Missoula, Montana

silentcartographer3
1y ago
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Northside
OP my one recommendation is before you throw everything in one basket is to actually experience a full winter in Montana before "hang your hat up". The reason I bring this up is it takes a different mentality to live here. The winters are freakishly long and brutal. There is not as much light as you are probably expecting (we just started to see the sun @7am and sets after 4:45pm) most of the winter it's about 8:30am-4:30pm for daylight hours. The winter depression is a real thing here and you don't know isolation till you find yourself alone for a few days without contact with people around you darkness and cold bad weather constantly being there. Additionally we are 2nd or 3rd for suicide and #1 for mental health problems in the United States so it is something to be aware of. Most people who don't have experience in the Rockies during the winter are almost desperate to leave after their first winter. I'm not trying to dissuade you but this is the reality of Montana.

Additionally it is worth noting that I don't know where you are coming from but if you are looking for nightlife or lots of entertainment not involving the outdoors or drinking in bars/casinos there is some things but not a whole lot Missoula has three movie theaters total, one year round music venue that brings in national acts, there are more in the summer but don't expect huge amounts of variety of choices in styles of music. And we have Grizz football and basketball for winter entertainment and Paddleheads the minor league baseball team in the summer.

highgroundworshiper
1y ago
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Based off of the information you provided you will love it here. With your budget you’ll do fine, especially living on the outskirts. If your wife travels towards Kalispell or Hamilton consistently you could consider the smaller towns of Frenchtown or Lolo. The town of Missoula itself has a ton of dog parks for you if you can’t find a good spot to rent right away that has a yard.

The dislike of outsiders isn’t as extreme as some people indicate. Just get your plates changed and a Montana license and you’ll avoid the worst of it.

The unhoused population is concentrated only in two areas, one of which is a stones throw (literally) away from me. It’s not nearly as bad as say Portland or Seattle. There is crime and drug use but it’s significantly scaled down from other larger cities.

Missoula has a great vibrant culture and tons of community events and the food scene punches way above its weight for the size of town we are. The University has some cool sports programs and the vibe and atmosphere of the football games is worth checking out even if you aren’t that into it.

Missoula gets more than its fair share of music as well. We have a few different larger venues and one of them(the amphitheater) is low key a top 50 venue in the US. I may be biased tho. Haha.

406RealEstateGuy
1y ago
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It’s the best place I’ve ever lived, but it’s changing quickly as it grows.

The median household income for Missoula County is roughly $68K while the median home price is $540K. Interest rates today are 7% for well qualified buyers. I can’t stress this enough: People are hurting here. 1 in 5 households in Missoula County visited the food bank in 2023.

I’m a real estate agent who used to manage a thrift store here - home prices are crushing all the main industries in town (retail, service, hospitality). Make sure the staying power of your job is more or less secure. If you move here and your job changes - you can’t expect to earn a similar salary on the local scale, it’s going to be very challenging, if not impossible.

But, for real, Missoula is the best.

Should you move to Missoula Montana?