The answer to why Montanans don’t want Californians to move into their state can be summed up into three main reasons: Californian home buyers driving up home prices, bringing California politics, or just a simple culture clash. You’d think that some of these are relatively new, but no. These reasons have been around since at least the 1980s, probably even further back, I just didn’t bother to look past the 80s. People that have visited Montana have fallen in love with its beautiful views, different paced life, and many other of Montana’s charms. But up and moving into the state brings these consequences that are not so favorable to the locals.
Home Prices
Montanans are good with driving cattle, but not so much with driving up home prices. This is because Californians that come in with plenty of money to offer for homes has driven up home prices that would otherwise be available for local teachers, firefighters, or other Montana residents that also look to buy homes. With Montana having lower wages than California, it isn’t much of a fair fight when putting in an offer for a home. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t move into Montana but do be aware of what is happening when you do, be mindful of others and you may be just fine.
The Intricate Politics of the Treasure State
Another reason for the antipathy towards Californians is the politics being so different in both states. Montanans will dislike California liberals moving in to the state and voting the way they do, but will also dislike California conservatives moving to Montana trying to flee the Mexican-American population of California. Montanans can’t just be placed neatly into little divisions of politics. There are conservative Montana residents who will show support towards typically liberal sentiments towards public lands, and at the same time there are liberal Montana residents who support the second amendment, with multiple guns in their personal armory.
The Clash of the Cultures
For any Californian moving into Montana, maybe hold off on public protests against meat products, doing yoga outside while sipping your wheat grass juice, or just generally trying to live in Montana as if Montana was California. OK, I’ll admit, those were stereotypes of California that I just named. Only a part of California’s population actually acts that way. But you get my point. Montana’s way of life is a little different and nobody likes to be told, “Well, where I’m from we do (X thing) in this manner.” That’s something that is not specific to Montana. Nobody likes that. Unless you’re offering a real solution that will be good for the people there, just stating that you’d like things to be a certain way just because you prefer it is not going to be welcome anywhere.
Furthermore, sometimes people feel like Californians look down on others. This may be just a perception issue, but it does exist in people’s minds. And while on this note, let me give you a little tidbit on the flip side of the coin. Californian’s population that has been here for generations tend to not look down on other states or their way of life. Californians who tend to look down on other states are people who moved here from those states. For example, somebody talking down on Ohio is most likely originally from Ohio and moved to California. It happens more than you’d think. Only about 56% of California’s population was born and raised in the state. People always mention Californians moving to some other state in droves, but nobody ever talks about the droves moving into California, do they?
