Looking to relocate to Wyoming

[Adam Merritt]

Well, as the title says, my family and I are looking to move to Wyoming from Texas. I grew up in a small southern town in Texas and my wife grew up on a farm in Ohio. We are looking to buy some farmland, move to the country, and build a shop so I have more room than my current garage setup! Anyways, the draw to Wyoming is two fold, low taxes and cheaper land. We don't have any particular area in mind yet. We are looking for 40-200 acres to build our new home. We have a few preferences, but my only hard requirement is access to high speed internet. I must have it for my job, as I plan to telecommute, but otherwise we are pretty open. So, I ask you guys, anyone have suggestions or advice?

[Adam Herman]

I lived in rock springs for 5 years and have been all over the state working in the oil industry. There is a lot of land and a lot of isolation. You will probably have to stick to the major corridors to find a good connection. When you say "farmland" you may be thinking about the green land in Ohio or TX, but in Wyoming you will be looking at desert steppe with lots of dirt and some sage brush depending on the area of course. I really love the area along the Colorado border south of Laramie and in the Medicine bow national forest. Star valley on the Idaho border is also great. Make sure you are ready for the wind and the cold in the winter. Do not look at the land that is extremely cheap near Waumsutter, table rock, Rawlins. it is all part of the red desert and you are likely to not have roads, power, cell service or any access to water. I can answer questions on specific areas if you would like.

[Malcolm McLeod]

I spent a couple of summer-time weeks in the area about 10yrs ago. Everybody I was with (Texans all) raved about the gorgeous weather. We had left >100* with 40%RH, and found ~75*, no humidity, and clear blue skies! Someone commented, "Man, would I love to live here!"

Our host just nodded, smiled, and said, "A lot of Texans say that. ...They usually move home in the spring."

Just some friendly advice, look at all aspects of living your dream. (While working in AK, a native said the biggest mistake people there make is marrying an 'outsider' - who can't stand the AK winters.)

[Kurt Kintner]

I have relatives outside of Cheyenne.... They have acreage on the plains, on the dustiest dirt road I've ever seen ....
No trees in sight, high winds all the time, frigid winters, tons of snow.... Not for me ...

[Jim Becker]

Adam, you're going to have to be very diligent in your land search relative to the HSI requirement. Outside of more urban areas, especially in that part of the country, you're likely going to be limited to either cellular or satellite service which are usually capped services, too, in case you need to do a lot of file transfer. Cellular may even be a challenge, depending on location.

[Harold Balzonia]

The high speed internet condition will limit your choices out there... I have satellite internet and it is flawless (no data caps anymore) but it will slow down or even disappear in thunderstorm or snowy weather.

it doesn't really snow much in Wyoming though... does it?

🤔

[Mark Blatter]

Worked in many areas of Wyoming when I lived in Montana. Many areas are beautiful, but but but, as others have said, you have to visit them during all seasons. The southern region can blow like an gulf coast hurricane, only at temps around 0 and lots of drifting snow. Cheyenne routinely gets closed in during the winter due to blowing and drifting snow. Both interstates get shut down, for a week or more some years. If you ever wanted to fly a kite, a 50 lb one using a 1/2" rope, Cheyenne is the place to do it.

[Kev Williams]

This may or may not be of significance to you, but the average elevation in Wyoming is 6,700 feet- That's up there-- that high up it gets cold, hard to breathe, and you'll be amazed at how much power whatever you're driving loses...

But you can hit golf balls farther...

[Matt Meiser]

As a 10-year telecommuter...absolutely do not buy anything without rock solid high speed internet. Satellite, 4G, etc will not cut it. Satellite latency will be an issue and satellite and 4G, caps will be an issue. There are other wireless services and their reliability will be heavily dependent on the (likely small business) ownership. Even rural DSL can be horrendously unreliable as it may be using 60-70 year old wire infrastructure. Seriously. Someone from Frontier told me the section of cable they replaced once to fix mine at my old place had a date code in the early 1950's.

[Greg R Bradley]

I'm trying to reconcile "farmland" and Wyoming used to describe the same place. With the lowlands being 6,000+ ft elevation, spring comes late and fall early. Even the milder climate areas can freeze almost any day of the year. There are basically no crops grown anywhere in the state.

The pretty areas are VERY expensive and have massive congestion from tourists during the brief summer. The affordable areas have serious disadvantages like no water, constant wind, bitter cold, etc.
I should also mention that they hate Texans even more than Californians.
I love the Star Valley and Jackson County but you can't really live there unless you are really rich and buy a vacation place to use part of the year.

[Rick Potter]

Not sure of 'farmland' either. most is 'ranch land'. I have a relative there that bought 40 acres or so, and his biggest problem is water. He owns shares in the water collective, but getting it is always a battle. The old timers were used to using his share, and don't want to give it up. He has cattle, but when he doesn't get his share of the water it is very dicey.

Cattle raising is sure a different thing, depending on where you live. Another relative has 300 acres, plus 1,000 more under lease in Nebraska. He says it takes 11 acres to raise one cow in Nebraska, and 11 cows per acre in Illinois.

[Harold Wright]

I spent 3 years in Cheyenne 58-61 courtesy of the USAF. There were 2 seasons, winter & Frontier Week.

[Adam Merritt]

First thanks for all the replies! I should clarify when I said farmland, I'm not looking to actually farm. We are looking to have a few horses to ride, and a couple of cows (2 dairy, 1-2 for beef). I am an Infrastructure/Solutions Architect by trade, so I completely understand the limits and potentials of internet circuits. I won't consider a 4G or Satellite service as my primary connection. Ideally, I'd like to pay and have fiber run to my place, but I need to make sure the local ISP will allow that. I have a lead on a few possibilities, but that is a preference (what I have now) versus a requirement. We spend a good bit of time in Ohio as well, but do understand this will be colder. We have been looking at a few places in the northeast, around Sundance, maybe as far in as Gillette.

[Adam Merritt]

As a 10-year telecommuter...absolutely do not buy anything without rock solid high speed internet. Satellite, 4G, etc will not cut it. Satellite latency will be an issue and satellite and 4G, caps will be an issue. There are other wireless services and their reliability will be heavily dependent on the (likely small business) ownership. Even rural DSL can be horrendously unreliable as it may be using 60-70 year old wire infrastructure. Seriously. Someone from Frontier told me the section of cable they replaced once to fix mine at my old place had a date code in the early 1950's.

You are spot on. That is why it is the number one requirement. I could use one of our XenDesktops to help negate the bandwidth/lag, but it is far from ideal. Whatever I do will likely be a large drop in speed. I have fiber to my garage with 150/150 service right now. I talked with one ranch developer and they have a few owners who have fiber ran in to the property, so I'm following up on that lead. One of the local ISPs said they would run fiber anywhere you want, as long as you're willing to pay, but I haven't found anywhere suitable in their service area. I have a feeling this will be a long search, but I have no reason to rush.

[Adam Merritt]

I have satellite internet and it is flawless (no data caps anymore)

Who are you using? Just out of curiosity, as I didn't know any of them provided unlimited service.