Concentrated Ownership, Amenity Migration, and Community Change in the Rural U.S.

Across the American West, amenity rich areas have been grappling with population growth, economic shifts, and associated community impacts. Amenity migration, the movement of wealthy suburban and urban individuals to rural areas for the natural amenities and slower paced life, has contributed to much of the change in amenity rich rural places. However, recently, a new process has begun occurring simultaneously with amenity migration. New high net worth (HNW) individuals have been purchasing large parcels of land, often through the acquisition of multiple ranches that are thousands of acres. Little is known about how these new HNW owners impact the places they purchase land in. This project explores how residents of a rural county in Southwest Montana are perceiving, experiencing, and responding to increased HNW ownership in their county.