Globally renowned as Lewis and Clark country and a hub of Western art, Great Falls’ low cost of living and skilled workforce fuel tech growth

By Samuel Boudreau and Martina Pansze

Great Falls is the capital of a region of North-Central Montana known as the Golden Triangle for its bountiful wheat harvests. The Golden Triangle was named one of 52 Places to Love in 2021 by the New York Times alongside The Llanos, Colombia; Dakar, Senegal; and El Camino de Santiago, Spain. Underneath the region’s famous big sky, a long list of business assets makes it fertile ground for tech companies. 

Population: 58,434 (2019)

Nickname: The Electric City

Founded: 1884 

Area: 22.26 square miles

Median rent: $729

Median home value: $205,000

Unemployment rate: 2.8 (May 2019)

Nearby towns: Dutton, Fort Benton, Choteau, Helena, Conrad, Augusta

Great Falls is Montana’s third largest city after Billings and Missoula with a population of 60,000. Its diverse economy is driven by advanced manufacturing, business services, agricultural technology, and the nearby Malmstrom Air Force Base.

The city was named for a series of five waterfalls on the upper Missouri River basin that took Lewis and Clark’s Corp of Discovery 31 days to portage. Great Falls earned the nickname ‘The Electric City’ due to its multiple hydroelectric dams including Montana’s first, the Black Eagle Dam built in 1890.

Great Falls is one of Montana’s most central cities, sitting 1.5 hours from Helena, 3 hours from Bozeman, 2.75 hours from Missoula, and 4 hours from Billings. It is the closest U.S. Metro to Calgary and Alberta, and boasts close ties to Canadian businesses. According to a CNN report, Great Falls also has one of the shortest commutes in the country with an average of just 14.2 minutes.

The city boasts a strong arts, music, and history scene. During the turn of the 20th Century, Great Falls was home to famed cowboy painter Charlie Russell and remains a vibrant hub of Western art to this day. With 19 art and history museums,  Great Falls has the most museums per capita in Montana.

For adventure-seekers, Great Falls offers myriad opportunities for outdoor recreation. The city sits just two hours from Glacier National Park, but residents seeking immediate outdoor fun can kayak and float the Missouri River or shred powder at Showdown Montana in less-than-a-minute lines. There are 57 official parks within Great Falls and a robust trail system, the pinnacle of which is the 56-mile River’s Edge Trail skirting the town’s riverfront.

Doing Business in Great Falls

Affordability

The cost of living in Great Falls is 89.7% of the national average and the cost of doing business is 92% of the national average, compared to Bozeman and Missoula at 121.6% and 104.4% respectively. AdvisorSmith’s Cost of Living Index recently named Great Falls as one of the Most Affordable Metros in The West alongside Roswell, NM, Twin Falls, ID, and Idaho Falls, ID.

“We are not a boom-bust community,” said Jolene Schalper, Senior VP of the Great Falls Development Authority and Head of their Business Development Team. “Great Falls has always enjoyed stability and predictability in our economy.” 

The Development Authority works closely with startups and companies looking to relocate to provide personalized support through their transition. 

Over the past few years, the Development Authority partnered with contracted companies in a push to earn a spot on the affordability index and become more fertile for economic growth. 

“We have a great tax base and work hard to keep it that way,” said Schalper.

A former Missoula resident, Schalper chose to return to Great Falls to take her career and family to the next level. “I had a good career in Missoula and advancement opportunities, but there were more opportunities for me in Great Falls and I could buy a house sooner.”

The median house price costs $349,900 in Missoula and $585,000 in Bozeman. Compared to the median home value of $205,000 for Great Falls, affordability is a no-brainer for young professionals looking to set roots.

Low and stable real estate prices extend to the city’s office space landscape. The Great Falls Development Authority keeps a database of available sites and buildings in the region, including space in the AgriTech and Innovation Park.

Located along the I-15 Canamex Corridor between Calgary and Salt Lake City, Great Falls has plenty of travel and transportation options with an airport and access to the BNSF railway system. The Great Falls AgriTech Park was the first Montana industrial rail park to earn the BNSF Certified Site designation. 

Business and Technology Services

Great Falls lives up to its nickname as the ‘Electric City’ in terms of robust broadband infrastructure. 

The outlying area, including towns such as Conrad and Augusta, have invested in their fiber to support a high-tech economic foundation. The region is served by six providers and 100% of businesses or residences can secure fixed-line service. As highlighted amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, reliable and affordable connectivity is also a pillar to a community’s education, government, and healthcare functions. 

The region’s fiber routes flow into a former call center in downtown Great Falls that has been renovated into a 4-story ‘plug in and play’ connectivity hub backed up with generator power. The infrastructure will connect to a newly-announced coworking space in downtown Great Falls, the plans for which will be unveiled at the Great Falls Development Authority’s Ignite Great Falls 2021 event on Jan. 22nd.                      

Great Falls’ broadband availability is thanks in large part to telecommunications firm Vision Net, which operates Montana’s largest internet network. Vision Net was founded in Great Falls in 1995 by five telephone companies to provide advanced distance learning and internet services to rural Montana schools. Their 5,000 mile network connects to hubs in Seattle, Denver, and Chicago.

Vision Net now has offices in Billings, Missoula, and Helena. The company also offers business services, cloud network infrastructure, and IT support out of their Great Falls headquarters.

National investment and finance house D.A. Davidson’s back office is also headquartered in Great Falls. The employee-owned financial services holding company was founded in 1935 and has expanded to locations across Montana and the U.S.

D.A. Davidson’s Great Falls-based technology team attracts a variety of professionals to help the company’s clients navigate an evolving finance landscape.

Senior Vice President, Financial Advisor, and Branch Manager for D.A. Davidson Lynda Morin describes Great Falls as “an affordable place to live, with a very strong school system and a lot of amenities that make it a wonderful place to raise a family.”

An FCR call center, which outsources live agents and business process solutions, is also a significant employer with over 300 employees. The call center opened their first non-Oregon site in Great Falls four years ago and has since expanded to Butte, MT, and two international locations.

Manufacturing

Founded in 1998, Great Falls-based advanced manufacturing firm Loenbro is actually a suite of companies spanning the construction, inspection, plumbing/heating, and electrical spaces. The company works primarily in oil and gas. Their other office locations include Epping, ND; Casper, WY; and Midland, TX. Loenbro has seen huge growth in the past few years, bringing hundreds of jobs to Great Falls. 

ADF International, a Quebec high-tech steel fabrication company, commonly employs recent graduates from the Great Falls College MSU welding program—the first US college to offer duel certifications in US and Canadian welding—and brings other outside advanced trade workers to partake in projects such as The Atlanta Falcons’ flowering stadium.

Agricultural Technology

As a point of the ‘Golden Triangle,’ Great Falls has significant access to wheat, barley, and pulse crops including peas, lentils, and chickpeas. Due to the local cultivation of wheat and barley, the most technologically advanced malt processing plant in North America was built by Malteurop in northeast Great Falls in the early 2000’s. The majority of Montana’s 92 breweries receive malt from the plant.

Schalper says that the city’s agricultural resources have allowed Great Falls to be on the precipice of bridging the meat and vegetable protein-based industries together. Global food corporation Cargill, who constructed omega-3 canola fish food to stabilize the salmon harvest industry, worked with local farmers in Great Falls to trial their product.

Water is also an important resource for Great Falls. Giant Springs, the largest freshwater spring in the U.S., encompasses almost 14 miles of the Missouri River shoreline and has a consistent temperature of 54 degrees. This pristine water is protected under robust spring water rights, ensuring significant water quality for future generations.

Education and Workforce

Great Falls has two higher education institutions that prove to be an invaluable asset to the local workforce. The University of Providence is a Catholic university that offers four-year degrees as well as entirely-remote graduate programs. UP has strong Computer Science, Business Administration, and Organizational Leadership departments.

Montana State University’s Great Falls College offers a variety of advanced trade degrees. Great Falls College offers 2-year technical programs including Health Information Technology, Information Systems Support, Network Support and Security, Renewable Energy and Industrial Technician, Computer Programming, and Cybersecurity.

For those looking to advance in real estate, The Twilite Technology Center offers the only state-approved real estate school teaching broker pre-licensing and new sales classes in a classroom setting.

Chmura published a Labor Supply Study analyzing Great Falls’ workforce in 2017. Their research found that the region has an experienced and skilled workforce, with over 60% of the labor force attaining a post-secondary education. 

Military Presence

Malmstrom Air Force base, formerly the Great Falls Army Air Base, sits on the east side of Great Falls in Cascade County. It is home to the 341st Missile Wing of Air Force Global Strike Command, a technologically advanced, combat-ready force providing strategic nuclear deterrence and global strike operations to the federal government. 

The Montana Air National Guard, originally known as Gore Field, sits west of downtown and is part of the Great Falls International Airport. The base was originally used as the point for aircraft flights to the Soviet Union using the Alaska-Siberian Route in 1942 until the duties were transferred to the Great Falls Army Air base in 1945. 

The regular influx of active duty and civilian employees generates huge economic growth and provides the Great Falls community a buffer from recessions through increased local spending and stable government salaries, pensions, and other benefits.

Lieutenant at Malmstrom and Seattle native Justin Wright describes Great Falls as having a very robust economy with vibrant commerce and quality schools. 

“It’s a neat place to be in Montana,” he said. “The culture is really hip.”

Wright is also the military liaison for the Great Falls LGBTQ+ Center, an organization providing outreach and support for the queer community in the Great Falls region. When speaking to the diverse backgrounds of the military base and Great Falls community, Wright said, “You know, 4,000 people aren't from here. We are from big cities, little cities, we're from all over... we've served in all corners of the world.”

Amenities and Fun

An After-Work Haven

Any business or startup looking to relocate or establish themselves needs a place to host events or grab a drink—an aspect of business life with no shortage in Great Falls.

The city has a burgeoning craft brewery ecosystem, including Mighty Mo Brewing Company downtown; Harvest Moon Brewery, which uses water from the nearby aquifer; and Black Eagle Brewery with views of the river. The city’s newest edition is Jeremiah Johnson Brewing Company, founded in 2018.

No trip to Great Falls would be complete without a drink at the infamous Sip ‘n’ Dip Lounge, where swimmers donned in mermaid tails perform live in water tanks. The quirky Tiki bar often has live music by local legend "Piano" Pat Sponheim.

For a farm-to-table experience, 5th and Wine has been serving food from local ranchers and farmers since 2015 after starting out as a wine warehouse and deli in 2012.

Since 2018, Schalper has owned KellerGeist pub theater, which boasts the largest German beer selection in the Pacific Northwest with around 43 German beers rotating weekly. KellerGeist also serves craft cocktails using the best local ingredients Montana has to offer.

For late night cravings, The Block offers a selection of creative sandwiches, nachos, and sides until 11pm. After a grilled cheese, you might end up at one of the oldest watering holes in town, Club Cigar, for a casual end to the evening. 

Irish/American fusion restaurant The Celtic Cowboy is connected to The Historic Hotel Arvon in downtown Great Falls.

Arts & Culture

Great Falls is considered the Western Art Capital of the World. Every year the town puts on a Western Art Week with around 14 shows and 800 artists, ranging from live music performances to interpretive dancing to watercolor and oil paintings. 

In the late 18th and early 19th Centuries, famed Western artist Charles M. Russell lived and worked in Great Falls, crafting over 2000 paintings of cowboys, landscapes, Native Americans, and wildlife. The C.M. Russell Museum displays works by the famous western artist and annually hosts The Russell, a three-day auction and art experience to benefit the museum. 

Built on a bluff along the Missouri River, the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center is known as the ‘crown jewel’ of the Lewis and Clark Trail. The museum features an exhibit hall, digital escape room, and regular screenings and events.

The Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians is a band of the Chippewa Indians headquartered in Great Falls, Montana. Since winning a long fight for federal recognition in December of 2019, members of the Little Shell Tribe are working to establish a land base. The Tribe has a robust Little Shell Tribal Traditional Language Program to preserve the Chippewa, Cree and Michif dialects with learning resources, visual and audio lessons, and an IOS/Android Mobile App.

For music lovers, the Great Falls Symphony is a public staple. Led by music director Grant Harville, the symphony has been performing safely through free concerts during the COVID-19 pandemic. In October 2020, the symphony featured black composers in an online String Orchestra Music of Black Composers. The Great Falls Youth Orchestra program includes 65 students from eight local schools. 

The First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park is a historical site where high-plains hunters drove buffalo herds off a cliff for at least a thousand years before colonization. Hunters from the Salish, Pend d’ Oreille, Kootenai, Shoshone, Bannock, Nez Perce, Blackfoot Confederacy, Crow, Gros Ventre, and Assiniboine tribes all travelled to stampede buffalo off the mile-long sandstone jump cliff. The park has a visitors center, trails, and an archaeological site.

Northwest of Great Falls along the Missouri is Fort Benton, a small community that includes the historic site of Old Fort Benton, one of the first settler sites in Montana.

Giant Springs State Park is just outside of Great Falls city limits and is home to one of the largest freshwater springs in the country. With 14 miles of shoreline along the Missouri River and over 30 miles of paved and singletrack trails, the park is popular with hikers, fishers, and birdwatchers.

Also popular with birders is The Freezout Lake Wildlife Management Area, a prairie and wetland ecosystem popular for bird breeding and migration. Best visited in the Spring, Freezout Lake can see congregations of hundreds of thousands of waterfowl during migration season and over 200 species of birds have been spotted in the area.

For more resources to plan your trip, check out our guide to visiting Great Falls.

About the Publisher:

Launched in 2014, the Montana High Tech Business Alliance is a nonpartisan nonprofit association of highly-engaged high-tech and manufacturing companies and affiliates creating high-paying jobs in Montana. For more information, visit MTHighTech.org or subscribe to our biweekly newsletter.

About the Authors:

Samuel Boudreau is the Writer and Digital Content Coordinator Intern at the MHTBA. He graduated from Middlebury College with a degree in Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies and Psychology and is currently pursuing his MFA at The University of Montana while teaching Introductory and Intermediate Writing Courses.

Martina Pansze is the Communications Director for the Montana High Tech Business Alliance. She graduated from Whitman College with a degree in Film and Media Studies, and has worked as a freelance journalist and grant writer.