UNBOXING MONTANA: What It's Like Living in MONTANA

does everybody in montana drive drunk are the ski towns filling up with liberal snowflakes and is everyone in montana a real badass we're gonna answer those questions and more so grab your saddles and your ski poles we're gonna unbox the state of montana montana named after the spanish word for mountains look at this vast untapped land you might not be able to tell from this shot but it's one of the fastest growing states in the country there's plenty of room here i mean montana has just over a million people and there are only seven people per square mile that's not a lot it's a huge state this is big sky country out here in the wilderness interspersed among small towns and communities are all sorts of areas to explore and tons of different animal life living here you feel like you're in a nature park that's because a lot of the state is a nature park the state isn't just diverse in terms of wildlife either among the state's residents are a ton of different types of people and culture jk this isn't a very diverse state at all it's basically 97 white local drunks a few native americans tons of hunters and a handful of millennial brats really that's basically it video is over no montana's way more than that pal it's not just all white people sorta to get a complete understanding of this big old state we need to look at a big old map and see each region separately this is montana looks like there's a lot going on here huh actually there really isn't it's a slow-paced lifestyle where you have teeny tiny towns places to ski a half dozen smallish cities that would barely even be considered a real city in most states and wide open areas where you can drive for hours and barely see us hole we're going to begin up here in the northwest part of the state now the western third of montana's mountains and valleys a huge national park pretty lakes a few decent sized towns some native americans and one decent-sized city way up here along the canadian border is glacier national park it's a million acres big it's sort of part of the rockies and you can find almost 800 lakes grizzly bears and moose every year somebody gets attacked by a bear up here there's also tons of hiking trails and of course glaciers there are a couple dozen glaciers up here but they're all shrinking because of global warming but don't talk to a montana guy about that he'll call you a bleeding heart libtard it's pretty wide open over here by the idaho border but interspersed throughout much of this side of the state from the idaho border all the way down to the continental divide are smatterings of ultra wealthy communities this is where the wealthy people with second homes are many of these lakeside homes are only used for a few months of the year and then the out-of-staters head back to their warmer states where there's much more to do for most of the year the only people you see in them are the caretakers now you may have heard a lot about how montana is changing we're going to get to that in more detail later but there are many places in western montana which are being overrun by young liberal city slickers who want to experience the stereotypical montana lifestyle they move here from places like washington oregon california and texas to become wannabe fly fishermen and ski bums they wear patagonia and they rent out bedrooms barely making a living scraping by many live here in flathead county they're out of state plates give them away many montana locals aren't too privy on the out-of-staters as they worry they're going to bring their liberal bs to this state that's how they put it those aren't my words it's very common to see a montana local flipping the bird at a newly minted montana resident without state plates it's also not unheard of for a montana man or woman to run an out-of-stater off the road they're very protective of this state areas in western montana where you'll find these out-of-state wannabes include whitefish kalispell and missoula these are all very different places whitefish is a super liberal wealthy place at the base of whitefish mountain resort it's a really cute town where homes average nearly a half million bucks lots of younger people move here to work in tourism and others come in search of the quiet mountain life with a pinch of modern creature comforts there are also lots of big fancy homes on the outskirts of town with wealthy people from all over now kalispell is near flathead lake the biggest freshwater lake west of the mississippi this city of 25 000 people is far more conservative than whitefish but you get a lot of people moving here from out of state as well for three months flathead lake is awesome like best summer months you could spin anywhere in the country flathead lake is warm in the summer and it's dark until like midnight so people spend all summer on this lake out on their boats getting drunk but then winter comes and this place changes big time pal kalispell is the epitome of what makes up montana life for a lot of folks in this state you see in the winter months much of western montana is very gloomy and cold and from fall till the end of spring it's a very depressing place unless you're into the outdoors there isn't much to do here except drink so beginning at noon folks shuffle around from bar to bar to find a buzz or dip into one of the thousand casinos tucked inside of restaurants or bars and gas stations the old-timers who aren't motivated to see nature kind of waste our days away with a cocktail or beer in their hands it's actually like that in much of montana drinking gambling and weed for many of the old timers hunting is the only real outdoor thing they do since the cost of living so low a lot of the old-timers don't have to put in much effort to make a living so there's a lot of downtime and in the winter months they're down at the bar now missoula down here is an actual city you've probably heard of home to 75 000 people this is a young liberal haven that's growing super fast there's a big school here the university of montana missoula has a great little historic downtown with little festivals and farmers markets and whatnot and there's lots of homeless people here now as well which doesn't sit well with the hardcore montana old timers there's been a home buying frenzy here with many of the out-of-state folks wanting to escape their ghetto hometowns the trend has been accelerated due to the pandemic if you're a homeowner in missoula you love the home buying frenzy your home prices are shooting through the roof 10 last year alone but if you live in the state of montana already and want to move to missoula you hate it because all those damn out-of-state people are jacking up prices and ruining everything also on this side of the state's hot springs it's just a small town with one cell phone tower and a bunch of natural hot springs their motto is limp in leap out also south of missoula along route 93 heading south into idaho are small mountain towns and cities made up of middle class white people who probably want to form militia groups overthrow the government if you're a middle class white person who watches doomsday preppers you'd fit right in down here finally worth discussing on this part of the state is one of montana's seven native american reservations two of them are in western montana the blackfeet reservation and the flathead reservation both are very large and poor the reservations in montana are extremely deprived one of the worst reservation towns is browning located inside the blackfeet reservation like many of montana's reservation communities it's very poor and sad and dangerous here like you probably don't want to get out of your car especially at night here a lot of the native americans who live here drink and take drugs and spend their days at the casino and what makes things worse for them is the weather the blackfeet reservation might be located in the worst part of the state it sits on the eastern front of glacier national park on the edge of the continental divide the wind and cold here makes things miserable for the folks on this part of the state but you can get cheap fireworks here that's cool since we're along route 2 we should take this route all the way east to the end of the state route 2 is what montanans call the high line because it's the most north-south route in the state you can take route 2 from libby all the way to bainville near the north dakota border it's only 625 miles and it would take you about 10 hours to make that drive it's a very beautiful drive it's very flat for most of the year and the weather fluctuates from chile to frigid this side of the state is very much like the midwest along the street every 15 minutes or so you're gonna pass a teeny little community of poor white people and wonder how do these people do it one bar a post office and a grocery store for many it's a simple life but they embrace it no traffic no drama no bills do you and i it might look boring and depressing to them it's home this wide open side of the state has the best hunting in montana it's mostly elk and deer and birds that montana people shoot at getting a big old buck is what people in montana dream about an early morning hunt is what gets people out of bed here in fact montana ranks third in the country for percentage residents with hunting licenses at 21 south dakota has the most at 24 and montana ranks first in the country for percentage of adults who have at least one gun at home at 66 percent but you know there's lots of people here who have many many many many guns in their safes i know several myself anyways hunting is huge guns are huge and hunting and guns is what makes montana montana they have some of the least restrictive gun laws in the country they love their freedom but if you move here and you don't bring a gun everybody's just going to assume you do have a gun and they'll give you space does hunting season ever end here here's a breakdown of the date card for a montana hunting season it actually looks like you can shoot something pretty much any day of the year mountain lion moose black bear you can shoot a bear that's mean paddle fish what's that a weird fish you shoot fish in montana that's hardcore animals-wise here's some stats for you there's 580 000 deer in montana 5 000 moose 14 000 bear 8 000 elk 2500 bison and about 500 bald eagle nests i don't think my dad can hunt anything hey i could shoot something to feed my family if i needed to even a moose nappy couldn't hit a moose if it was standing in his bedroom well map you put that thing away you're always trying to show off your gun skills man we might have to get you a safety training course dude i thought i took that thing away from him of course farms and ranches are a big deal in eastern montana so if you want to rope and ride or make hay while the sun shines this is where you'd wind up there's 28 000 farms and ranches in the state most produce wheat and beef these are where the real men roam ombre where they cook pork and beans right in the can over an open flame where they wear beat-ups deaths and hats and spurs and chaps where the mustaches have chew stains and smell like whiskey and that's just the women kiss a montana woman out here and you're gonna taste black coffee and beaver jerky rodeo's huge in montana and some parts of the state they hold rodeos year-round that's another level of tough but of course the whole state isn't just cowboys and cowgirls and boots and spurs montana also holds competitions in snowmobiling cross-country skiing ice fishing and sled dog racing oil is a big deal in montana too this state ranks 13th in oil production most of montana's oil production comes from the backend formation in the northeastern part of the state here along the north dakota border also we are here in eastern montana is a cache of unknown number of nuclear weapons it's said that montana has more nukes buried out in its western prairie than any other state it's also said that if montana was a country it would have the fourth most nukes in the world now i don't know if that's true or not but if it is true you're either really safe here or you're a target for the russians anyways as you can see there's miles and miles of open highway in this part of the state montanans measure how long it takes to get somewhere by hours not miles or by beers like missoula to billings isn't five hours it's a 12 pack up until 2005 you could still legally drink and drive in this state but then they change the laws oh they still do it though legal weed just passed and there's a huge weed culture in this state too you can get away with a lot out here driving around there's just not a lot of cops to enforce the speed limit or the consumption habits in montana i don't care how macho you think you are if i see your truck flying by me on any road in montana you're totally getting a ticket thanks super gay cop but actually here's nick johnson as chuck norris he would enforce a law come on tough guy [Music] down here in southern montana is another native american reservation and right outside of that is billings now billings is the biggest city in montana with more than a hundred thousand people everyone now we're talking billings is far more affordable than all of montana's largest cities home prices here are about 269 thousand dollars the weather here is more mild and there's a ton of stuff to do in the summer if you want to get involved and seeing as how this is way out east and nowhere near ski lodge it's far less touristy and not as desirable for the millennial snowflakes of all major cities in montana if you call them major billings is the most conservative downtown proper is going to be blue but just outside of town and it is red ed which means lots of pickup trucks montana loves them some pickups montana is just behind alaska for percentage of truck sales as a percentage of all vehicle sales in montana three and four vehicles sold is a truck over here's great falls homes are super cheap it's really pretty right along the missouri river it's kind of gloomy a lot and not really very exciting bozeman's down here in southern montana again this is a draw for younger liberals who want to buy expensive ski clothes and pretend they're down with the locals it's super expensive here homes are by far the highest priced of any of montana's big cities the average price for a home in bozeman's 658 thousand dollars and going up by the week out-of-staters who want to be in the in-crowd move to bozeman because it's growing so fast especially in tech jobs in fact bozeman is one of the fastest growing cities in the country they won't have 50 000 people here for long they call it bos angelus because of all the californians moving here and that is so sad helena the capital of montana it's not very big there's only 33 000 people here it's an old school town so there's not a lot of younger people moving here yet there's some really nice old victorian homes here from the gold rush days it has a moderate pace to it since it's smaller and more rural it's probably the best place to raise a family in montana homes are around 325k montanans aren't as frugal as you might think sure there's a lot of people here who think things are too spendy and they'll drive their 1975 ford trucks until the wheels fall off and then they'll stick used wheels back on the thing but there's plenty of big old brand new 50 000 suburbans and tahoes all over the state and the amount of money people spend on hunting and fishing gear shows they definitely aren't cheap the school system in montana is okay they pay teachers pretty poorly most folks in montana don't make a lot of money but the cost of living is low too you can live comfortably here on a small budget but if you move to montana you should already have a steady income or a job lined up there are a lot of opportunities for good money here unless you're cool with the small town life which many are most people are happy here they're easy to please many are content you can sort of disappear way up here and escape the drama that comes with living in most of america today but as new money and opportunities literally pour into the state things are going to change people are moving montana in big numbers the state grew by two percent last year alone and that's ruffling feathers among the locals who worry about new policies and people fishing all their fish and taking away their guns not that they'll actually give them up all right cowboy i think we did a pretty good job of talking about the state of montana right yes we did and as you can see people in montana have electricity in the internet and no they don't poop in outhouses for the most part there's not abominable snowmen everywhere and people don't churn their own butter and not everybody drinks whiskey by the barrel at the local saloons we could have gone on and on and talked about a lot of stuff right i mean the gold rush history in the state we could have talked about butte how did we not mention butte or yellowstone national park i mean come on but we have to go i need to drink actually i don't but i'm gonna have one anyway if you live in montana then you like to hunt if you live in montana then you like to hunt if you live in montana then you like to fish if you live in montana then you like to fish if you live in montana then you eat raw meat if you live in montana then you eat raw meat if you live in montana then you drive a truck if you live in montana then you drive a truck montana is such a great state i love montana cause it's a great state montana's such a great state i love it there [Music] tough the people here so tough fast the people drive so fast [Music] cheap the people don't need a lot [Music] bored the people here are likely board if you live in montana then you like to hunt if you live in montana then you like to hunt if you live in montana then you like to fish if you live in montana then you like to fish if you live in montana then you eat raw meat if you live in montana then you eat raw meat if you live in montana then you drive a truck if you live in montana then you drive a truck thanks to my cous tanner for helping me with this video you can check out his website at tannerjohnson.uh there's a lot of pictures about montana that you can even buy his website link is in the description so you live in montana tanner tell me what's good and bad about living in montana so some of the really good things i would have to say have a lot to do with the snow snowboarding is amazing up here skiing is amazing um you have some of the best summers some of the best views some of the best fishing in the world it's just unbelievable in the summer time lots of activities to do there's no state tax it's very cheap there's not a lot of traffic there's not a lot of people there's the laws are very flexible um those are just a few things that a few of many that i've come to really love about montana and then um i'd say some of the bad things have a lot to do with the weather right now it's extremely cloudy and cold for about eight months out of the year nine months maybe you hardly ever see the sunshine but you just kind of roll with it some other bad things are i don't know there's there's some sketchy people there's some drugs that float around every now and then there's uh crime of course because there's not really a lot of police it seems like and um i don't know it can get real boring if you don't keep yourself occupied so what do people do for fun in the long winter months in montana um so you got ice fishing that's pretty big up here you have skiing you have cross-country skiing snowboarding snowshoeing um you have uh all sorts of stuff actually that's about it okay so what do people do if they don't if they aren't into the outdoors what do they do for fun in montana i'd say there's a lot of time spent in the bars because it's our days are really short in the winter time here it gets dark at like four o'clock i want to say like pitch black dark and sun doesn't rise till 8. so you really don't have much time during the day to do anything other than if you don't have activities to do you kind of just find yourself sitting at a bar or going out to eat or staying home because you can't really work outside in the winter the grounds freeze so jobs are limited but yeah because montana is they say it's the last best place that's it's saying and it is it's true it's one of the last places it still feels like the wild west and when you get hundreds of thousands of people coming here that that is just thrown out the window yeah i mean it's not like there's not a lot of room though right i mean it's a huge state so by too many people you mean too many of the wrong people exactly too many of the wrong people but a lot of people that come here are the right kind of people that want to keep it the way it is and that wanna see it stay the way it's been for hundreds of years and they like that wild west feeling but then again you have the people that want to change so how is montana changing uh since you've moved there and is it changing in a good way or in a bad way uh it depends who you ask a lot of um a lot of like people that are born and raised here think it's changing in a bad way because they think um they think a lot of new people are coming in they're coming to try to change the laws try to change the lifestyle and uh but then you talk to other people and they say that there's there's more money there's more development there's more opportunity now there's there's a lot more uh ways to thrive so it just depends you ask personally i think i think uh it's a good thing to an extent um but eventually i turned into like a crisis in what way it's just too many people too many people uh trying to change things hey guys if you learned something new about america or what it's like to live in america great you should think about subscribing and turning on your notifications you can also click one of these videos or playlists for more you can also now buy my songs on itunes and other formats click the link in the description thanks for watching and remember while we all might have different views we should all be nice to each other and try to make the usa better place in a positive way this is sage nyx manager this has been a corner house entertainment production

Channel: Nick Johnson

Views: 249,471

Rating: 4.6567311 out of 5

Keywords: living in montana, montana, what is montana like, montana research, i live in montana, montana travel, montana food, what is montana, montana trivia, why do people live in montana, montana map, montana stereotypes, montana residents, montana culture, montana cost of living, montana politics, home owners insurance, moving to montana, montana realtor, montana homeowner, montana mortgage, montana real estate, billings, bozeman, helena, butte, whitefish, kalispell, missoula, glacier

Id: oEAttC5Q_Rg

Length: 22min 58sec (1378 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 26 2020