When It Comes To Moving To Montana, Who Are The Good Guys?

There's a lot of talk about out-of-state folk moving to Montana. In fact, a whole lot of Montanans have no problem sharing their opinion about those of us that have moved here from other states. If you spend any time on social media at all, you'll see the phrase "we're full" often posted when talking about transplants.

However, are all transplants bad?  I would say the answer to that is no.

In fact, in a recent conversation with Montana Governor Greg Gianforte, he told us that the state of Montana recently kicked off a campaign that encourages Montanans who've left the state, as well as those who aren't native Montanans but went to school here to come back to Montana.

The reason?

Because a lot of those people have degrees and the skills that are much needed in Montana right now. From teachers to medical professionals, the list is long and because of that, the state of Montana has set up a website where you can go and learn more about the program.

So this is where it all gets a little bit tricky.  The state is in desperate need of skilled individuals, however, there is a certain way of life here that Montanans hold dearly. So how can Montanans tell the "good" transplants from the "bad" transplants?

This was a conversation that I had recently with someone who had recently moved here from Oregon.  He spoke about folks from outside of Oregon that had moved to the state and the first thing they wanted to do was...you guessed it, they wanted to make it more like where they came from.

How bad did it get? Bad enough that he moved to Montana.

I will use myself as an example.  I was living next door in North Dakota in the coldest city in the continental United States enjoying 50 below zero days on the regular when I received a message about moving here to Montana. There was an opening and I had the skill set that was required, so we made the move from Grand Forks to Bozeman. I had lived in Montana before when I worked in Missoula and was very familiar with the Montana way of life and it was something that I wanted to be a part of again.

I have no desire to "change" things. I have no desire to make it more like where I came from.  If I wanted it to be like where I came from, I would have stayed where I came from.  Do I have issues with the area? Sure. I think it's ridiculous how much housing costs. I don't understand how people just don't have to work to survive here. Other than that, this is a fantastic place.

It's Montana and I wanted to live in Montana. If I wanted to live in Washington, California, or any of the other places that people are flocking here from, I would have moved there. However a word of advise, if you're coming here from those places or any place for that matter, don't try and change the way things are here.

You're giving the rest of us that love Montana the way it is a bad rep.