I’m not sure what exactly constitutes a “small town” anymore, but until recently, Bozeman, Montana Was a small town. Sure, it’s been growing rapidly for the past few years because it’s so great and has so much natural beauty – blah, blah, blah. But recently something changed that has made Bozeman a lonely place for its long-time residents.

Of course, we can all agree that Bozeman is a different place today than it was just a few years ago – let alone 30 or 40 years ago. For those who have just moved here, it may be a paradise, but for those who have been here a long time, life in Bozeman has become challenging (and a little lonely).

How can a city become lonely after you have lived there for decades? In many ways. The most obvious is that with so many new people moving in, you’re less likely to meet new people. That could be lots of new neighbors, your regular crowd at the pub, a concert, or waiting for a flight at the airport.

Without regretting the good old days, Bozeman used to be an affordable place to live. Even places like Big Sky and Whitefish had plenty of “workforce housing.” It was just called housing. You could work full time and still pay for ANY kind of housing.

There used to be a real sense of community among Bozeman’s younger population around the Montana State University campus and downtown. For many, many years, you could afford a room in a shared apartment or a basement apartment – whatever. There were options, and those options created neighborhood environments.

Now we are crowded with blocks of million-dollar condosand there are many more projects in the works. Is there anything wrong with this new standard? People are buying it, so I don’t think so. But it ABSOLUTELY is changing what kind of city Bozeman is and will continue to do so in the future.

Gone are the days when most residents knew who was on the Bozeman City Commission and who the mayor was. Well, some of the names might sound familiar, but people don’t really care, they’re just angry about the decisions the commission has made over the last few years. That’s problematic when your local leaders are seen as “just politicians like anywhere else.”

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Your flights to and from Bozeman are full of unfamiliar faces and they used to be packed with at least a dozen people you knew. We’ve touched on this before and for some reason it resonates with me the most. The gate area before a flight used to be a fantastic reunion of old and new friends. That’s not the case anymore. Now it’s people you don’t recognize, with earplugs in, eyes engrossed in their phones. Really lonely.