Billings? Really? It gets a bad wrap out here in Montana (unfairly, I will add). Missoula and Bozeman are the 'cool' cities. Billings is just a big oil town. They do have some nice bouldering though.
Why Billings, Montana, Is the Best Town of 2016 [video]
31–40 of 65 posts
Re: Why Billings, Montana, Is the Best Town of 2016 [video]
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not sure it's so much the adventure sports crowd who, as you say, probably don't overlap so much with the not worrying about money crowd. Though maybe that's part of it. Instead, I think it's more the outdoor lifestyle, decent restaurants, at least a modicum of culture, maybe not retired-at-40 but comfortable financially. Especially if they're willing to trade the offerings of larger urban centers for a more laid…
I concur. I guess I mean "adventure sports crowd" in terms of kids of baby boomers who grew up with the opportunity to hike, mountain bike, ski, etc.. often.
Fair enough. I was taking it more as extreme sports, adventure guides, etc.
Re: Why Billings, Montana, Is the Best Town of 2016 [video]
#33It always seems like I'm one of the few in my age cohort (~24), but I'd rather work in Montana than SV/NYC any day. It feels like everyone just wants to be downtown to some major city, but I just want a respectable house on 1/2 acres with mountain views and snow every winter.
I think downtown in a major city would be fun for a few years while building up the start of a career, then switch to somewhere like Chattanooga or Asheville and get a comfy house somewhere in the mountains (small cities but not rural). I think my problem is that I like constant novelty. I'm not sure any location is "best" for me — I seem to want different scenery every few years.
I think for a lot of people, it is hard to find employment in small cities in their field of work. If you want to have a finance career or software career, you need to be in a big city.
How many software engineers does Billings, Montana hire with comfortable compensation?
Re: Why Billings, Montana, Is the Best Town of 2016 [video]
#34It seems Outside magazine propelled itself from obscurity by driving traffic to its site with population contests through Facebook. People tend to vote familiarity, so the larger metro area of the two tends to win. The exceptions are the tourist towns that have regional pull. I'm impressed this method continues to work.
Outside has been popular for decades. They published the articles that led to Krakauer's books Into Thin Air and Into the Wild .
My mistake and ignorance on the 'from relative obscurity' part, but the strategy works nonetheless. I'm not knocking the method. If it works, it works. It was just an observation.
Re: Why Billings, Montana, Is the Best Town of 2016 [video]
#35That video didn't have a single person that wasn't white and young adult/middle aged. Maybe the hat guy is older, but still – diversity didn't seem a priority in the list of features. Maybe that's entirely representative of the demographics, just found it striking.
This is probably because the state of Montana has a 90.6% white population and a 6.2% American Indian population.
There are only 2,700 [1] black people living in the state, it looks to me like they're exactly showing the racial diversity of the state. Sure, they could have a single black person so the numbers are correct but then someone will just complain about them including a single, token black person.
The Billing specific census information is a little bit older but has the same 0.3% figure for black people [2] - that puts their total black population at 270/95,220.
[1] http://www.infoplease.com/us/census/data/montana/demographic... [2] http://www.infoplease.com/us/census/data/montana/billings/
Re: Why Billings, Montana, Is the Best Town of 2016 [video]
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think downtown in a major city would be fun for a few years while building up the start of a career, then switch to somewhere like Chattanooga or Asheville and get a comfy house somewhere in the mountains (small cities but not rural). I think my problem is that I like constant novelty. I'm not sure any location is "best" for me — I seem to want different scenery every few years.
I think for a lot of people, it is hard to find employment in small cities in their field of work. If you want to have a finance career or software career, you need to be in a big city. How many software engineers does Billings, Montana hire with comfortable compensation?
This is actually a severe problem that I have. I'd really like to work remote, so that I could live anywhere. At the same time, however, what if my company goes under, I get laid off, &c., I'm essentially stuck in a sub-optimal position.
I really wish remote were more frequent a benefit.
Re: Why Billings, Montana, Is the Best Town of 2016 [video]
#37Re: Why Billings, Montana, Is the Best Town of 2016 [video]
#38Billings? Really? It gets a bad wrap out here in Montana (unfairly, I will add). Missoula and Bozeman are the 'cool' cities. Billings is just a big oil town. They do have some nice bouldering though.
As a New Mexican with family in Libby (near Kalispell), Missoula is the one of the three that interests me. But I'm not a big outdoors buff.
Re: Why Billings, Montana, Is the Best Town of 2016 [video]
#39Billings? Really? It gets a bad wrap out here in Montana (unfairly, I will add). Missoula and Bozeman are the 'cool' cities. Billings is just a big oil town. They do have some nice bouldering though.
As a New Mexican with family in Libby (near Kalispell), Missoula is the one of the three that interests me. But I'm not a big outdoors buff.
There is no better town in the US than Missoula, Montana. Bozeman's nice too, closer in proximity to Yellowstone. There's just something magical about a summer in Missoula.
Re: Why Billings, Montana, Is the Best Town of 2016 [video]
#40When I lived out there (10+ years ago), I remember the locals always grumbling about people from California moving in and ruining it. I wonder if that has changed.
I prefer the Glacier/Whitefish area, but Montana is a thing every American should experience. I miss it every day.