Montana

Migration

Montana's first great migratory wave brought Indians from the east during the l7th and 18th centuries. The gold rush of the 1860s and a land boom between 1900 and 1920 resulted in surges of white settlement. The economically troubled 1920s and 1930s produced a severe wave of out-migration that continued through the 1960s. The trend reversed between 1970 and 1980, however, when Montana's net gain from migration was 16,000; from 1980 to 1989, the state had a net loss of 43,000 residents from migration. Between 1990 and 1998, Montana had net gains of 48,000 in domestic migration and 3,000 in international migration. In 1998, the state admitted 299 foreign immigrants. Between 1990 and 1998, the state's overall population increased 10.2%. In the period 1995–2000, 111,530 people moved into the state and 116,696 moved out, for a net loss of 5,166, 3,031 many of whom moved to Washington.