‘Yellowstone’ boom pits lifetime Montana residents against wealthy newcomers
“Yellowstone,” Paramount’s hit streaming show, has given rich city slickers an idea of what it would be like to become a real-life baron of the Wild West.
“We’ve had an influx of all sorts of wealthy individuals looking for ranches,” Robert Keith, founder of boutique investment firm Beartooth Group, told CNBC.
But as rich buyers move in, and the state’s population grows, native Montanans and others on the lower end of the income spectrum are feeling the squeeze from higher rents and property prices.
Some families, even those with full-time employment, are moving into recreational vehicles or tents. The local roads are now scattered with people in campers who can no longer afford to pay rent or own a house. Habitat for Humanity calls it a housing crisis. “Montana has quickly become inaccessible to those who live and work here,” said the nonprofit, which is pushing lawmakers to prioritize housing affordability.
Longtime residents also criticize the cultural divide between newcomers and long-time Montanans. They frown on newcomers buying property but refusing to join in and commit to their communities.
“I used to love the fact that you knew your neighbors. We still do know our neighbors, but we’re not really friends with our neighbors,” Rice said.
She quietly complains that Bozeman is crammed with “highfalutin people” wearing posh attire who make her feel uncomfortable around them. And she says downtown has become nearly unrecognizable.
“I don’t like how busy it is. I don’t like the traffic. And it’s too expensive,” she said.
Longtime residents told CNBC the changes are obvious in Missoula and Kalispell, as well. Outsiders, they say, are always in a rush and too loud with their unrealistic demands. Rice said in her former job at a dry cleaner, a customer insisted on having paint splatters removed from designer jeans. “What were they doing painting in those pants anyway?” she wondered.
It’s the same here. I’m still trying to figure out where all the empty houses are, since so many people have moved across state lines. Somewhere in this country is pretty cheap to buy houses with people escaping wherever it was.
Sad what they are doing here.