These most likely are the most popluar vehicles driven in Montana. Perhaps you are thinking of cars when you say rear wheel drive is not recommended for Montana? Because all pickups & suburbans I can think of are rear wheel drive, and most are likely also 4wheel drive. The better areas will be near the Wyoming border on the lake where the canyon walls are My family homesteaded in that area and I spent most of my summers growing up there. Rear wheel drive vehicles are not recommended for Montana driving.įor hiking, Red Lodge is great. With an AWD, you'll be able to get out almost any day whereas a standard front wheel will have issues occasionally. It isn't necessary if you live in Billings because it is laid out on a grid and there are arterial streets every 4 or 5 blocks. The recreational area is nice and the lake and river area are safe but just don't venture too far away from the touristy areas.įor winter driving, an AWD vehicle would be good. It is a very high poverty and crime area. Big Horn Canyon is surrounded by the Crow Reservation and I would not recommend living there. Red Lodge is nice but much more pricy than Billings.

The majority of the hiking opportunities are in the mountains.

Most of the property tax goes to the state and school district so schools are good but you will notice a drop in municipal services compared to New England. Montana has high state property taxes but the cities and counties are small portions of that.

This is largely due to not having enough funds to do so. Rocks hitting the homes are very rare occurrences (mostly small rocks) and the court case is one where the home was nearly destroyed by the boulder.īillings and other cities in Montana do not plow residential streets unless conditions on those streets will cause school closures. There is a case working its way through the courts now and the city has been winning on this designation. That area has been designated as 'at risk' and the city is not liable for any stone that falls off the Rims and impacts/destroys property. The properties between Rimrock Rd and the Rims will have higher insurance premiums than the rest of the city. The nighborhoods below the rims are pretty good but there is one thing you should be cautious of. Heard there are lots near Red Lodge which isn't too far away, and also at Big Horn Canyon? Really excited to explore the hiking trails/camping sites in the area. In regards to winter weather driving in Montana in general, do people switch out to all season tires in the winter? Out here in New England I have not needed to do it because they plow the roads well. How are the neighborhoods north of rimrock road just below the rims? Not a lot of options in regards to renting, but seems like there are many homes for sale. There were some nice looking neighborhoods, at least on googlemaps and zillow. W would be on par with any standard suburb of a major metropolitan and dangerousdave: Thanks - from my brief visit and some online searching we have learned to avoid the south Thanks for the recommendations on places to look. Outside of downtown and those two areas I mentioned, Billings is pretty sleepy. Even the Southside (South of 1st Ave S to I-90) is safe for driving through at night but I wouldn't recommend walking there at night. That is the only area of town that I know of where you could get into trouble driving through at night. During the winter months, you'll definitely want to drive there and back since it's over a mile away.īillings is at night is safe provided you stay away from the area east of the 25th St E below the Rims and 3 blocks north of the ballpark. The area around Senior HS is also pretty nice but a bit further from the brewpubs. It's walking distance to Billings Central HS (Catholic) and Billings Senior HS (Public) and has big historic homes. If you have $$, look at the area just west of Division and north of Broadwater. In Montana, daytime crimes are pretty rare outside of the occasional casino/bank robbery or someone steeling vehicles that are being warmed up in the driveway in winter.ĭowntown Billings is pretty tame as far as activity but it is the only place with nightlife that does not consist of cover bands and $1 PBR. There isn't much of an opportunity to get home safely from the bar if you've had too much. That is because most places do not have a bus system and those that do have them shut down at 6PM. During the bust, sure, it's Montana is generally #1 when it comes to drunk driving statistics. Plenty of drunks and break-ins and a heck of a lot more than Billings on a per capita basis during those times. Dave: You obviously never lived in Sheridan during an oil or coal boom.

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