Perfect for the right people - 2/5/2022

I lived in Florida for 21 years and decided to get a life and moved to Lander, Wyoming. For me, this place is exactly what I’d been wanting. I don’t like the crowds and big chain businesses. If you need something the chances are good that it’s available in town—-if not available, just order online. I have never lived in town; but I live 3-4 miles outside of town on plenty of property, so neighbors are not on top of each other. I love the summer and winter recreation and change of season. Lander has less wind than any other town in Wyoming. Taxes are very low, there is no State income tax, and the government does not intrude into your life. I built my own log home and only had to buy one permit (for 70 bucks). If you love big city life, Lander is not for you, but it is PERFECT for me and my family.

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No - 10/31/2021

Lander, WY, is noisy. First responder agencies in town run sirens on almost every call. Multiple tornado sirens around town are used to notify firefighters of fire callouts instead of using response apps that would notify FFs on their cell. If you live near one of them and it goes off in the middle of the night, it just about throws you out of bed. It is that loud. And, there is a rodeo every Saturday night in the summer with music blasted until midnight. Same thing with fourth of July, the fireworks show goes until midnight and it sounds like a war zone. If you live near the intersection of the two highways, you get to listen to the semi trucks gear down as they near the intersection (even though signage on the highway prohibits it). If you are looking for a place to live, steer clear of the Wind River Church on Dillon Drive. The church allows a band to practice inside on Wednesday nights and the drums can be heard throughout the neighborhood well past 10PM. The apartment buildings in town cater to the Catholic College and LDS church. The kids that land an apartment either through a Catholic College scholarship or LDS missionary program have very little consideration or respect for other tenants and have parties often at night, to the point where you can't open your windows when you go to sleep. Apartment managers do nothing about it because the owners want the business (monthly rent) from the Catholic College. The same goes for the LDS missionaries living in the buildings. No consideration or respect for others. As far as the misc noise around town, the town needs to do a noise study/survey, with community input, and manage this better. Lander is not a peaceful place unless you live far out in the country. Medical options in Lander are slim. If you leave a message for the medical clinic, they do not return calls. Riverton is the closest city and it leaves a lot to be desired, dirty and industrial.

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Beautiful place to visit but not to live - 9/30/2021

Have lived and worked full time here for past 3.5 yrs, in WY for 18. It is a beautiful area to visit for outdoor recreation--hiking, climbing, mtn biking, xc skiing, fishing--but not a practical place to live. Being as small as it is, services--retail, medical, skilled residential contractors, banking, etc.--are VERY limited. It is difficult to find a contractor to work on your house; the good ones are booked solid for months (and are expensive), the bad ones won't return your call, or maybe won't finish the job they started. There is only a very small hospital and few doctors, no specialists--must drive (or be life-flighted) to Casper, Rock Springs, Salt Lake. ~3 hardware/ranch supply/d.i.y. stores that cater mostly to pro's so they close early and on weekends when you need them. There is one bank and 2 credit unions, 1 small and 1 larger chain grocery store, few auto mechanics, no place to buy a pair of ordinary socks or underwear. I have had to mail-order quite a few ordinary items that ought to be but are not carried locally. Employment is also VERY limited, the major employers being the State, Fed's, or hospital. The few other jobs are with very small businesses, low wages, less than full time. There is no manufacturing. And as others have noted, the housing and rental prices are absurdly high because of low supply and high demand (lots of short-term rentals needed by NOLS students, people re-locating for before buying a house). The supply of well maintained houses and rentals is small in comparison to the large supply of neglected, decrepit, barely inhabitable shacks/trailers. I know of no new local residential construction, so it's a seller's/landlord's market. And property taxes are higher than elsewhere in WY. All traffic must pass through downtown, from small cars to tandem tractor trailers and everything in between--there is no downtown by-pass for pass-through or commercial traffic, and it's a frightening place to try to walk or bike ride. Sidewalks are few, discontinuous, and not maintained. There is very little parking for the few small businesses/restaurants that do exist. Only the few main roads are plowed in winter, and packed down side roads become sheets of ice for weeks. On the bright side, relative to the rest of WY, it is NOT especially windy here!

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Nice entry to the rockies - 2/9/2014

Nice place for a foreign student. Very convenient for outdoors, with Grand Teton National Park and Yelowstone within 2.5 -3.5 h car ride.

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Could not let the 2007 post pass. - 9/25/2013

Where was this guy living? Must have one stop light. Lander drivers are not at all as portrayed. The speed limit on Main Street is 30 MPH. The average of most places I have been. I cross the streets every day and have never had to run if I started to walk when the light turned. The Ox Bow has an excellent breakfast menu and the food is good. It is a typical small town family restaurant. Not acceptable I guess if you want to eat at a chain but Lander is the kind of place that doesn't have and doesn't want those. Houses of 200K are not shacks but of course you may find one or two that is. That happens everywhere. The price of housing is a little higher than Riverton, 24 miles down the road.That is because more people want to live in Lander, due to the many amenities that are found nowhere else in this part of the state. We have always had a very good and comfortable coffee house. We don't have a Starbucks but we don't want one of those either. Our coffee houses are the real kind. Ones where you are welcome to kick back and spend the whole day in visiting, studing, or reading. We have a very active art center, the National Outdoor Leadership School's international base home, the Catholic College, the community college many quaint shops and restaurants. I think we are lucky when we have somehow scared away someone like the poster. They would just move here and try to start changing things so they were just like what they left but weren't satisfied with. Oh, and I am retired. I moved from a large city and I love Lander.

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Weather in Lander, Wyoming - 6/16/2010

If you can handle ( 6 ) months of winter this is the place to be with clean & you can see for miles.

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Cheyenne - 7/20/2007

Best for neighborhood feel in a city!

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Lander Impressions - 6/27/2007

We spent 3 days in Lander in May 2007 looking for a place to live as a retiree.(I'm a recently retired Univ. prof.). Found no really nice place to have breakfast in the town. And no good coffee shop. Traffic on the main street was dangerously fast for seniors & kids.You had to run across even at stop lights. Whystaff (I had 2 good conversations). A terrific restaurant, The Cowfish, one of the best places we have eaten in the past couple of years (we happily blew nearly $100 two nights in a row on great food&drink), but drivers on the main street-- right outside the restaurant-- drive so fast you could get killed getting back to your car. Property values seemed really inflated, with trashy houses going for over 200k to even 300k.Folks looking above that probably won't be disappointed.Town is Not hospitable to pedestrians-- many areas have no sidewalks.Poor city planning, apparently, with sidewalks not required. Walking the neighborhoods (looking at houses for sale) seemed dangerous and drivers all seemed in too big a hurry. Great outdoor access, however.But Don't believe Chamber of Commerce hype about "Peace Surrounds You"--maybe in the mountains? Traffic is noisy and Wyoming drivers seem to regard pedestrians as some kind of rodent. A very disappointing visit! Ray Pratt, Bozeman, Montana

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I was born in Lander and lived there as recently a - 11/14/2006

Wonderful little town if you can afford it. With so many people from CA and from Jackson being chased out by their own high prices and going to Lander the real estate is no longer affordable to the locals. I guess when you've just sold a shack in CA for 400,000.00 then 180,000.00 for an average 3 bedroom sounds pretty reasonable. Unfortunately if these people had done a little homework instead of being so gullible to pay such prices maybe the real estate would still be like it was just 15 years ago with that same 3 bedroom house going for 50,000.00 or with inflation maybe up to 75,000.00 now. Good paying jobs are hard to find for the average worker so unless you have some law, medical or engineering degree or a skilled laborer (such as rig worker or mechanic) then you can expect only about 18,000.00 to 22,000.00 per year. The last time I lived there I got very lucky job wise but just couldn't keep up with the housing cost so left. Perfect for the outdoor enthusiast though, lots of stuff to do. Not so much if you want culture. Winters can be rough to those not used to them, with as low as -40 degrees occassionally but an average daytime temp in the coldest months at zero to 20 degrees. Summers can reach 100 but not often enough to worry about. You can visit the chamber of commerce for Lander online and the Riverton Ranger shows classifieds for both Lander and Riverton online to give a clear picture of the housing and job situation.

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Lander , WY Info? - 1/24/2006

We're considering relocating to Lander, WY and are hoping for some feedback from those that visited or live in or nearby Lander.

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