all around i'd recommend missoula

if not living around any libs is important then you might like bozeman

butte is hollowed out trash, it's pretty depressing

don't know much about helena

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4267406&forum_id=2#38276680)

the bozeman uni is less lib and much smaller

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4267406&forum_id=2#38280784)

"So now we're down to only the newer multiplex, which is run by the biggest national chain, Tennessee-based Regal Entertainment Group – part of billionaire Philip Anschutz's empire. Anschutz is a politically active conservative Christian, opposing gay rights and backing various right-wing causes, and Regal Entertainment not only seems to have his conservative philosophy, the company also seems ignorant of basic facts like, Bozeman has more than 38,000 residents, and tens of thousands more live just outside city limits. Many of the locals are intelligent adults making careers not only in the university, but also in dozens of local high-tech companies, Montana's biggest ski resort (Big Sky), Yellowstone National Park (also nearby), or doing their own creative work in art, writing, photography, music, dance including more than one local ballet company, the local opera company, the local Shakespeare company, and so on.

As I write this blog post, these very good new movies have not yet shown in Bozeman's multiplex, even though they've been showing elsewhere around the West for weeks or months: 12 Years a Slave (a true story of 19th century slavery in this country, by the famous director Steve McQueen), All is Lost (Robert Redford suffering a solo shipwreck), Inside Llewyn Davis (the new Coen brothers flick), Dallas Buyers Club (Matthew McConaughey playing an early AIDS victim), Nebraska (same director as previous hits Sideways and The Descendants), Philomena (another British gem starring Judi Dench), Blue is the Warmest Color, Kill Your Darlings, Blue Jasmine (directed by Woody Allen, starring Cate Blanchett and Alec Baldwin), The Great Beauty, and Wadjda (a Saudi Arabian girl struggles for her rights)."

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4267406&forum_id=2#38276762)

even the progressives in MT aren't too bad---the uni ones are like 90s noam chomsky types, more worried about labor/economic issues and the environment. no real lobby there for the usual genderqueering PoC women of strength and size

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4267406&forum_id=2#38276775)

Fucking cold in the winter though.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4267406&forum_id=2#38276729)

Butte: industrial with a history of mine pollution. Shit town.

Missoula: it's in a valley and looks like suburban sprawl that could be found in any state. But you can head south into the Bitterroot Valley, which is fucking gorgeous.

Helena: very nice small town. Not much nearby but mountains. Stable job market with state government, but not much to do. Some nearby skiing and fly fishing.

You should also consider Whitefish -- a bit more artsy, it's in the far northwest corner. Because of the weather pattern from the Pacific NW, it actually gets less snow than places further to the south, but it gets lots of ice. Nearby is Glacier NP.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4267406&forum_id=2#38276730)

it's turning into a Jew Yorker colony (also there are a surprising amount of sofla people there which is never a good sign)

good food there though

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4267406&forum_id=2#38276740)

butte could hypothetically be nice with some investment, there are a lot of interesting historic buildings there and the CoL is very low---but it's in a socioeconomic downward spiral

can't agree more re: how beautiful missoula is too, that area is probably one of the best in the US for weather, quality of people, and scenery

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=4267406&forum_id=2#38276757)