Sheridan--Advice, Please (Casper, Cody, Jackson: apartment complexes, rentals, crime rate)

[Heidi.M]

Hi! I am an RN working in Casper right now (I'm originally from Northern BC, Canada) but have been considering a move to Sheridan (or possibly Lander) for the past year. I miss the mountains and living in a smaller area. While I've read through many of the Sheridan-related threads here, I still have a few questions. If anyone living in the area would have time to answer, I would appreciate it very much. Thank you!

1.) Are there any nurses who would be able to give me their thoughts on Sheridan Memorial Hospital? I've heard favorable things from a couple of people but would be very interested to learn more.

2.) Safety. Is the area safe enough in terms of crime, for instance, that a young woman could generally go out on hiking trails alone? Given the drug and crime problems in Casper, I would really like to get into a smaller area where I would feel more free to do things without worrying about safety.

3.) Tourist influence. This is a little difficult to word properly, but is the Sheridan area still fairly genuine? I'm not really interested in moving into a tourist area such as Jackson or Cody, and I enjoy Wyoming for what it has traditionally been--ranching, etc. I've enjoyed getting to help out a bit with cattle branding and cattle drives on various friends' ranches and would like to do more of that if possible.

4.) Does anyone have specific recommendations for reputable apartment rental companies? I've found in the past that often people living in an area have a much better idea of which apartment complexes are safe and reputable than an outsider coming in and looking through the rental advertisements.


Thank you very much!

[ElkHunter]

Originally Posted by Heidi.M

Hi! I am an RN working in Casper right now (I'm originally from Northern BC, Canada) but have been considering a move to Sheridan (or possibly Lander) for the past year. I miss the mountains and living in a smaller area. While I've read through many of the Sheridan-related threads here, I still have a few questions. If anyone living in the area would have time to answer, I would appreciate it very much. Thank you!

1.) Are there any nurses who would be able to give me their thoughts on Sheridan Memorial Hospital? I've heard favorable things from a couple of people but would be very interested to learn more.

I am not a nurse, but I have been a patient several times. From the patients point of view, the nurses are terrific. There are a few doctors I don't like, but that is a different story. My neighbor (when I lived in town) is a nurse and she worked there and loved it.

2.) Safety. Is the area safe enough in terms of crime, for instance, that a young woman could generally go out on hiking trails alone? Given the drug and crime problems in Casper, I would really like to get into a smaller area where I would feel more free to do things without worrying about safety.

There is no place in Sheridan that you can not walk and feel comfortable in. We have miles of hiking paths around town and all are very safe. Sheridan has drugs, like any other town, but they are not really prevalent. You won't see them unless you are into that scene.

3.) Tourist influence. This is a little difficult to word properly, but is the Sheridan area still fairly genuine? I'm not really interested in moving into a tourist area such as Jackson or Cody, and I enjoy Wyoming for what it has traditionally been--ranching, etc. I've enjoyed getting to help out a bit with cattle branding and cattle drives on various friends' ranches and would like to do more of that if possible.

Sheridan has stores that are for tourists, but by no means are they the majority. These store may make good money on tourism, but they are local folks and they stay open all year. They are NOT a tourist season only type place. Our town town is outstanding. It's the best 4 block long "Outdoor Mall" I have ever had the pleasure of living close to.

4.) Does anyone have specific recommendations for reputable apartment rental companies? I've found in the past that often people living in an area have a much better idea of which apartment complexes are safe and reputable than an outsider coming in and looking through the rental advertisements.

There are several apartment houses, throughout town. I don't know of any of them that are not safe. I do know that the one across from the highschool, tends to be a younger crowd and I have friends that have lived there and they moved due to noise issues. What are you looking for? The reason I ask is because several brand new places have been built in the last year, like duplexes, with garages, that were built with the express idea of renting them. Pretty fair priced at around $550 for a 2 bedroom with garage.

Thank you very much!

[branDcalf]

Sheridan Hospital posts job openings online.

I consider the town to be pretty safe. There are druggies, but don't seem to be as many as some other places.

You can find a wide variety of people and activities here. One benefit of the tourist trade is there are more events available. Sometimes the biggest problem is deciding what NOT to do in a week. Getting to be involved in ranch work will depend on making acquaintances with ranch people, just like in Casper. I agree with Elk Hunter about Sheridan having a great down town.

I haven't had Elk Hunter's success in finding great, reasonable rentals, but there are realtors, Sheridan media, a local newspaper and even a face book page that list rentals.

[Rescue3]

Hi, Heidi:

My wife and I moved to Sheridan a year ago. We love it, but to your questions -

Sheridan Memorial - we've heard nothing but good things about the staff there, and we are both medics. (Okay, I'm retired.) One of the eight miles of walking paths goes right behind it. I walked them every day when we lived in town. The hospital is very community oriented, as are most of the businesses here. I've heard their finances are relatively strong for a community hospital and they just approved building an urgent care center.

Safety - very. You can walk about anywhere around here anytime you want. The jail is consistently under utilized (as measured by available bed space). Over the Rodeo Weekend, there was exactly one DWI arrest. There is the occasional drunk, or theft, or Friday night high school kid vandalism, but the the crime rate here is by far the lowest of anyplace we've lived in the past 30 years. I'm not concerned about my wife at all - and she went to exercise class at the YMCA everyday at 4:30 AM. Biggest threat is hitting a deer, which explains the strictly enforced 30 MPH speed limit in town.

Tourists: June through September, and it's transient. They bring in some new cash, visit the downtown and move on to Yellowstone (or Sturgis). We welcome and appreciate the tourists we get, and the town works hard to be a good host. But this is not a tourist mecca. This is a close knit community where we all look out for our neighbors and where we get visitors about four months a year. (This year is a little slow, according to my business friends.)

Rentals: I think the board rules prevent me from naming an apartment or realtor by name. However, we moved out here and rented a house from a realtor. Very friendly, and she didn't know us from Adam. Rented it to us over the phone. When we found a home to buy eight months later, they worked with us to let us out of the lease in favor of a new leasee four months early. We were very good tenants; they appreciated that and were very willing to work with us. There are two relatively new apartment buildings that just opened in the last couple years, and they look nice from the outside. If you want names, send me a PM so I don't get thrown off the board.

Here's what you might want to do - go to:

Sheridan Media | Serving Sheridan Wyoming and Buffalo Wyoming

and look at the top toolbar. Select the "Country Bounty" label and click on it. That's the free weekly newspaper for Sheridan. It opens up in a .pdf. Every week (starting at 5:00 pm Monday) you can look at the community ads, apartments, rentals and employment opportunities. When you move here, the Country Bounty arrives in your mail for free every Tuesday.

Please note: SMH does not advertise there - they have their own website at www.sheridanhospital.org

We wish you good luck in your decision and, if you select Sheridan, Welcome!

[Heidi.M]

Thank you all for the advice and information--I really appreciate it! I went up to Sheridan a week ago and did a bit of exploring, which helped me get a better idea of what I might be looking at too. Given that I have a steady job and good housing situation here in Casper, I'm not quite yet ready to jump into an "unknown" situation yet without doing a bit more research. Thank you again to everybody for your help!