Who is Moving to Bozeman, Montana?

Bozeman’s population is growing, fast. And everyone is wondering, where are people moving to Bozeman from? We’ve got the answer!

For the last 5 years, Bozeman has been named the fastest growing micropolitan area in the U.S. Since 2010, Bozeman has grown by more than 18,500* residents and is growing at a rate of 2.67% a year.**

As the relocation rush of the early pandemic days has slowed, there has been a decline in interest in moving to the Mountain West. But even with that decline, according to this report, there were still 2.22 people moving to Bozeman for every person moving out in 2022. Find out why Bozeman is growing so fast here.

Where are all these people coming from?

You may be surprised to know that the highest number of people moving to Bozeman are moving from other areas in Montana.

According to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau, of all the people moving to Gallatin County, the highest number of people came from other areas in Montana. Yellowstone County was the highest, followed by Missoula and Flathead County. After Montana movers, the highest number of people moved to Gallatin County from Colorado, California, Washington, Nebraska, and Minnesota.

Who are these people?

According to the Prospera 2022 Economic Profile, 33 is the median age of Gallatin County residents. This is a shift from previous years. In 2019, the 20-29 age group was the largest segment of Bozeman’s population. Now, 39.7% of Gallatin County’s population are Millennials, followed by 20% Gen Z, 19% Baby Boomers, 16% Gen X, and 4.5% Matures. This shift could be attributed to Bozeman’s changing job market and growing tech industry which is drawing young professionals into the area. Montana State University also saw its first dip in enrollment numbers in 2020 after more than a decade of enrollment growth.

The median household income for Gallatin County is higher than the rest of the state, and a significant number of residents between 25-55 have comparable wages to their peers in the 45-64 age group. This further demonstrates that new job opportunities in the area are drawing in people of a younger age bracket. One very interesting thing reported in the Economic Profile was that more than 40% of income for residents in Gallatin and Park County was classified as “non-labor income”. This can come in the form of investments, age-related income, and economic hardship payments.

Who is moving away from Bozeman?

As for the people leaving Gallatin County the largest number of people went to other areas of Montana. Missoula County was the most popular for people leaving Bozeman, followed by Lewis and Clark County (Helena) and Flathead County (Kalispell/Whitefish area). Outside of Montana, the highest number of people leaving Bozeman went to Washington, Oregon, Colorado, California, and Utah. Click here to read our post, 5 reasons people are leaving Bozeman.

As part of our Ask a Bozeman Real Estate Agent series, we asked the real estate agents in our office, who is moving to Bozeman? Check out the video below to see what they said!

*Statistics courtesy of the U.S Census Bureau

**Statistics according to www.worldpopulationreview.com