Butte Montana Living

[JigStick]

I'm looking for some information regarding the Butte Montana area. I may be applying for a job there. We currently live in PA, but have been wanting to move out west for years. We spent some time in Jackson WY and almost moved to that area two years ago.

Is the cost of living high in Montana? How about finding a 4 bedroom home that doesn't cost $1,000,000. I'm assuming that there is ample outdoor activities for family to do. But how is the access to public hunting land? How much snow are we looking at?

We are all about the outdoors...hunting, hiking, fly fishing, sking, camping etc. How is it to raise two sons and a daughter in that area? Are the school districts any good?

Doug
Pittsburgh PA

 

[Vandal 44]

I will be headed to Butte this coming week for work, I do not know much about the area as far as schools, housing, or hunting public lands. I do know it get a lot of snow and it can get very cold in the winter about like Spokane.

What I can do is find a few of the realtor guides on home prices send it ti you.

 

[COSA]

Don't live I Butte, but know a few of people that do. It's kinda of got a reputation for being somewhat of a "rough" town, probably due to the mining history. Several of the guys I work with complain about a theft problem due to meth users. Just like anywhere, I'm sure there's nicer and crappier parts of town. Butte is also colder than many other cities in MT. As far as home pricing, I'd say it's fairly average - $300K would get you into a fairly nice house. There's plenty of recreational opportunities in the area. If you don't mind driving or living in a rural/small town there's a lot of small ranchettes and some nice small towns to expand your search.

 

[JigStick]

The job is in the Butte area, but I don't mind living within 40 minutes of there. It looks like Missoula isn't too far away. I don't necessarily have to live in Butte, but I have to keep the commute reasonable.

Ive heard horror stories about limited access to public hunting land. That huge ranches surround the public land and they limit access and through ways to get to it. I want to avoid that kind of BS. My boys and I live outdoors and I don't want to be begging rich ranch owners for access to public land.

 

[COSA]

Montana does have some access issues in the valleys, and the animals (elk) seem to know where they're safe. Coming from Pennsylvania, I think you'll be very happy with the amount of public that's accessible. MT also has one of the best river/stream access laws in the west.

 

[mmw194287]

The job is in the Butte area, but I don't mind living within 40 minutes of there. It looks like Missoula isn't too far away. I don't necessarily have to live in Butte, but I have to keep the commute reasonable.

Ive heard horror stories about limited access to public hunting land. That huge ranches surround the public land and they limit access and through ways to get to it. I want to avoid that kind of BS. My boys and I live outdoors and I don't want to be begging rich ranch owners for access to public land.

Missoula's about 120 miles away. I wouldn't worry too much about access. There'll be more than enough public land for you and your boys.

 

[AK Troutbum]

I've never lived in Butte but my whole family (sister and her family, brother and his family and my mom) lives there, or in the area, so I go down there often. My wifes whole family lives in Pittsburgh, and we visit down there quite often also, so I'm pretty familiar with both areas and for sure Butte is MUCH colder and snowier in the winter than the 'Burgh. Public access to hunting is pretty good and so is the cost of living, but that's all relative. I'm guessing that home costs are similar to Pitt., give or take, but property taxes are definitely lower.

 

[flyinsquirel]

The only input I have is the snow in Montana is like popcorn. That and my friends in Missoula call Butte 'Butt'. You can pretty much sweep it off with a broom most of the time. I would always see people on TV with those 2' wide shovels and wonder how in the world they could use those things. No way an average person could lift or shove that much snow.

I don't know what snow is like in Pittsburgh, but where I grew up in the Sierras snow was almost always wet and heavy. Every once in a while we would get some dry'er snow, but nothing even close to what I've seen in Montana. Snow in the Sierras always requires a shovel, a regular flat head and is slippery as hell. 30mph will get you off in the ditch over here. You can do 50mph down 90 in an all out snow storm, if you don't the big rigs will pass you.

 

[AK Troutbum]

The only input I have is the snow in Montana is like popcorn. That and my friends in Missoula call Butte 'Butt'. You can pretty much sweep it off with a broom most of the time. I would always see people on TV with those 2' wide shovels and wonder how in the world they could use those things. No way an average person could lift or shove that much snow.

I don't know what snow is like in Pittsburgh, but where I grew up in the Sierras snow was almost always wet and heavy. Every once in a while we would get some dry'er snow, but nothing even close to what I've seen in Montana. Snow in the Sierras always requires a shovel, a regular flat head and is slippery as hell. 30mph will get you off in the ditch over here. You can do 50mph down 90 in an all out snow storm, if you don't the big rigs will pass you.

The snow that Pittsburgh gets is typically the same as, what your describing, the Sierras get. Snow at 30 degrees is MUCH wetter and heavier than snow at 0 degrees.

 

[2ski]

So the company I work for us based in Butte so I can tell you alot about Butte.

First off there is tons of public land around Butte. A lot of Butte people hunt elk and get elk every year. Dillon isn't too far away. Wise River. Georgetown Lake for fishing. Discovery for skiing. Waterfowl by warm Springs. Fly fishing the Clark fork. Butte is a sweet place for the outdoors. But it's Butte.

My cousin's graduated from Anaconda. Anaconda and Butte are a little rougher. But the cost of living is cheap. My company starts it's employees at about 15% less in Butte than Bozeman. Look for houses in Anaconda for under 40k. You can find them. 300,000 will buy you a mansion. Not quite but my aunt and uncle when they sold they're house had a tough time at 150k. My cousin had to let the bank take here's because she couldn't sell it for 35k. Yeah. Cheap.

I would live in Deer Lodge. Probably less snow too. I would say Whitehall but you would drive the pass in the winter.

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[Fireguy]

My whole family has been in Butte since about 1880. I'm the only one who doesn't live there. I love Butte. It is an amazing town with rich history. I would not say it is rough at all. It is just not all hippy, foo foo, granola, liberal like Missoula and Bozeman. The people in Butte are great. The summers are awesome with many super cool festivals coming to town. 4th of July parade is a blast, even Obama went one year. $300,000 will get you a very, very nice house. Look to the southern end of town and there are plenty of new, nice homes. Or head to uptown Butte and you can find a rehabbed mansion built in 1900 if that is something you would like. I spend most summers in Butte and the only reason I don't live there fulltime is I am a big Vegas baby and can't take the winters. Spend some time getting into the history of Butte and understand the huge role mining has played. It will help you understand and love the town. If you like to fish you can be in literally some of the best trout fishing anywhere within about 30-40 minutes. Same with elk hunting.

If you decide you don't like Butte, skip all the above recommendations and just live in Bozeman. Bozeman is a super cool town that is really booming. It is about 50 minutes from Butte. Be advised real estate in Bozeman has gotten super expensive due to all the people coming from California. Also, in the winter the drive to Butte could get sporty due to the weather. I would not live in Anaconda or Deer Lodge. Super small, not much in the way of stores or shopping.

 

[MTguy0341]

I was born in Butte and would definitely live there. Like other people said, it's a super cool town. Can't speak too much about the schools, I know the high school is alright there. Then Montana Tech in town is a good college. Lots of outdoor activities within an hour. Definitely not as rough as a town as all the hype is. Little colder than other towns like people have said, but it's a good central location in the western part of the state.

 

[steeleywhopper]

I've got some friends that live in Butte and we have hunted there quite a few times. I've always had good encounters with people and there is plenty of hunting and fishing opportunities within an hours drive. I would not hesitate to live there if I could find work.

 

[missjordan]

2ski hit it right on the head, hunting has great access within an hours drive and housing is cheap. Just depends on what you want to spend. Butte is a very blue collar town but also has a tight nit community. Missoula and Bozeman which are some of the larger cities in Montana have very high cost of living and it's harder to find affordable housing there. The job market in butte is tough and even worse off in anaconda and deer lodge. Anaconda was also a big mining town back in the day and most people now commute for work. Deer lodge has the state prison as there main source of employment and also a lumbar yard but the yard has since laid a ton of employees off.

Personally if it was me I would commute everyday from anaconda but not from deer lodge, your still about an hour away one direction from deer lodge. I live in Missoula and my fiancé and I almost picked up and moved to butte this year because of its small town feeling, plus our employer has a satellite warehouse in Butte. We travel a lot in the fall which makes our hunting areas a lot closer commute. FireGuy also makes a good point, my employer also offers a little bit lower wages in the Butte warehouse compared to Missoula. The colder weather wouldn't bother us but could be a deciding factor for someone else. If you want to get out of a bigger town and scale down I would recommend moving to Butte.


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[ursus21]

Bottom line, life in Butte on your worst day would be better than your best anywhere in PA. You can't even begin to comprehend how much better until you've lived in Montana a few years. Nuff said.

 

[JigStick]

thanks guys. My wife and I are a little more comfortable moving forward now. I think we will plan a weekend trip out to the area and drive around. See what the layout is. How close are the mountains to the Butte area? I know when we were in Jackson Hole and just south of Jackson the mountains were extremely close and easy to get to. I really don't want to live on high prairie or plains

 

[rileybassman]

Just don't go swimming around Butte... that pit is kinda creepy.

 

[Fireguy]

thanks guys. My wife and I are a little more comfortable moving forward now. I think we will plan a weekend trip out to the area and drive around. See what the layout is. How close are the mountains to the Butte area? I know when we were in Jackson Hole and just south of Jackson the mountains were extremely close and easy to get to. I really don't want to live on high prairie or plains

Butte is surrounded by mountains.

 

[ursus21]

Butte is pert near in the mountains. It's not in the prairie. If you enjoy fishing as much, or nearly as much as hunting, Butte is very close to some outstanding fishing. All within 2 hours or less.

 

[the big Mao]

The south end of town looks nice! First thing I'd do if I wanted to get the skinny on what's going on in town is take the newspaper. One of my buddies in Hamilton tells me that Missoula's where they keep the liberals, but it does have Big Sky brewing though!