Do You Believe the Rich are Running the Poor Out of Wyoming?

There's a new story that has been making its way around the net that theorizes that the rich are taking over Wyoming. That begs the question do you really believe that the rich are running the poor out of Wyoming?

The Daily Beast did a story about how billionaires are turning Wyoming into a gated community. The full article is definitely worth a read, but I'll summarize. It's based off a study we shared late last year about how Teton County has extended its lead as the richest county in America. It branches off from that to draw from a book called Billionaire Wilderness: The Ultra-Wealthy and the Remaking of the American West. The author spent 5 years in Teton County.

You can check out Bloomberg's rankings of the richest counties if you'd like to see the data for yourself. But, I believe this is more than just a Jackson issue. Let's not forget the new celebrities who now own a ranch in Cody.

It's easy to jump to the conclusion that the theory is correct that the rich are making it harder for the less rich to live in Wyoming. I'm not ready to make that jump. I looked at Best Places which ranks just about every city and state in America for cost of living. If you look at Wyoming as a whole, we still rank below the national average for cost of living.

How affordable we are also depends on where you're coming from. A California Movers website believes that Wyoming is extremely affordable. Feel free to laugh out loud at that one.

I want to state clearly that I love Cody and also Jackson and would argue they are among the most beautiful cities in America and I've never had a bad encounter with anyone there. They have been completely friendly to me and my family and we never felt unwelcome. But, there is some real data here to consider.

What do you think? Is this accurate or an incorrect misconception?