Beautiful place to visit but not to live
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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!
J. F. | Lander, WY