Info on moving to Wyoming (Cheyenne, Casper: to buy, living, prices)

[Elkman]

I've been through Wyoming a few times and I love the scenery and the open space, the blue sky, etc. Now ever time I mention to my brother that I would like to live in Wyoming, he mentions to me that it is always windy there, it's a poor state, and jobs are scarce. Is all of Wyoming like this? I'm looking for a quieter place to raise my family. I like the Sheridan area, Laramie but don't know any others really. How is the weather, mostly winter? I've looked at weather.com for averages throughout the year but none of that will matter except from the people that live there. They are the truly reliable source to go on. My other option is checking out the Bozeman/Livingston Montana area but it sounds like the rich are moving in and housing prices are sky high and they can't build fast enough there. Any info you can supply is greatly appreciated. Oh, the wife has to have shopping nearby, mall, and retail chain stores also. If she can't have that nearby, then I'm done for.

[sixofone]

Well, first of all, your brother is batting .333. He's right about the wind but Wyo is far from poor (our coal alone can provide 100% of America's electricity for the next 200 years) and jobs are plentiful.

Weather varies widely throughout the state, with elevation and proximity to the mountains being major factors. When researching weather, however, be sure to check the extremes as well as the averages. "Average" in Wyoming is like having one foot in the fire and the other in a snowdrift-- on the average you're comfortable.

As for shopping, you'll probably have to persuade the wife to lower her expectations. Our largest cities (Cheyenne and Casper) have 50-60,000 people so they can support the kind of stores your wife is looking for, but most Wyo towns are just too small and too isolated for malls and big box stores to be profitable.

[sunsprit]

sixofone's right on.

Laramie would work if you'd consider that it's colder than Cheyenne, has a shorter growing season, a few box stores ... and major shopping less than an hour away in Fort Collins, CO. Laramie's out of the "energy boom" areas, so it's a more stable housing market and local economy. Jobs there will depend upon what job skills you're bringing to the place.

If you can handle the "boom" areas, and have enough cash in hand to buy housing now, there's lots of jobs available for very good money.

In Wyoming, an "hour away" distance is relatively short.

[ElkHunter]

Towns vary greatly.

Cheyenne, windy at times.
Laramie, windier then Cheyenne and colder.
Casper, sometimes windy but not like the previous two.
Sheridan, seldom wind. Maybe 3 or 4 days a month, tops.
Buffalo, same as Sheridan.
Gillette, Can be windy but not real bad.

As far as getting jobs? At one time here in Sheridan, early summer, there was over 400 jobs listed at Job Services. Over half of them were in the Energy field or at least heavily related to the Energy field.

Here, you can check out jobs here for any town in the state.

https://www.wyomingatwork.com/

[Elkman]

Thank you all for your input, it is greatly appreciated. It sounds like the Sheridan area might be a good one to do more researching on. I love Wyoming! Sure there's a lot of open land and the least populated of all the states, suits my personality just fine.

[sixofone]

Originally Posted by Elkman

Thank you all for your input, it is greatly appreciated. It sounds like the Sheridan area might be a good one to do more researching on. I love Wyoming! Sure there's a lot of open land and the least populated of all the states, suits my personality just fine.

Sheridan might be a good fit for you, it's bigger than most Wyoming towns but still has a small town feel and you can always go to Billings for "big" shopping. If I remember right, they have a nice new Super Wal-Mart there.

The local paper posts the classified ads on-line for free and you can subscribe to the e-edition of the paper if you want to, but I don't know the cost.

Classified Ads

[ElkHunter]

Here's the on-line prices for the Sheridan Press.

1 year $52.00
9 Months $40.00
6 Months $28.00
4 Months $20.00
2 Months $11.00

[Elkman]

What are the winters like in Sheridan? Lot's of snow? And the Bighorn Mtns., do they have elk up in there and other wildlife?

[ElkHunter]

Originally Posted by Elkman

What are the winters like in Sheridan? Lot's of snow? And the Bighorn Mtns., do they have elk up in there and other wildlife?

I wouldn't say a lot of snow. We'll get 4 or 5 inches and it'll stick for a few days, maybe a week. Then we'll go for a couple weeks and get some more. Once last year we got this on March 30. But it was gone about 5 days later. town was a soup sandwich.



Wapati? Nope. no Wapati in the Big Horns. haha. Just kidding.



Some out of staters headed home.

[Elkman]

Uh, those pictures pretty much sum up what I was asking. Holy Cow!
Yep, my brother in Denver had that snow too or similar. If we got that where I live now, we would be stranded indoors until April at least. I like snow that comes and goes, not snow that last from December to April. It doesn't do that there does it?