Brown and empty.
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9/7/2017
I've lived in Wyoming my entire life, (I'm 19) and I find it to be the type of place for a very specific kind of person, which I'm not.
If you like camping, skiing, or other outdoor activities, then you'll love Wyoming. You're never more than half an hour from nowhere here.
If you like to do things other than outdoor activities, then you would be better off looking elsewhere, unless you enjoy six hour drives to Denver to find something to do.
The climate is very dry, and very prone to sudden weather changes. The winters get extremely cold (There have been entire months where it never got above 10 degrees at any point) and the summers are very dry and hot. Most summers are around 80 in June, 90-95 with spikes of 100 in July, and 85-90 in August. Expect the smell of grassfires in the summer to be constant, as they start regularly here. Everywhere you look outside of a town (and inside most towns here) you will find seas of tall brown (or green in the spring) grass. Very few trees unless you go to Yellowstone or the Black Hills towards the eastern parts of the state. Expect extremely heavy snow (12 inches plus on the ground) from November to March, or sometimes even April.
The job market is very much centered around the fossil fuel industry. If you only have a high school education or a 2 year degree you can make well over 50k a year working at a mine or oil field here. Many of the schools have multiple tech classes to teach high school students trades like automotive, diesel mechanics, welding, and a few others. Which brings me to education.
Wyoming spends a very large amount of money on education compared to other states. Most schools are fairly well kept and nice. The class sizes are smaller than the average in the country.
Wyoming also has very low taxes and very lax laws. Gun laws are especially lax here, and you will very often see people open carrying all manner of firearms. In Wyoming any resident can open carry any weapon at any age, including long rifles. If you dislike guns, or do not support gun control, I would definitely advise not going here.
Politically this state is extremely conservative, in all age groups.
Overall, I would honestly say Wyoming is a decent place to live if you want to live somewhere away from people, and if you like the outdoors. It's very flat, it's very open, and it's very barren.
Taylor | Gillette, WY