Billings, Montana

With two-thirds of the city in the Yellowstone Valley, divided by the Rimrocks, and surrounded by no less than seven mountain ranges, Billings has everything a mountaineer can ask for. Billings is home to some of the best hiking trails in the country, a vibrant off-road biking community, ample sites for skiing and snowshoeing during the winter, and just as many spots for hunting and fishing in the off-season. This is only aided by the large amounts of agriculture in the region, and the plethora of both domestic and wild horses. The call of the wild, such as it is, comes from Billings, and if that appeals to you, then you will find it an excellent home.

Here's a quick review of Billings from a transplant: As far as culture goes, there's a ton of people from out of state living here. Montana locals tend to hate Billings, for being too big, too busy, too cheap, too industrial, and too diverse. It's near the Crow and Northern Cheyenne reservations, which I like. People here are crazy nice but refuse to be direct, and I maintain this town has the nicest panhandlers in the world.

There's great outdoor opportunities everywhere (apart from swimming) and can be enjoyed as short day trips. They're bringing back $40 one way tickets to Denver, too, which is great.

Billings is considered somewhat controversial by the wider state of Montana. It is an urbanized area in a state that prides itself on its reputation for the rugged outdoors. As such, other Montanans have been known to have friction with the people of Billings. This is somewhat exacerbated by its reputation as a high-crime city. While drug addiction is fairly widespread, the reputation it holds as a criminal hive is largely overblown and out-of-staters from bigger metros will find the city pretty tame.

A local notes the issue and the exaggeration: I think the main reason people outside the city complain is that it has the reputation of being a "dirty" town. Higher crime rate than the average town in Montana, the refineries, higher homeless population, etc. A lot of that is exaggerated and Billings has cleaned up in the last decade or so, but a lot of it is still true.