(GREAT FALLS) Great Falls landed a spot in theTop 100 Best Places to Livesurvey on a website called Livability.
The editors and data scientists examined more than 1,000 cities based on thousands of data points such as economics, housing, amenities, demographics, and social and educational aspects.
“If you talk to a lot of people who have moved here for jobs, they are blown away by the quality of life that they can have here,” Great Falls Development Authority Vice President Jolene Schalper said.
The editors and data scientists surveyed 1,000 millennials across the country and determined the thing that matters most when choosing where to live: affordability.
Schalper said the quality of life and cost of living are just two of the reasons people choose to move to the Electric City.
“We have access to adventure out of Great Falls where you are not packed trails with a lot of people. We have more access to being involved in the community. You can jump right in and be on a board of directors or engage with action groups that really mean something to you a lot easier in Great Falls. So when you are weighing those quality of life issues, that’s why we made the list,” Schalper said.
She said Great Falls continues to grow.
“Our job, all of Great Falls, is to grow our town. We need more people and we need to continue to invest in amenities that are getting people here and making our lives enjoyable,” Schalper said.
One way to do that is to focus on high wage jobs.
“The way to bring people to Great Falls is to continue to focus on industries that have high wage jobs. Manufacturing is considered a high wage job. When you look at the average manufacturing wage verses the average servicing wage a lot of people would much rather have the benefits and wages of manufacturing,” Schalper said. “As we continue to grow those manufacturing and those primary sector jobs, we will continue to see more restaurants, more retail, because those types of amenities that follow along with high wage jobs.”
Two other Montana cities made the list. Billings was number 24. Helena was number 27.
Great Falls placed 97. Schalper said she hopes to eventually see Great Falls in the top 50.
“I think that could be a reality. It takes everybody investing and working together. We all need to share positive things about Great Falls on our social media because people outside of Great Falls see that and they might be more interested in looking at our community. We have a lot to look at as a community. I just encourage everybody, get involved, be part of team Great Falls and be a part of growing Great Falls,” Schalper said.
