Missoula, Montana's largest city?

[John K]

Since when is a community defined by a 50-mile corridor around it? Why not 35 miles? Or 75 miles? It's not like these are major metropolitan areas where it's impossible to determine where one town begins and another ends without a sign saying so. And do people 50 miles away from Billings or Missoula consider themselves a part of that community? I don't think so.

That is a very good point. Sure, you might consider communities such as Frenchtown, Hamiltion, Stevensville, et al. as part of the Missoula "trade area", just like the hi-line is part of the GF trade area, and half the state is part of the Billings trade area. But being a part of Missoula's trade area is a very different thing than being considered as part of the "metro area". I am pretty sure that residents of most, if not all of these towns, consider themselves to be their own individual and unique entity, rather than just a suburb of Missoula.

[The Butcher]

... and half the state is part of the Billings trade area.

You could put a quarter of Wyoming into Billings’s trade area too.

[John K]

... and half the state is part of the Billings trade area.

You could put a quarter of Wyoming into Billings’s trade area too.

And maybe even a small portion of eastern North and South Dakota, now that you mention it.

[John K]

This is just another example of "western Montana arrogance". If you read the Missoulian, you would swear that the state ended at the continential divide. There is virtually no news coverage of anything that happens on the east side of the mountains. On the weather page, their map doesn't even show the entire state....it is cut off at Billings.

Plus, she based this rather dubious assumption on projections that Missoula's "metro area" would grow from the current 140,000 to 160,000, and therefore exceeding Billing's current 142,000. She seems to just assume that Billing's growth would not keep pace, but how does she know that Billing's metro area wouldn't also grow sufficiently, so as to still be greater than Missoula? She made no mention of the projected growth for the Billings area, during this same period of time.

[KittieKop]

Since when is a community defined by a 50-mile corridor around it? Why not 35 miles? Or 75 miles? It's not like these are major metropolitan areas where it's impossible to determine where one town begins and another ends without a sign saying so. And do people 50 miles away from Billings or Missoula consider themselves a part of that community? I don't think so.

That is a very good point. Sure, you might consider communities such as Frenchtown, Hamiltion, Stevensville, et al. as part of the Missoula "trade area", just like the hi-line is part of the GF trade area, and half the state is part of the Billings trade area. But being a part of Missoula's trade area is a very different thing than being considered as part of the "metro area". I am pretty sure that residents of most, if not all of these towns, consider themselves to be their own individual and unique entity, rather than just a suburb of Missoula.

Being from Havre, I'm a little offended you lump the hi-line in with GF

[The Butcher]

Being from Havre, I'm a little offended you lump the hi-line in with GF

Yeah, Havre should be lumped in with Moose Jaw!

P.S. Go Big RED!

[Cat-theotherwhitemeat]

So, will she recant her bull$hit article now, or just move her "supportive" data out be a decade and try again in 2020?

According to the 2010 Census:
Billings increased by 14,323
Missoula increased by 9,735

Now, you might be saying "But CTOWM, Billings could just be adding more to the city limits while Missoula's county is the real growth area". (Just pretend you said that)

Yellowtone county is actually growing at a slightly faster percentage than Missoula county. (14.4 to 14.1) But Yellowstone had a significant more amount of people move into their county.
Yellowstone increased by 18,620
Missoula increased by 13,497

In case you were interested....
Great Falls - 58,505
Bozeman - 37,200
Butte-Silver Bow 34,200

Note to reporters: Stick to facts, quit guessing, and make me a sandwich.

[TomCat88]

Nothing against Missoula and this has nothing to do with the Griz (I know, Ricky Bobby), but do people from Missoula or UM grads consider Missoula to be a nice place compared to the rest of Montana? I think it's nice for the U.S., but not Montana.

The mountains there are pretty sad looking, it's cloudy there a lot, and while the town has some cool spots, it's below average looking (architecture) relative to other cities in Montana, however, the big maple trees are nice. The people are kind of rough looking, too, which I think has a lot to do with the gray skies and bleak environment (outdoor opportunities are less). They are upbeat about football and microbeer, but I don't hear them talking about much else. The skiing is not that good compared to the rest of the state. It's congested compared to the rest of the state also. I just got done driving to Pablo today and have made many trips thatn way and to Hamilton. US 93 is very busy. There are some good restaurants and bars. The river through the middle of town is nice, but it has a depressed feel to it.

I don't know that holding claim to being the largest city in Montana would make it a better place to be.

[Grizlaw]

Nothing against Missoula and this has nothing to do with the Griz (I know, Ricky Bobby), but do people from Missoula or UM grads consider Missoula to be a nice place compared to the rest of Montana? I think it's nice for the U.S., but not Montana.

Here's the thing: for a lot of people, college is the best time of their lives. If you ask 100,000 college graduates whether the city or town where they went to college is a "nice place," about 95% of them are going to adamently say yes, regardless of where they went...and the other 5% are the ones who spent the entire time thinking seriously about bringing an uzi to class with them. That's just the way it is. Most UM grads love Missoula, most MSU grads love Bozeman, most of the Harvard grads I know love both Boston and Cambridge. I dated a girl who was a Dartmouth grad while I was in law school, and she and all her friends all love Hanover, NH. I visited there for a weekend, and I'm pretty sure if I had to live there, I'd be looking for a shotgun to put in my mouth before very long. But, they went to college there, and they had a lot of good times, so they love it...even though everyone else thinks it's a complete hell-hole.

So yeah...I love Missoula. That's probably partly because I had an awesome time while I was there (football games, parties, bars, etc.), and partly because I do objectively think it's a pretty nice town. If you want my honest-to-goodness, "objective" opinion (as objective as possible, while recognizing that it's impossible to be truly objective when my view is clouded by the fact that Missoula is where I went to school), I'll tell you that I think the area surrounding Bozeman is nicer (the mountains, the skiing, fishing, hunting, etc.) In terms of the town itself, I do like Missoula more -- I think it has more nice restaurants, I like the bar scene better, and I think the downtown area is nicer.

That's just me, though.

[TomCat88]

Grizlaw: I get that. I should've been a little more clear and said, 'can you step back and take an objective look?' I'm from Hinsdale and Helena, I ski at Great Divide, my ancestors were from Minnesota. If I'm objective, and without getting too technical, I don't know that I'd put any of them in my top ten. The ones that I do would take some fine tuning (like Betsy's within a 50-mile radius), but who I am makes me initially say that I think all of them are as good as it gets. If you ask me with a straight face though, I can be objective.

If you ask me who the best baseball player of all time is I'll say Kirby Puckett. Because to me he is, but I realize there have actually been better players. He's one of the best though!!

[AlphaGriz1]

Missoula is definitely in my Top 5 places to live in Montana


1. Butte
2. Dillon
3. Hamilton
4. Big Fork
5. Missoula

[RickRund]

They will make up any stat to be able to win.....
Liars figure and figures lie.....

[Grizlaw]

Grizlaw: I get that. I should've been a little more clear and said, 'can you step back and take an objective look?'

That's the thing though: what does it mean to be "objective" in this context? A person's perception of a place is always going to be affected by what their experiences were at the time they lived there.

I can take an objective look at Missoula and say that it's a pretty nice town -- I love the restaurants, love the downtown area, love the nightlife, love the campus. Is my perception affected by the fact that, for the years that I lived there, I spent a lot of my time attending Griz games, hanging out at bars and parties, trying to hook up with 21-year-old girls, and just generally having the time of my life? Honestly, yeah...it probably is. Your perception of Bozeman is probably colored by those same exact things...you might think it isn't, but I think you're kidding yourself. Do you really think it's a pure coincidence that every UM grad you talk to likes Missoula more than Bozeman, and every MSU grad you talk to prefers Bozeman?

(Or, do you think Missoula is just objectively a better town, and UM grads are categorically more capable of being objective than MSU grads? )

[TIrwin24]

The Northwest part of the state is by far the best IMO.

My Top Places in MT would be:

Whitefish
Big Fork
Poulson
Bozeman

Being close to Flathead Lake is the biggest advantage these town have. Whitefish takes the edge due to its proximity to Big Mountain.

[Cat-theotherwhitemeat]

I'm pretty sure by now everyone knows my favorite place to live is Billings. It isn't even close. When I was younger I really enjoyed the western side of the state. In the last 10-15 years though it has really changed. For instance, Bozeman used to be this nice little ski town with some cool bars to hang out in. Now, it just seems snobby with traffic that's gotten too big for it's britches. Missoula is too liberal with too much crap in the air. Helena was too conservative with nothing for me to do. Many places in the west seem to have this snooty Californication. Butte and Great Falls, they haven't changed in 30 years.

Billings never really had the cute tourist town or the college town feel so as it gets bigger, it just gets better with more places to eat, more entertainment, cheaper flights in and out of town, etc. I do wish MSU-B would go D-I so I could watch some big time basketball come to town. In due time......

[ThunderCat]

Isn't being the biggest city in MT kinda like being the biggest peice of sushi at a really good sushi joint?

Bigger isn't better - better is better.

[John K]

Best and biggest are of course two very different things. People may believe that Missoula is the best place to live in Montana, although I resepectfully disagree. But I think it's sort of amusing, that some people from Missoula are apparently so annoyed by the fact that they aren't also the biggest, going so far as to include anyting west of the continental divide as part of the Missoula metro area, in order to make their case that it's actually larger than Billings.

[Bleedinbluengold]

Not sure why the hate on Missoula. I love every town in Montana. Would only choose to live in a couple, but I love going to other Montana towns following my kids. I know Betsy personally, and consider her a good friend. But, she's got a narrow vision of the State outside of Missoula. Why? I don't know. She's liberal. What can I say. Basically, Missoula is the only place where she can be as liberal as she is and not get run out of town. I love Missoula simply because of the fact that it is liberal, and I'm really conservative. Keeps me young and open minded. That's a good thing.

Two places I would choose to live, work and raise a family Montana. Missoula and Bozeman. I would work, live and raise a family in any town in Montana, but those are the only ones I would go to on purpose. Have to get dragged by the coin to all others.

[John K]

Not sure why the hate on Missoula. I love every town in Montana. Would only choose to live in a couple, but I love going to other Montana towns following my kids. I know Betsy personally, and consider her a good friend. But, she's got a narrow vision of the State outside of Missoula. Why? I don't know. She's liberal. What can I say. Basically, Missoula is the only place where she can be as liberal as she is and not get run out of town. I love Missoula simply because of the fact that it is liberal, and I'm really conservative. Keeps me young and open minded. That's a good thing.

Two places I would choose to live, work and raise a family Montana. Missoula and Bozeman. I would work, live and raise a family in any town in Montana, but those are the only ones I would go to on purpose. Have to get dragged by the coin to all others.

I never said I hated Missoula. In fact I actually think it's a pretty nice town, athough there are some other Montana towns that I prefer. I just think many Missoulians have somewhat of a "little brother" complex towards Billings, and I think it's funny that they will try to manipulate the facts in order to convince themselves that they're really the largest town in Montana. I've heard similar "pretty soon Missoula will be bigger than Billings" comments from many Missoulians over the years.

[Bleedinbluengold]

Not sure why the hate on Missoula. I love every town in Montana. Would only choose to live in a couple, but I love going to other Montana towns following my kids. I know Betsy personally, and consider her a good friend. But, she's got a narrow vision of the State outside of Missoula. Why? I don't know. She's liberal. What can I say. Basically, Missoula is the only place where she can be as liberal as she is and not get run out of town. I love Missoula simply because of the fact that it is liberal, and I'm really conservative. Keeps me young and open minded. That's a good thing.

Two places I would choose to live, work and raise a family Montana. Missoula and Bozeman. I would work, live and raise a family in any town in Montana, but those are the only ones I would go to on purpose. Have to get dragged by the coin to all others.

I never said I hated Missoula. In fact I actually think it's a pretty nice town, athough there are some other Montana towns that I prefer. I just think many Missoulians have somewhat of a "little brother" complex towards Billings, and I think it's funny that they will try to manipulate the facts in order to convince themselves that they're really the largest town in Montana. I've heard similar "pretty soon Missoula will be bigger than Billings" comments from many Missoulians over the years.

The only people I've ever heard suggest the possibility of Missoula being bigger than Billings are media. For two reasons, Missoula will never outgrow Billings in terms of population or area:

1) Billings will always have an industrial base much bigger and better in every way, which leads to jobs, and an influx of people.
2) Billings has space and no matter what Missoula does, Billings will always have more space for people.