Looking to move to casper wyoming (Cheyenne, Laramie: 2014, crime, homes) - (WY) - City-Data Forum

3mwhite · 04-05-2010, 09:47 AM

Hello all,

My wife, I and 2 kids are looking to move to Casper in a year and some months. I work in the IT field(network engineer) and she is an RN. We are looking to get away from the hustle and bustle of the crime ridden big city life and get to a more quiet town. Roughly 70K people is not too many. Plus we want a nice home out away from casper a bit and horses and land.

I had some questions..

Employment - I doubt my wife will have a hard time to find a job, however I think finding an IT job will be tough. What type of job market can one expect in Casper? I can do about anything as long as the pay is right.

Skiing - how are the slopes? I love to ski!

Fishing - How is it?

Schools I hear are great!

How is the cost of food and gasoline? Also I noticed some homes far out a bit have propane, how does that compare to gas in regards to pricing? Is it a pain to get it filled up?

The more about Wyoming I read the more I like. I was born in San Diego, and have lived there, denver, and now live in pittsburgh. I liked Denver but its too crowded. and pittsburgh the people are nice but a lot of gang and drug crime. Also sick of sitting in traffic 2 hours a day, when that could be spent at home with the family.

CptnRn · 04-05-2010, 10:49 AM

3mwhite · 04-05-2010, 10:54 AM

Yeah I read all those too

I actually found some listings for computer jobs too... so this time next year you guys may find some more nice folks there!

Brian_M · 04-05-2010, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3mwhite

Employment - I doubt my wife will have a hard time to find a job, however I think finding an IT job will be tough. What type of job market can one expect in Casper? I can do about anything as long as the pay is right.

Don't assume about your wifes ability to find a job, make certain before you move. There's a nursing program at the Casper College, as well as just up the road in Riverton and down the road in both Laramie and Cheyenne. Lots of market saturation.

And for IT.... to give you a rough idea on pay (it'll be a *LOT* lower than you expect), I was the director of an IT dept in Lander for the county library system (7 buildings), on call 24/7 and handled Everything from printer troubleshooting on up to researching, ordering and installing a $500,000 RFID system. I didn't quite make $40k/year and was the 2nd highest paid on the organization. The Cisco guys I worked with (out of Casper, 2nd tier/Voice/R&S certified) made just Slightly more than I did but with worse benefits.

I don't want to turn you away, just make you think about the Reality of the situation.

As for the rest, the skiing is better than nothing but it's a small, local hill... not some fancy resort. LOTS of fishing, hunting, camping. Gas/diesel are usually near the national average, or just slightly higher, food is more expensive than in a big city (and don't expect lots of Really fresh produce, everything has to be trucked in a long way). Propane is easy to get... plan ahead and it's never an issue, wait till the last second in the worst snowstorm of the year, and you'll probably wait a couple days. Cost can be a *LOT* in poorly insulated homes... like, $200/month a lot (though, this is along the lines of worst case). You'll want to look into water too... not many wells in Wyoming, mostly cisterns, so you'll be hauling water if you live outside of city limits.

3mwhite · 04-05-2010, 11:15 AM

Oh yeah we would plan everything to a T if we move. And have atleast one job secured. Pay in pittsburgh isnt much either though. I am Tier 2 network engineer doing about the same thing, and oncall 1 out of every 4 weeks and make around 40K.

Do you still live in Wy. or in denver?

CptnRn · 04-05-2010, 11:22 AM

I can't find anything more current then this at the moment. But I swear I stumbled across a more recent article indicating that Wyoming still has a nursing shortage.

http://www.nursefriendly.com/nursing...g.shortage.htm

Quote:

September 16, 2005: Wyoming: WY needs to improve working conditions to recruit nurses:"A survey of Wyoming nurses found that most think improving working conditions would do more to alleviate the current nursing shortage than recruiting would. The survey, presented Thursday on the opening day of Wyoming's second annual Nursing Summit at the University of Wyoming, found 81 percent of nurses surveyed thought improving workplace conditions should be the top priority for addressing the nursing shortage. Recruiting new nurses was a distant third. Wyoming is expected to have only 70 percent of the nurses it needs this year, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services projects that the state might have only half the nurses it needs by the year 2020."
http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/09/16/build/nation/48-nurses.inc (broken link)

CptnRn · 04-05-2010, 11:27 AM

Here is a Nov. 2009 article:

Quote:

Wyoming Receives Major Grant to Address Nursing Shortage

Wyoming receives major grant to address nursing shortage

While most of the country is experiencing a nursing shortage, Wyoming has been hit particularly hard. RNs are currently the second most in-demand jobs in Wyoming, with nurse vacancies predicted to continue upwards of 19% through 2010. The state anticipates a need for 3,300 more registered nurses by 2014 – an increase of almost 104% over 2006 numbers. Without intervention, some experts foresee a shortfall of 63% by 2020.

Brian_M · 04-05-2010, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3mwhite

Do you still live in Wy. or in denver?

Moved to Denver Oct of '09. My wife was flying to Alaska a lot for work, and that first/last hop from Wyoming tacked on anywhere from 6 to 14 hours to her commute, so we made the move for her sanity. But Lander, WY is my home town, my parents moved us there in 1975 when I was 1. I've spent a lot of time in Casper as it's the closest mall/shopping, plus all the high school sports stuff, closest place for concerts, etc...