The Complicated Truth About Montana 

Here's my entire Mountain West Roadtrip Playlist: ru-vid.com/group/PLq-_cmf3H6yq836p_Frch75GtIGQXn-AX&si=ePMnDoI1X6W06usg

My husband was killed by a drunk driver 3 months ago on Father's Day (I was left badly injured with our 3 children under 6 who also survived the crash), and he used to LOVE your channel. He always told me when you'd upload a new video. I bet he would've loved this video, he was always very interested in Montana for some reason. 😅

It’s a sad reality for us Montanans. The sickness has made its way to us and it’s truly changed our state for the worse.

My family has been in the valley for 5 generations. Seeing/experiencing what's happening is brutal.

The entire country is starting to look like the times of the great depression.

This isn’t left or right. I live in a leftist Fort Collins, Colorado and we have these problems. I work in right wing Wyoming and we have these problems here too. We’re being phased out by the rich, dying with diseases of despair. It’s awful

Basically, if they put a Whole Foods in your town, it's OVER 😅

This is happening everywhere. I live in Ottawa, Canada and the average house price is high $700,000’s. You can still find older townhomes for $400,000 to $500,000. Every city has its’ share of homeless and tent encampments. Sad reflection on what is happening in society.

I'm interested in seeing how many of these Californians actually stay in Montana several years from now after they've experienced some harsh winters and have to deal with real snow and bitter cold.

Winter does humble a lot of these Californians that have moved in

I cringed with horror as TIME Magazine put Bozeman, Montana on it's front page. Calling it the best place on Earth. God help you Bozeman, and Montana. RIP.

Like George Carlin said, “ To believe in the American Dream- you’ve got to be asleep,” and “there’s a Big Club, and you ain’t in it!” FACTS

I'm from Bozeman. I've got personal memories from almost every shot you took. My first job delivering newspapers was on Main Street. One of my customers was the sherrifs office which is now a museum. Even the lots with all the new houses, we used to snowmobile in those fields. There were no homeless. The police would take them to the bus depot and the city would buy them a ticket to Billings for $8. When I was a kid, I Montana $100,000 would buy a mansion. What pisses me off is the property tax goes up when people pay more, so the real Montanans can't afford to keep the land that's been in the family for generations. Those Californian's used to make fun of us! I now live in Ecuador. I miss Bozeman, a lot. I miss it more when I go there.

My grandfather homesteaded in Montana as a boy with his family in 1912. My dad was born in Bozeman and I grew up there. It is hardly recognizable from what it was just 20 years ago. It’s truly sad.

“Part of the reason so many people came here was it what a lot more cheaper than where they lived. Now they’ve gone and done it.” Ahh, the modern day gold rush like resettlement game. Leave, resettle and price out locals to get your big fat house before real estate gets too expensive again.

Don't judge them all by their license plate. I was lucky enough to be born, raised, and lived for all 68 years of my life in Montana. Thirty some years ago I got stranded on the highway with my wife and two young daughters. I sat on the side of the road with the flashers on and hood up...going nowhere. Many a vehicle sped by me without as much as moving over to miss me. Most of them had Montana plates. Finally, a man about my age with a wife and two young daughters stopped and gave me a tow to the nearest town. He had California plates! The repair shop told me they would replace a faulty fuel pump in a couple of hours. I offered to buy this family lunch at the nearby McDonald's while we waited. They told us they wanted to relocate from CA to MT because of the craziness they were experiencing there (yes, it was even crazy in CA 30 years ago). They were looking for real estate to buy in Montana but mentioned that everyone they met were less than friendly once they learned they were from California. We were in a bit of a resort area where real estate prices were high (by MT standards) and they were afraid they weren't going to be able to fine a home here. I offered to take them to my hometown area where prices were more reasonable (Great Falls) and show them around... they stayed with us for 3 days and made an offer on a property in the Little Belt Mountains which they could never quite get closed. A few years later, they bought a place in another western state and are happy as clams. We exchange Christmas cards to this day...wonderful people who came from California. So this is one native Montanan who gives most "out of staters" a bit of a break to let them prove themselves before I cuss them out for ruining the state we all love.

From a french perspective, live in the US is a dream...what we call over here the american dream....unfortunatelly it seems that it worst that living in France....but I notice we face the same pb here: we can afford to welcome migrants with houses, medical care for zero euro....whereas we have more and more french homeless....it is crazy!

My two daughters lived in Montana for years. One in Big Sky, the younger in Bozeman. They loved Montana but since the pandemic all of California seemed to be migrating to Montana and Utah. They came back home (New Mexico) last year and say they were fortunate to experience Montana's beauty and beautiful people before all the $$ moved in and destroyed the mountain culture they loved so much. Sad.

I feel your pain Montana. Sincerely, A Third Generation Native Floridian

Sadly, I am in the Outer Banks in North Carolina and the same thing is happening there. I see so many New York/New Jersey tags it is sickening. The locals cannot afford to live here anymore and the traffic is terrible.

Your documentation of whats happening is awesome! Nobody else is reporting like you do.

Nick, you're a national treasure, thank you for doing the work you do!

I’m an OTR trucker and just moved to Montana from Georgia I love the state and learning about the culture I don’t want Montana to change and I feel the pain of the locals watching their home become unrecognizable. Sometimes when people learn you’re not local they treat you worse but overall the people in my town have been incredibly wonderful and welcoming

My grandparents raised my mom and uncle there in Bozeman, they were married in August of 1929. My grandpa wheeled my grandma in a wheelbarrow down main street. My grandpa helped build the First Baptist Church Steeple, I still own the hammer head he used. My grandma worked in a seedpea plant fixing burlap bags. My mom went to School there at the Catholic Church and then College (until she met my dad as a motorcycle accident patient at the hospital she was doing her clinicals at). My uncle worked on the railroad before starting Farmers Insurance Co. All three of my cousins worked the company. I lost the oldest one nearly a decade and a half ago then both sisters of his just last year. My grandpa knew, hunted, and fished with Walt Disney and he actually walked in the funeral procession when he died in 1961. Grandma moved to Belgrade and had the best views of the surrounding mountains. I grew up loving to visit. My uncle's wife is still in Bozeman but not in great health, I really am saddened to see the city in disarray. My dad by the way was born in Ekalaka, Montana. His mom is buried in upstate somewhere near Glasgow. Both my mom and dad died in this month of October just thirteen years apart, buried in Washington State in the same cemetery as my grandfather on my dad's side, and my nephew. Montana needs to vote out the liberals and not allow any transplants from Washington, Oregon, California, New York, New Jersey, or even Nevada to run for office in any capacity until they've lived there at least two decades, before it turns into California 10.0. California's political, social, and economic policies have ruined several other Western States.

My conservative, rural, family oriented county in Ohio is experiencing this on a much smaller scale. We neighbor the most liberal county in the state, some families like mine, moved out here to embrace the culture of this county and raise our kids here. Unfortunately there are many moving here that want to immediately set out to change all the best parts of this county to reflect what ruined the place they just fled! I'm ready to move farther out in the country.

My wife and I passed thru Bozeman 3 years ago, the old waitress warned us then that Bozeman was growing in a bad way...

Being from Minnesota, I hope all the real Montana people get their wish of a long, cold winter.

This actually made me cry a lot. I grew up here and was very blessed to go to high school and Bozeman. I lived in such a safe and beautiful place. Where I got to experience the outdoors and a childhood. That many kids don't get to experience these days. But my heart is completely shattered. Knowing that I will not. Be living in Bozeman any longer, and our families, generations that have been here, for years, we'll no longer be here either. We are being pushed out because people who are greedy and have money and want to be here and destroy the things that they touch, have moved in and pushed. The people who deserve to be here, our It's not fair and when I see these kinds of people move into my Hometown. It makes me honestly feel hatred. And that is not something God wants me to feel towards anybody. But what do you do when you have to watch People destroy everything that you love so much and do it right in front of you.? I pray god brings a change to wipe out this evil that seems to be spreading all over our country. May god have mercy on your souls.

THE ONLY REASON THEY ARE DOING THIS, IS BECAUSE NOBODY'S STOPPING IT!

I was born in Montana. Helena, to be specific. I left in 1996. Even back then, all those years ago, it was difficult to secure housing. I was viewed as an outsider because I was black. I was shocked how much has changed when I returned last spring to care for my dying grandmother. I would fly in every time I visited. This time I had drove in. Houses were in places that used to not have anything around for miles. Down interstate 90 from Bozeman in Three Forks, there used to be endless wheat fields. Now houses are springing up on the wheat fields. When my grandmother passed, I sold her house. She lived in Helena in a trailer park. She gutted a single wide trailer from the 70s and made it look really good. New everything, inside and out. Sold it for 125k. The land it was on was a rented lot owned by the park. Buyer from California paid cash and didn't even bat an eye. I could have sold it for more, but I was tired and ready to go home. As much as it saddens me how Montana has changed, my grandmother was the only reason I kept coming home. Good luck to my fellow Montanans.

There are two types of people. One type moves to a town because they like the town and they want it to stay the same. The other type moves to a town and they want to change everything about it.

I moved to Oregon from Michigan 30 years ago. Drove through Bozeman with great interest because of the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Passed through town in about 5 minutes! Thought to myself, "Was that Bozeman? Did I blink and miss it?" Looks like it has been gentrified to the max over the last several decades.

So I am a 5th generation Helena Montana and my partner was born and raised in Bozeman. We live in a 2000 Dodge ram van, we both work and my partner is a full-time student. It's impossible to move into a one-bedroom that cost $1,200 when they want first month's last month the deposit good credit and three times that amount as your income you have to work three jobs just to be able to step foot into a place. They don't make it easy for people that are just struggling to make it by to get a hand up not a hand out because everybody focuses on the drug problem. Well won't they are doing drugs and being drunk too if they were stressed into a situation of living in vehicles and tents on the side of the road? See what the problem is you have people making decisions in a situation they have never experienced themselves. Since the pandemic everybody got displaced. Right now we live in Missoula Montana. We traveled all over the country for the last 2 years. Everywhere saying that they're the only ones with the problem of homelessness and drugs and it is not true it is that epidemic everywhere! It's sad and disheartening to watch communities fall apart.

This whole country will be unrecognizable in a few months. R.I.P. America.

The Montana Meth project has been around for about twenty years. Drugs have been a problem in Montana for a long time, but rural states are better at sweeping it under the rug.

Remember your rancher friends are happy to re-zone some of their ag property to sell to the developers. The local township with the banker on the board was OK with the re-zoning along with all the retail proprietors. Everything gets a boost, only those not benefitting from it suffer.

Didnt know Montana was having these issues too, sad. Thank you for the work you do to show this. 👍

The universities came up with the motto "we have the best and brightest here in Montana for you California" decades ago and now we see the fruit of their labor. No one to blame but themselves.

“Poverty with a view “ Ain’t that the truth.😟

in one of your videos, you asked why we like to look at poor neighborhoods, it's because it lets us know how fortunate we are, and it makes me more humble.

All other states should pass a law against immigration from California.

It is happening all over the country. In Las Vegas also. The situation will only get worse with millions crossing the border. We have become 2nd class citizens in our own COUNTRY. CLOSE OUR BORDERS

Hello from a NYC. Native New Yorker here. We can rinse, lather repeat this a million times over and over here. Everything is changing and getting far too expensive. Sorry it is happening in Montana. I feel your pain.

I lived in Bozeman for years. Welcome to the party. You think everyone in California is eking by in a little apartment because they want to? "Montanans" are lucky they'e had it so good for so long. I'm sick of listening to generationally rich ranchers who drive $100K trucks complain because they are barely making it while they sit on a huge pile of money on land with several homes and outbuildings. On the other side, there are tons of people who moved to Montana from other states who are complaining non stop about the "out of staters". For every out of stater that overpays for something there is someone that made a bunch of money on the deal. The real problem is they printed money and gave out massive loans to anyone that could fog a mirror. The house of cards will come down eventually.

I remember the first time I visited Bozeman. I stopped in the Walmart and was looking for carts. Couldn't find them anywhere. I finally asked a person working their where the carts were and they said they had to get rid of the carts since so many people were stealing them. I never heard/saw this before, but I'm not from the west coast. It was just the last thing I expected from Montana. I had no idea it was like that their

The problem with letting developers/home builders decide what gets built is that they will never decide to build truly affordable housing. They make bigger bucks on the unaffordable stuff. Cities get more tax revenue from the expensive stuff. But that’s what needs the intervention. That’s where the change has to be forced by a higher power.

I tried to get a cabin on flat head lake to visit family and we were quoted $5000 for a week. The "locals" of montana sure don't seem to mind the influx, they're happy to price gouge.

I worked at Yellowstone Park back in 1992. The Paradise Valley near Livingston was already full on Hollywood way back then. The Paradise Valley is now the site of Kevin Costner's Dutton Ranch on Yellowstone. The rich and famous really do live there. Probably a lot more nowadays.

My wife and I just finished a 5,600 mile road trip to get to the last 3 states to visit to make all 50 that we have be to together over the last 34 years of our marriage - North and South Dakota and Idaho. We drove from our home state of GA making a loop going to Coeur d'alene, ID .coming back hitting Mt Rushmore. Of course, drove all through MT. Once we crossed the Ohio River going into IL from Paducah, KY, only saw 3 of our fellow African-American citizens. The scenery, the farms and ranches were magnificently manicured, like the grass was cut by hand with scissors. It looked like every square inch of land was being put to some use, for cattle, for corn, or National Park land. Even the medians of I 90, I 94 and I 29 were baled for hay. I saw no litter. We had only one period of rain, crossing the Rockies from MT into ID, otherwise crystal clear blue sky. The mood of the fellow Americans we encountered - GRIM. Help wanted signs - EVERYWHERE. Did not see one Biden/Harris sign. The Stars and Stripes and Trump signs - EVERYWHERE. Glad we didn't have CA license plates on our rental. We are blessed to be Americans, we live in a beautiful and remarkable country, we are a beautiful and remarkable people. We are blessed with freedoms and opportunities that others can only imagine. This country is going through a tough time now. At least we ain't going through a Civil War, A Great Depression or a World War. My wife and I love your channel and look forward to all your videos.

The fact that rich people's presence can just raise property values and displace the locals is concerning. The locals should be able to gatekeep their home.

$500 a night for motel - holy moly ! And Airbnb taking over. They really should clamp down on Airbnb. Max it out at 30 days per year, and only part of your premises can be used, and you have to be at home. Here in Prague, it's basically hollowed out the entire centre. I was in Montana in 2010 and it was perfect (the brief bit of it I saw driving around in a Colorado hire car ). Sad to see that it's so expensive for locals

Yup grew up in Bozeman Montana and I’m making the move away from my home…can’t afford it here and I can live a better life and make my dollar go further in most other places….Glad I was here for the last days of the True Montana

No pee or shit in the doorways..at least not yet..give it another 10 years..Hopefully the brutal winters will keep the homeless and druggies out!! Great video Nick!!

This has been one of the best series I've seen about the great coastal migration and its consequences. Thanks for doing it Nick. Really good.

I was in a rodeo one time. Well sort of. What happened is that I was walking down the sidewalk of crime ridden Portland Oregon. Some guy ran past me and grabbed the purse off my shoulder. My reflexes kicked and I grabbed onto my purse strap as he was pulling it over my shoulder. My grip was tight. I held onto my purse like I was a cowboy in a rodeo. An Uber driver came to my rescue eventually and scared the robber off. The attack probably lasted a minute or two, but it was frightening. So this is my rodeo story because it was like being in one.

Nick, this informative tour of Bozeman was not only showing current life and conditions. You do it with an interesting, entertaining style! 👏

This makes me sad. I really feel for the native Montanans. This is happening in my small California town as well. People from LA started to move here during the pandemic. Our town has now doubled in size. Porsches and Mercedes everywhere have replaced the majority of the pickup trucks that used to be all over. I can't blame the people who want to move here. It's a fantastic town. It just gotten too crowded for me and how I want to live. My house is currently on the market and I am looking forward to relocating.

Something fundamental has gone wrong with the system when teachers, healthcare workers and such are forced to live in campers and tents.

The SAMENESS of the houses is soul-killing.

I enjoyed the music and video. The blues flu is infecting everywhere. So sad

What a major tragedy. Montana was such a beautiful state with that "last frontier" feel to it. Back in the 70's I remember my uncle being so upset when they had a new neighbor within 3 miles of the ranch. He said it was the beginning of the end. Glad he is not around to see this-it would break his heart.

It just keeps happening and it'll never stop. Hell, it happened to Seattle in the 90s and Portland after that. Buckle up...

I went through Bozeman after a day in Yellowstone. I got stuck there for a night holy crap the place is more expensive than most of California couldn't believe it. Reminds me a lot like Flagstaff, AZ but even more expensive.

Montana- It’s a beautiful state. Before I was born in ‘78 my parents and their families came from Billings,MT to WA state. This is what happens when you have a combined tragedy of CA-DEW fires and a massive cost of living increase. We owned our own home for 14yrs- lost it to foreclosure in 2019. Then convid hit. Practically homeless in a 1984 rv for 3 1/2 yrs, moving from campground to campground. Now we live in the same apts my husband and I rented BEFORE we bought our house. In 2005 this 2 bedroom cost $525/ month plus electricity. Now the exact same style unit it $2500!

You know why you can leave your car running outside in Montana?! Because everybody that a REAL AMERICAN is pack’n heat!!!💪🇺🇸💯🦅!!!

I see so many people who have gotten lucky (also worked hard but luck plays a part) and life has worked out for them, and they tend to adapt this idea that they are somehow better than the guy who life didn’t work out for. And that’s the real problem. No one lifts the next guy up.

I lived in western Montana, then in eastern Montana 30 years ago, and uber-weathly people were moving there. Bozeman and Missoula were always more expensive, people were always complaining about "outsiders" moving there (I guess I was one of those) People would always say "the only way to make money here is to have money when you move here." So none of this stuff is new.

I saw a camper towing a landscaping trailer camped overnight in a St. Petersburg, FL Wal-Mart yesterday. He had a gas generator fixed to the front of the camper for A/C and I guess he does landscaping where he can find it.

I used to listen to the NPR station out of Bozeman on the internet because digital feed was exceptionally clear. That's how I came to know about Bozeman.

That's a damn shame! It's such a pretty place, or it used to be.

We keep putting houses on our farms and ranches. What will we do when countries won't send us their food?

Thank you for this interesting post showing different parts of the state. They are also looking somewhat depressed, and a mixture of both like everywhere else even here and Long Beach, Calif. thank you for this interesting post showing different parts of the state. They are also looking somewhat depressed, and a mixture of both like everywhere else even here and Long Beach, California

Boy oh boy, now THAT'S seeing a town from inside to outside! Nick outdid himself this time! Thanks, Nick, for the "loo review"!!

Wait til they get a REAL bad winter

Such beauty, becoming cluttered,& unaffordable. The theme of America 🇺🇸 these days. Sad state of affairs.😞

I live in Reno NV and we have the same problem here, Californian's pouring in like crazy and traffic is off the hook! There's a GOBK2CA license plate drawing a lot of criticism.

Wanted to move before the pandemic but couldn't convince the wife. During / After the pandemic she finally was willing but at that point everyone and everything we wanted to get away from was spreading all over the states we had originally considered moving to. In hindsight I'm glad we didn't move. Still hate the politics, rot and decay of California and that's why we wanted to move. Doesn't seem like it matters any more. God speed Montana.

Gotta say, I have a lot of understanding for the working poor. Rent is just too expensive along with everything else. I don’t know how people are getting by these days. 🥺

The homeless problem is growing nationally. But I cannot wrap my head around what these people are going to do in winter. My brother lived in Anaconda, loved it but said the winters were BRUTAL, and he had a place to live. He moved to Colorado.

Enjoyed viewing the many neighborhoods - so much land but so many houses sandwiched together was surprising, not even a half acre. Being a Northeasterner I was struck by the brightness, I guess the flatness and the really big sky is the reason, and I was impressed with the vivid green, even though you said it didn't rain much. In the east, there're a lot of churches but you didn't point out any there - it's a feature I think people would be interested in learning about as well as Montana weather. Looking forward to ID.

Thank you for sharing brother 💯

Breaks my Heart seeing all them duplexs and houses crowded together. I used to run across Montana 3 or 4 times a month the 16 years I drove longhaul. What a shame.

I have to tell you that to find the real Montana, look to the small towns where many generations of families still work and live on farms and ranches and have not been invaded by outsiders so much.

Im deeply sad for whats happened to Bozeman. I first came through in 92 and loved it. I hope places west like Troy, Noxon, Thompson Falls and the like will be spared the California Cancer...mostly because thats where im looking. There or just far north Idaho...

Lived in Heron. Star Route 3 Box 11 for a while in the 70's. Worked for Asarco till they got busted poisoning the Clark Fork. Cabinet is the greatest. Love your stuff

Have to point one thing out. There didn’t appear to be any boarded up, vacant storefronts in downtown. Something a lot of towns can’t say.

Many of these state legislatures and cities are their own worst enemy. When these wealthy individuals and developers come in there should be ordinances to ensure they pay for the infrastructure. Also set aside lower income housing in the form of good apartments for the working class like teachers etc.

Rent doubled for me in Bozeman after I graduated college. From 400/month in 2018 to 950/month in 2022. It’s definitely sad to see. We all love and hold on to what we know Montana as growing up there. The nostalgia of the open plains and cowboys, it’s slowly slipping away. I grew up riding dirtbikes on the top of every mountain range including the Bridger’s. My dad grew up riding anywhere he wanted, but most of those spots are now shut down.

Good job on the reality check here. I have seen this before twice in NC and in Jackson Hole in the 1980's. Welcome to America Montana. What is missing is that Central and Eastern Montana is still being depopulated every year for the last thirty.

Try going back in February and let's see how lovely it is to walk around outside in shorts and a tee-shirt living in a camper with no insulation and exposed pipes.

Yeah I was in the Bozeman Walmart parking lot not too long ago and it had that vibe.

You passed by my old house 😀. ..wow has the place changed, It was extremely expensive back then my 4 bedroom house was 325000. I’m sure it would go for a lot more these days… I miss it, but I’m glad I left it’s definitely not the same

Poor Mappy😂😂😂 hilarious and informative video!! You are the best!! Great jacket !

People complain when their towns are dying, and complain when people move in. Complaining is the only constant.

Is any place the same anymore? When wages have been stagnated for decades but prices of everything continue to rise. I can’t imagine a Montana winter in an RV 😢

This is happening Everywhere! I moved from Toronto to LA in 1989 and don't worry, I'm staying here.

Came out of Dillon. My college town was Bozeman. The last time I was there was 2001. I've kept track of my state from the coast and I have 2 sisters and a lot of graves there. Sad what the rich can do to an area.

My friend is a bozeman native and him and his wife got priced out of the little old 2 bedroom they rented when rent tripled in 1 year. He says you can’t find ANYTHING under 1 million dollars now, not even a lot without a house

I’m totally rethinking my plan to sell my old west style house on 10 remote acres above the rim in Arizona. I don’t know where this world is headed anymore. I might as well retreat 100% into an 1870 lifestyle where nobody can even find me.

I really like everything about this channel. Great commentary, entertaining and informative.