Will the Flathead soon overtake Missoula County? Could the Flathead soon have a larger population even than the booming Gallatin County?

We all know that Montana has seen some drastic (in our view) changes and population growth following the 2020 lockdowns and the political refugee crisis those policies created. Even before the pandemic, folks from the coast were flocking to places like Missoula and Bozeman- especially with the increased ability to work remote.

Post-pandemic has been different, though. So many people from states like California, Oregon, and Washington have HAD IT with the policies in those states- so they are moving to places like Florida, Texas, and yes- Montana.

Jeremy Carl is a Senior Fellow with the Claremont Institute, a conservative think tank, who lives in Bozeman, Montana. He took a glance at the recently released US Census data and came up with some very interesting takeaways.

Here's what I found interesting.

Bozeman Growth

Jeremy Carl: High real estate prices seem to have brought Gallatin County's growth back to earth. While still a healthy 1.47%, it was a sharp drop from numbers that made it Montana's growth engine over the past two decades.

Flathead Growth

Jeremy Carl: Flathead County (Kalispell) appears to be the new growth superstar, growing almost twice as fast as Gallatin in the last year. If growth trends continue, Flathead should overtake Missoula as the 3rd most populous County at the next census (and possibly even Gallatin for 2nd)

Ravalli Growing More Than Missoula

As we talked about all of these numbers on the radio with Jeremy, he also noticed how the more conservative Ravalli County is starting to see more growth than Missoula County- the much more liberal county just to the North.

Check out the full thread via Twitter below. You can also listen to our full chat with Jeremy Carl earlier in the week on the radio:

LOOK: Here's where people in every state are moving to most

Stacker analyzed the Census Bureau's 2019 American Community Survey data to determine the three most popular destinations for people moving out of each state.

 

 

More From Montana Talks