How the 'Yellowstone effect' transformed one rugged western American city
Bozeman, Montana is experiencing rapid demographic and economic shifts driven by an influx of wealthy out-of-state residents. This 'Yellowstone effect' has caused housing prices to soar, creating significant socioeconomic tension between long-term locals and new arrivals.
Why it matters
It highlights the broader trend of gentrification and housing affordability crises in rural American towns following the pandemic-era migration.
Share Save Add as preferred on Google Sheila Flynn Senior US Reporter, Bozeman, Montana Getty Images The rugged beauty of Montana has attracted the rich and famous Grandmother Sara Folger sits in the kitchen of her single-wide trailer, the Rocky Mountains looming in the distance, and remembers the Bozeman, Montana she fell in love with decades ago.
Back then, Folger says, the rural western outpost was filled with "back-to-the-land hippies, college students, cowboys and ski bums". But nowadays, the formerly sleepy streets are awash with diggers, orange construction cones and out-of-state licence plates.
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