take that over crazzzy congestion any day. Your choice of Missoula is nice other than it's a college town so jobs are scarce in the winter. and it's a bit pricy because of the college. Kallispell is beautiful but very expensive. Bozeman is another college town and to close to Big Sky a wealthy area so a bit pricy on everything. Billings is just plain Crazy, it's to busy, the prices are probably about the same as where you are now, there are Jobs there but it's not quiet and peaceful like most of the other towns/cities in the state. Helena is the capital and there are jobs there, it's about the same cost as Billings , Great Falls is an Air Force town and very expensive, not a lot of jobs that pay good money. and the wind blows hard all the time. I live in the mountains directly between Helena and Great falls, it's peaceful here and I'm self employed/retired so I don't worry much about the jobs around here. Good luck with your search. if you want more info just ask. I've lived all over this state and know what it's like in most of the towns.

[historyfan]

There has never been much of a rental market in Montana.

The classifieds in Eastern MT newspapers are full of people begging for rentals. The starting price on available apartments in Miles City seems to be $850 plus utilities. My understanding is $1200 plus utilities for anything half decent is the new norm with $1500 min being price to secure renting a family sized dwelling. Anything within a few hours of the oilfields is occupied.

I know a young guy renting with 3 others in little town within an hour of Bell Creek oilfield whose share on a little house is $650 plus 1/3 of utilities. He thinks it's a bargain. It is not unusual for utilities to be $500 due to the inefficiency in heating systems in poorly insulated older dwellings.

Landlords with properties East of Billings seem to be getting any price they name.