Opinions on places to move out west?

[publichunter1]

No certainty whatsoever but there is potential for me move out West next year. I'm about to be 32, married, with a 6,4, and 2 year old. We lived in Fort Collins in 16-17 and absolutely loved being out that way. The possibilities are Lakewood, CO; Cheyenne, WY; Casper, WY; Boise, ID; Rexburg, ID; or Billings, Montana. Fort Collins was great but man is the front range crowded and expensive. Wyoming seems to have the most benefit for being a resident hunting wise with OTC general tags and open access to the Wilderness areas. Any thoughts as to pros or cons to each of those areas? Any future changes coming down the pipe that would affect resident hunting benefits in any of those?

Thanks for any input.

 

[Deleted member 38069]

Lucky you, I'd look long and hard at Wyoming! I would skip on Billings. But I'm no expert.

 

[SFC B]

Lakewood would be at LEAST as bad as FoCo......

 

[Matt Foley]

My work has an office in Cheyenne and 4 of the 6 employee live in the Fort Collins area. I've asked why and all say the winters are miserable. One of the 2 that does live there, lives there for the cheap cost of living and the hunting, for him the winters are worth it.

 

[Pucky Freak]

May depend on what you want available for your kids. Boise may be the best of many worlds. WY is hands down best for hunting opportunity, but is pretty remote, and not a ton going on apart from outdoor opportunity, especially Casper. I'd really want my wife on board with a move out that way. Billings would be my last pick on that list. Yes, it is in MT, but so many better places to live in that state, IMO. Well, except, Rexburg - never heard of it.

RE: elk hunting, Recent decisions in WY have reaffirmed resident preference for hunting opportunity vs. increased revenue/expanding NR opportunity. See the CO proposals thread on changing the season structures. Overall, it seems like they further restrict resident opportunity more than NR.

 

[WyoDoug]

No certainty whatsoever but there is potential for me move out West next year. I'm about to be 32, married, with a 6,4, and 2 year old. We lived in Fort Collins in 16-17 and absolutely loved being out that way. The possibilities are Lakewood, CO; Cheyenne, WY; Casper, WY; Boise, ID; Rexburg, ID; or Billings, Montana. Fort Collins was great but man is the front range crowded and expensive. Wyoming seems to have the most benefit for being a resident hunting wise with OTC general tags and open access to the Wilderness areas. Any thoughts as to pros or cons to each of those areas? Any future changes coming down the pipe that would affect resident hunting benefits in any of those?

Thanks for any input.

Wyoming also has very low taxes and politics align closer to mine than Colorado where I grew up at. As far as hunting, Wyoming has huge odds for residents especially with the reduced Type 6,7,8 tags. Lakewood is getting to be more like Ft Collins. My grandma used to live there and I used to work there. Wyoming also has no income tax and the extra taxes you see in Denver, you don't see near as much in the "big cities" Wyoming has. There are some like the lodging tax but still lower than nearest Colorado municipalities.

 

[BrooksRanger]

I've been through all of the areas you mentioned many times, and currently am spending a few months in Boise, ID for work. I would highly encourage you to check out Boise if you need a larger town/city for work, but would personally prefer the small countryside of Rexburg out of anywhere on your list. Cost of living is low here, the area is super clean, the mountains are amazing, and people still wave at you on the roads in the countryside if that's important to you. (I know it is to me at least.) If I wasn't in love with Alaska, I would probably try to live here permanently. Anything in the front range of CO is going to be very expensive, and crowded. Traffic there is getting worse every month. Wyoming is pretty windy, but I've never seen more antelope anywhere else in my life. You have to see it to believe it, if you haven't already. Billings is definitely a town I always enjoyed seeing in my rearview mirror as I headed West to the big mountains. Lots of good options, but I'd vote for ID.

 

[publichunter1]

Yeah overall I understand the Denver/Fort Collins area. If I ended up in Cheyenne I would definitely stay in there instead of Living in Fort Collins just for the fact of being a WY resident. My wife is completely on board and wants it to happen.

The big problem right now is I'm promised to work until May of next year so it won't happen immediately and may not happen at all. However, I want to have a plan going into that time frame as it involves finding a job possibly with another government agency, selling land here in MS, getting all projects manageable here, etc. I would rather be in Cheyenne I think over Casper for location purposes but I could probably make more money in Casper for what I do.

Definitely will be a lot of praying going on over the next year.

 

[publichunter1]

I've been through all of the areas you mentioned many times, and currently am spending a few months in Boise, ID for work. I would highly encourage you to check out Boise if you need a larger town/city for work, but would personally prefer the small countryside of Rexburg out of anywhere on your list. Cost of living is low here, the area is super clean, the mountains are amazing, and people still wave at you on the roads in the countryside if that's important to you. (I know it is to me at least.) If I wasn't in love with Alaska, I would probably try to live here permanently. Anything in the front range of CO is going to be very expensive, and crowded. Traffic there is getting worse every month. Wyoming is pretty windy, but I've never seen more antelope anywhere else in my life. You have to see it to believe it, if you haven't already. Billings is definitely a town I always enjoyed seeing in my rearview mirror as I headed West to the big mountains. Lots of good options, but I'd vote for ID.

Yeah I've driven through most of WY and always enjoyed it. I know it does have some ruff winters and always windy. I haven't been out to that part of Idaho yet.

I would go to Alaska in a heartbeat but the wife isn't so fond of that and the darker times of year.

 

[fishing4sanity]

If you want big town options, Boise. I've always been a fan of Wyoming and eastern Idaho. Me personally, I'd be looking close at eastern Idaho, plus Idaho is getting a decent selection of Chick-Fil-A locations.

 

[JLDemo]

Cheyenne is a pretty good place to raise your family, I live here and enjoy it year round. Close enough to Ft Collins and Denver but we get Wyo resident benefits. Hunting is incredible for many species and it's because of Cheyenne's location, I get to apply to several other states and no big commute. Its a total package for the family and myself. I have a 2 and 4 yr old myself and there's not a season we have that they don't enjoy, including the beaches. Yes, there's beaches in Wyo. I'll do my best to answer any questions you have, fill free to ask. From a great realtor to hunting, trap shooting league in town to eats. It's a good place.

 

[publichunter1]

Cheyenne is a pretty good place to raise your family, I live here and enjoy it year round. Close enough to Ft Collins and Denver but we get Wyo resident benefits. Hunting is incredible for many species and it's because of Cheyenne's location, I get to apply to several other states and no big commute. Its a total package for the family and myself. I have a 2 and 4 yr old myself and there's not a season we have that they don't enjoy, including the beaches. Yes, there's beaches in Wyo. I'll do my best to answer any questions you have, fill free to ask. From a great realtor to hunting, trap shooting league in town to eats. It's a good place.

I will say if I have my preference it would probably be Cheyenne just because of location to all the things we enjoyed near Fort Collins. Sadly I think there is less chance of a position opening for me at the office in Cheyenne. I don't want to get my hopes up but if by some chance it does happen I know who to contact. I sure appreciate it.

 

[Werty]

I have lived in Cheyenne and live close to billings ( 2hours away). Unless someone pays me some crazy money. I will never live in those 2 places.
I would live in Laramie, Casper maybe. Cant help you with Idaho. Good luck

 

[Mattff200]

I recently moved out to cheyenne from New Jersey and I love it. In fact I love it so much that I took a job in greeley just to get out here and commute from cheyenne every day. Cost of living is a lot cheaper than the front range and the resident hunting benefits are so much better in Wyoming then Colorado. Resident OTC elk & deer tags that as long as you get the archery stamp you can hunt both archery and rifle until you fill your tag, we have a spring bear season and theres almost as many antelope as people. Onky downside is you have to reside in wyoming for 365 days to be considered a resident for hunting purposes.

 

[WyoDoug]

I am a state employee in Cheyenne. They are hiring all over. State has had a serious turnaround last couple years and bumping up salaries in an attempt to keep people from leaving for more money. Cost of living in Cheyenne is a fraction of what it costs to live in suburban areas of Colorado by far. I am about to retire from my state job in 2021. I am also retired military, federal civil service and retired QA analyst from my job before I moved to Wyoming so my bucks in retirement are sustainable. I don't think I can do that in the Denver suburban areas.

 

[High Desert]

Rexburg is a beautiful area with a view of the Tetons and proximity to great fly fishing. You could hunt both Idaho and Wyoming. Idaho Falls is close and somewhat bigger. But, there is wind.

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

Be prepared to convert to Mormonism if you end up in rexburg..Haha. joking aside rexburg is a nice area. Being from Mississippi you might like the fact that rexburg is near the best whitetail hunting in the southern Idaho. 142 people a day are moving to boise. Do with that what you will.

 

[R.K.]

I moved to Billings last summer. Culturally, I think it's closer to Kansas than anything.

Flat land, refineries, lots of farming and feed lots down the river valley. Summer hail storms. City itself isn't without it's share of city problems, but it's nothing like Denver or Chicago. Real estate seems a bit inflated compared to my St Louis roots.

It's an hour to the mountains, minimum. Two hours puts you in some really cool country. But hardly anybody I've run across does that (could just be the people I meet).

 

[MTGomer]

Yeah Billings sucks don’t move there. Nothing to do.

 

[publichunter1]

@Hilljackoutlaw: Yeah that's my biggest holdup on Rexburg. I've heard it is actually pretty harrassing there if you have different beliefs. I don't hold bad feelings toward anyone that believes different than I do but I also don't won't my family to be bothered all of the time.

I do still love hunting whitetails but I've killed more than most people will kill in their lifetime. I'm not bragging because I've never killed anything over 140" but I have killed a bunch of them. I'd love to do more elk, mule deer, moose, antelope, etc. Plus the kids and I still have lifetime license here in MS and can come back to hunt whenever.

@WyoDoug : I have seen a good many openings out that way but haven't looked into it enough to know what the transition is like from the Corps to Engineers. I have a buddy taking a job from here to the Bureau of Rec in Casper so that's why I was looking at those locations.