Living Like Kings on $30K a Year

"I think I live like a King," Frank said as he stretched his arms out to invoke the spectacular scenery behind him.

Frank owns a vacation rental and an unfinished cabin on the east side of Glacier National Park and in the winters he goes to the tropics and waits tables.  I did the math on his vacation rental and there's no way he's making more than $10K a year (on the rental).  I suppose he could really rake it in waiting tables, but the man is not getting rich financially.  When he says he lives like a king, he is talking about the intangibles, the reasons that thousands of people take pay-cuts to stay in, or move to Montana. 

Montanans make the trade for these intangibles in many different ways.  Some take seasonal jobs in the outdoors they love and then scrounge for other work in the winter.  Others acquire decent jobs(for Montana $40k/ year is a decent job) and spend every weekend, vacation day and sick day with a fly-rod or bow in their hand.  Oil rig workers spend two solid weeks working so they can spend two weeks four-wheeling. Ranchers, in theory, are living the dream every day as they labor in all weather conditions for long hours at a job that people pay dude ranches to participate in.  Readily available wifi and telecommuting have made it easier for some to give up their city life without giving up the income, but most Montanans are taking a major pay-cut to live in a place where everyone else vacations. 

About 10 million tourists visit Montana every year, primarily to experience the great outdoors Montana-style (hunting, fishing, hiking, ranching, skiing, rafting etc.).  The state's population hovers around one million and although many residents are recent imports with high-demand skills the state's per capita income and household income are still ranked very low nationally.  

Montana trade-offs are a very personal thing and don't make sense to everyone.  People trade $2,000-suits and $300-shirts for thrift store clothes and one set of $600 Sitka camo.   They trade 1,000 ethnic food options in a ten mile radius for one restaurant 30 miles down the road from their off-the-grid cabin.  They trade the leadership of a 200-employee company to that of a 200-cow ranch.  People trade a $40 steak for 40lbs of venison it took them 25 hours to hunt, clean and process.  The newest phone for the latest snow report.  A $40k car is traded for a 40-fish-day on a remote river.  A week in Paris for a week in the Bob Marshall. 


Its a trade-off that might not make sense to an economist, but in a country that is obsessed with financial security and always having the most and latest gadgets it is quite refreshing.  That's True Montana.