This summer, one of my kiddos is headed your way for a couple years of grad school.  Art.

I'll be helping her get set up with a place, but I have not visited yet.  Anything I ought to know about the town or its neighborhoods? 

Around the UM campus area is one of the "older" residential area (basically east of Brooks St, south of S. 5th Ave. E, and south to South Ave E/W), due to its proximity to campus, as well as the Rattlesnake area north of campus and I-80.  

There is more newer residential development south of that 'campus/residential" area, and the UM has a residential development (nice) next to the UM golf course of SW Higgins Ave between South Ave and Pattee Canyon. I would check into availability there thru the UM. Its easy/quick to get to campus from that development.

There are more residential areas further south on SW Higgins Ave & as it transitions into 39th St., as well as up on the East/South Hills area.

West of Brooks St you're out in the flats with a mix of older/ratty neighborhoods and some new developments.

So it all depends on how close to campus one wants to be.

Missoula has free bus service so it would be prudent to think about if your kid wants to drive to campus, especially since parking can be limiting right at campus as well as in the surrounding residential area.

My .02

Good info, thanks.  Is there such a thing as a bad section of Missoula?

There are some run down neighborhoods but I can't say there are specific areas. Most of those are between Brooks St. and Reserve St in "pockets".

There's a substantial transient/homeless "under-the-bridge" community that hangs out in the Caras Park (downtown next to the river) where alot of events are held plus panhandlers that are parked at significant retail areas (N. Reserve, South-side Walmart, the mall). Easy to ignore them, and really only around during the nice weather period (March-Nov).  There can be problems at night in the downtown area.

Missoula has had a series of rapes over the years so if your kid is a gal she needs have good situation awareness. But every town has dirt bags. A there is a night life that

In general, Missoula has a low crime rate compared to larger population areas but it happens at times. The pressing news of the day for the media is the so-called severe weather report which is 99% of the time not severe.

And there's a lot of fun activities, like at Caras Park, so in no way I would put the Missoula situation as comparable to Denver, etc. And there's easy outdoor stuff to do basically right out the door in town up Pattee Canyon, the Rattlesnake, the "M" (steep hillside right above campus that is a popular semi-tough hike up to the M, and the Blue Mtn Rec Area (USFS) just south of town on Hwy 93. Plus a lot of cycling opportunities in places.  And a lot of hiking opportunities on surrounding USFS lands.  And decent fishing in the local rivers/streams.

For winter sports, there's Montana Snowbowl just NW of town, and Lost Trail Pass about 80 miles south on the ID/MT border

If you kid shoots there's three nice shooting ranges, a IPSC practical shooting club, and a lot of good sporting goods stores.

The winter weather can at times be a little gloomy due to most of our weather coming from off the coast, and due to the surrounding topography but winter really hits between Dec to mid-March.

I live just south of Missoula, aka town.

It's not really a bad town. No parts are bad in general. Some areas have pockets of run down places or trailer parks. But it's better than most places. The rapes everyone talks about are in a certain clique. And even then, are less than other places, they are just high profile because nothing ever happens here, and it's usually college athletes involved, who are idolized.

A fun city if you love the outdoors and actually participate in outdoor activities. Awesome hiking trails literally on the college campus or within walking distance. Mountain biking. Hunting if they do that. The fishing is world class. River floats to fish or just cool off in the summer.

Winter can be kind of dull. It doesn't get too cold or snowy, but is grey for days at a time. And things slownway down in the winter.

Weed is a huge thing at the school and in the town. Not much other drug use for college aged people. House parties are a thing as there really isn't too much winter activities to do if you don't ski or participate in winter sports.

Homeless are here. They tend to stay off of the campus and either by the interstate or caras park, and are pretty harmless.

Depending on the right college track, ie not some liberal arts track, they'll meet some awesome folks in mainly outdoor focused studies or at the law school who keep their noses clean.

Tons of non profits in town ranging from hunting and fishing non profs to crazy hippie liberal shit. It's not hard to pick up a job with one of them in something they're interested in.

If you make it here to check it out, there are a few of us in the general area. I'm not in Missoula proper but Like 2 miles from the school.


I'd worry more about you child coming back a rabid leftist or a hippie than anything else. But as lonh as they stay away from the sjw degree mills or the drum Corp they'll be fine.

Besides pot there's other drug issues in town according to my LEO contacts.  Notably, Meth, as it is everywhere.

Also, starting north of town be bear-aware for grizzlies.  If your kid likes to go hiking get some bear spray, and bear bells if they want to go up into the Rattlesnake Wilderness (up high & in aways) or up to the Seeley-Swan valley (really pretty especially when the western larch change in Oct), the Mission Mts (west-side of the Seeley-Swan), Bob Marshall Wilderness (east side of the Seeley-Swan), and Glacier NP.

On Glacier NP (2.5 hrs north) try to visit it and do the "Going-To-The-Sun" road before the snow flies. The tourist traffic slows down a lot after Labor Day.

The wilderness/back-country areas don't get as much use as down in CO based on my experience in both areas.

South of town a couple griz have roamed thru in the past but no regular use, but since good to take bear spray for precautionary reasons.

South of town near Lolo, MT there's a nice relatively hike up to Lolo Peak/North Peak that's close to Missoula.  Gives one a nice high-elevation experience with great vistas.

Lolo Peak

North Summit-Lolo Peak

Lolo Peak Trail

In mid-late Sept when the first storm rolls thru that puts the first snow on to the high ridge/peak area that starts the subalpine larch to change. Their colors only last a couple weeks and there's usually a dry spell so one can do the hike up and the trail goes thru those stands. Really nice thing to do when they're all lit up.

Plus the Blue Mountain rec area has a lot of trails and a couple (plus a road) that goes up to the top where there's an old fire lookout.

This is really outstanding information.  I'm not sure thank you quite does it, but thank you.  You really gave me a jumpstart on looking over a map of town and starting to get a sense of what's where.  Of all her choices, Missoula was the one I was rooting for as being not Chicago or Manhattan.  And what you wrote makes it sound even more like it's a nice town.

She has seen the leftist side of things for sure (we live in Boulder), but has a good head on her shoulders.  The grizzly stuff will be new, but she will definitely love the recreational opportunities.  She climbs 5.13, runs tough mudders, dances, and I think could rip the nuts literally off someone who deserved it.  She'd cry later, but those nuts would be gone.  Dad's not too worried. 

If she can handle boulder, she'll do fine in missoula. i'd recommend living within 2-3 miles of the university or on the bus line so she doesn't have to drive to campus. like most colleges, parking is a scam. they'll sell 10,000 parking passes for 1000 spots. and if she's inclined to visit the downtown night life, i recommend living within walking/biking distance of downtown. somehow DUIs are a badge of honor with a lot of the college kids here and the "adults" aren't much better.

i just hope the art department survives long enough for your daughter to get her MFA. the current administration isn't a friend of the arts.

If there is a bad area, it is East Missoula. However, it seems like developers have been buying property out there and building new shit, but I sure as hell wouldn't want to live there regardless.

Another area I wouldn't want to live near is pretty much anywhere near reserve, as the traffic during morning/lunch/evening commute is complete shit.

The Reserve St traffic is relative.

With a sister in San Diego and experiencing that stuff, a friend in the Ft. Collins area, and having recently driven thru the south Chicago/Gary, IN area( 3hrs to get thru about 10 miles) Reserve St during rush hour is like a deserted cow path in the wilderness.  

When situations arise that I get caught in the Reserve St mess I just remind myself that it's only 4 miles of traffic with 4 lights between the river bridge and the Brooks/93 junction, and nothing like the traffic in the areas I just listed.

The Arts are fine if you can get a job/career out of it. The UM is declining because kids can't get jobs in those majors other than making coffee at Starbucks. On the other hand what MSU offers is much more marketable.

My .02

Grew up in NY and commuted into NYC.

Reserve still sucks.

The suck is still relative.

I live just east of Missoula. Lolo is 16 miles away. If I left now I could be there in 20 minutes doing the speed limit.

Wednesday it took me an hour and 20 minutes via reserve.

Reserve is the most horrendous st I've ever seen. Lights aren't timed correct. Turning lane lights are all messed up. A lot of the stop lights instead of having both turning lanes turn, have one lane go and turn whilenthe others stopped and then eventually let the other lane turn. Even at dedicated lelft turns, the over flow into the left lane is insane. And good luck trying one of the side roads you can get to from a left turn to drive one shopping complex over, half of the don't even have stop signs.

The people who are in charge of timing and flow of reserve st need to be fired and listed to never work on public infrastructure again. And it's unfortunate these people are literally paying millions of dollars to design our bridges to a lower capacity than to have an entire lane dedicated to bikers who pay absolutely 0 taxes to fund these road projects with their bikes.

Inept public employees from the lowest employee to the mayor.

If you're east of Missoula and going to Lolo then you're going "way" out of your way by going via Reserve. Brooks is the direct route but with the construction around the mall area its a bit slower lately, especially around the rush hours. Try S/SW Higgins since its a better route when Brooks gets busy. Get off at Van Buren then head to S/SW Higgins. A lot less traffic as you swing around that east side of town.

The secrets when Reserve is busy are the back streets through town,... Stephens/Orange Sts and S. Russell. Just be careful on the Russell Street bridge. Rather than fix the bridges in town the city council & mayor spends millions of $$ buying the water company.  The Russell St bridge is ready to fall into the Clark Fork.

Depending on the time of the day the north bound traffic on Reserve is tied up but the south bound is clear. But that switches at around 1500 hrs.

A few years ago they missed the opportunity of a Hwy 93 bypass but that's gone now.  Now you have to either hit Reserve/93 after rush hrs. although that's getting busy also due to thru traffic, or after those bad hrs.

I agree on the timing of the lights.

BTW I'm in Lolo.

My .02

I'm by East Missoula and Bonner.

Still not worth it. Both have construction to deal with at the mall. If you take Van Buren then you have to deal with the Madison St Bridge construction. If you take Orange St you have to deal with that shit show at the exit they got going on, and then construction after the bridge. And even going through town you hit so many red lights and have to deal with bikers constantly ignoring road rules, and in the winter the town is horrible at plowing.

I've timed it. If it's day, then reserve is faster. If night or early morning, then going through town is the way. But reserve is really horribly planned out.

An art degree you say???



Haha

Yeah, as dad I consider how things might go down the road.  But she intends to take this toward teaching; she enjoys running the print lab and teaching, and has a plan, so ...

West Broadway between Russel and Missoula Fresh Market is looking sketchier every day. You have the "bum mansion" which draws in vagrants from all over the place and the sketchy motels in that area from which people more than likely sell drugs. The vagrant problem seems to only be getting worse and I've had a few run-ins with them so can say I don't feel bad for many of them.

That's always been a "Problem Area" for decades.  It looks far better than it used to, but the new Poverello Center building keeps them in that area regardless of efforts to upgrade that small section of town.

Welp, heading on over to DIA this afternoon for a flight out your way.  Gonna check things out and try to set up housing.

Hope you have some good leads for hosing in town.  It seems that some of the students are filtering back into town early this year perhaps to enjoy the area before school starts.

She's been on it.  I'm bringing the checkbook and providing advice. 

Plan B is the homeless shelter.  It's quiet enough there for studying, right?

The bed bugs may be an issue at the homeless shelter.

Did you folks check out the UM student housing apartment complex (Lewis & Clark Village) at 3000 S Higgins by the golf course?  Don't know if its available to grad students though.

Lewis & Clark Village

There's also University Village closer to campus, and it does say they're available for grad students.

University Village

BTW bus service in Missoula is free.

Done.  Just wrote the security deposit check.

I won't get specific about how/where, obviously, but the information you provided was really very helpful.  Thank you sincerely.  We'll go to the movies in a bit -- that new Valerian thing -- then go home tomorrow.  As Dad, I am relaxing.  She's got a place, it's safe, Missoula seems nice, etc.  The fire smoke doesn't phase her; we've watched forest fires from our home.

Glad you folks found a place.  Between now & when school starts there's lots of stuff to explore around town and there's events at Caras Park every weekend.

Plus your kid will have to start walking up the "M" now.

I think we'll have fires to deal with into Sept so hopefully we'll get some rain to tampen things down a bit.