Private jets flock to Montana - but locals can't afford the trailer park
Bozeman, Montana, is experiencing rapid population growth and soaring housing costs following an influx of wealthy out-of-state residents. This demographic shift has created significant socioeconomic tension between long-term locals and new arrivals.
Why it matters
It highlights the broader American trend of gentrification and the displacement of working-class residents in formerly affordable, rural communities.
Image source, Getty Images Image caption, 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 license plates.
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