[gen220]

Missoula is not really the rural part of America that the parent comment is talking about. While Missoula’s population “feels” small at 75k, it’s the second largest metropolitan area (110k-ish) in the state, which has a population of a million.

I’ve been following news of this sort closely during COVID as a personal curiosity. Most of the affected towns are either (1) within 1-2 hour drive of a major metro center (e.g. northwestern CT) (2) already a major vacation destination prior to COVID (Jackson Hole, WY and friends) (3) a top-3 metro area in the state. If you check more than one box, the situation is more dramatic.

Many of these places were already changing prior to COVID, but, as in other domains, COVID has accelerated an already latent process.

Basically, Missoula’s example does not contradict their claim.

But yes, remote workers are more likely to move to a place like Missoula than a place like Philipsburg, MT.