Californians are arriving in Montana in droves. But they're not welcome. [View all]

[Demovictory9]

https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/Californians-moving-to-Montana-exodus-tech-16330335.php

Sasha Vermel had been sewing face masks locked down in her Oakland home for months during the pandemic when her hands gave out. She realized she couldn’t even open a door anymore.

It was the last straw. She’d been out of work as a designer and seamstress since COVID-19 hit, she’d been home-schooling two kids for months and the 2020 wildfire season had been relentless. She went to her husband and asked if he wanted to fly to Missoula, Montana for the weekend and look at houses.

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Many native Montana residents aren’t happy with the amount of out-of-state residents coming in and snapping up homes, and they’re not shy about saying so. Vermel says a friend was harassed at a gas station when she was filling up her car with California plates; Vermel's dad, who lives in town, has had to defend her right to move back to the state.

Still, this has happened before, Vermel pointed out. She remembers growing up and seeing anti-California bumper stickers in the late 1980s. She refuses to get discouraged. “This isn’t new. It's the same old pattern,” she said.

Lauren Craigie and her boyfriend, who moved to Bozeman in April 2020 and both work in tech, don’t say they moved from California when people ask. They mention the states where they grew up — Connecticut and Ohio respectively — and they changed their licenses right away. “Part of me is annoyed that [locals] even care. Why are they special for just being born here? Because I've lived in so many different places, I don't feel like a Californian. That was just part of my life,” Craigie said. “I think I'm still navigating the best way to handle that conversation.”

https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/Californians-moving-to-Montana-exodus-tech-16330335.php