Affordable mountain town to live (Price, Park City: ski resort, loans, house)

[Tyler30]

Hi, what are some "affordable" places to live in the mountains? I know it may not be cheap but this would be my dream. Maybe I'm a little crazy but I'd love to hunt and grow my own food (for the most part). I don't know if this is "politically correct" but I'd like to share some personal in order to receive an answer to determine whether this is even financially feasible. I'm 30, we're 3 yrs into a 70k mortgage, I make 50k/yr, wife makes about 20k, have maybe 25k in school loans, and a few other loans but nothing crazy. I want to pay off all (or most) of our debt in how-ever-many years and pay cash for a small house with at least a few acres. I'd find a lower paying, less stressful job and live a very simple life but debt free. Anything in the 70-120k range, or is that out of the question where I could have mountains in my backyard (and I don't mean a "view"). I understand there are lots of variables but generally speaking what would be my most afforable choices? Don't care how far out as long as I can reach a small pop. center within maybe 40miles to buy things. THANK YOU for your time in answering this!

[oldtrader]

Some facts to consider:

Mountain towns are too high an elevation, and too short a growing season to grow your own food most years. Wages are lower in the mountain towns than in larger cities and jobs are few and far between over minimum wages. Prices for homes, start at your maximum and go up from there.

[AndrewDiaz]

There are some remote areas in Summit and Wasatch Counties in Utah. Growing periods are shorter, but pioneers have been living off the land here for a bit.

[ChrisC]

When you say "mountain town," I'm assuming you mean a town in the mountains. They are all typically very expensive and ski resort towns--such as Park City, Alta, Brighton, etc. Not much in the way of jobs other than tourism and the ski industry. There are a few other towns actually in the mountains, but they aren't going to give you much in the way of jobs.

Now if you mean "around the mountains" or "close to the mountains," You can take your pick of anything along the Wasatch Front. If you want a smaller place, perhaps Price or something in the Richfield area. Keep in mind that it's not like you probably envision being "in the mountains" like a town in the Sierras of California, or Montana, or Colorado, or Vermont, etc. What we have here is an "island of mountains" surrounded by bleak desert. So, for the more populated areas with jobs, you are living in the desert, but close to the mountains. That's the way it is for almost all towns and cities around here, except for like I said, some ski resort towns and a very few other places (Hanna and Kamas come to mind--beautiful, but tiny and job sparse. Perhaps Coalville).

[altajoe]

To the OP...I sent you a PM.