Non-American chipping in here: based on my travels of the western US, I've been wondering why Wyoming doesn't pop up more often as a FIRE destination. Why?
- relatively nice weather, not a lot of rain (that would be a big plus for me)
- close to the Rockies and lots of other outdoor adventures
- most cities are flat and relatively small, so you can use your bike a lot
- essentially 0 taxes
- I would say LCOL: things were cheap there, much cheaper than in Colorado for example.
If I were looking for a place to retire in Wyoming, I'd probably start with Laramie. It has a university, which means that it also has places in which to get good coffee and craft beer (why those are not on your list beats me, really), a more diverse population and a bit more culture than other places, while still having a small-town feel. If Wikipedia is to be believed, Laramie has been voted one of the best places to retire to at some point: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laramie,_Wyoming
When I hear about Laramie, WY, the first thing that comes to my mind is the name Matthew Shepard. It may be different there, now, but I would be hesitant to move there especially if I were not white and not straight. My wife and I tend to prefer places that are a little less red than Wyoming. After all, it's where Chick Deney is from.
Of course, the mountains in Wyoming are world class, amazingly beautiful, and definitely worth a visit, but to live there, I'm not so sure we would feel comfortable. I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut. I might end up like Matt Sheperd, dead on the side of the road, if the people in Laramie found out I was a socialist.
For someone like you, @JJNL, coming from the Netherlands, which I always think of as one of the most liberal places on earth, Wyoming might be a bit of culture shock for you...
Well, like I said, I'm not an American and I only spent a few days in Laramie (and couple of weeks in Wyoming and surrounds in total), so I may be horribly wrong. But here's my 2 cents about this:
- Yes, Wyoming is a red state. I am not only Dutch, but also a social democrat - what you would call an actual socialist, not just a perceived one. And I have 2 sets of married gay uncles, while one half of each couple is active in a church (protestant and what we call Old-Catholic respectively). I have not kept this under wraps. Maybe I haven't spent enough time there, but I would say people in Wyoming are no more or less liberal than people in a lot of small towns in Colorado, or Montana, or inland Washington state for that matter. I've met rather a lot of people who didn't agree with me politically, but nobody has threatened violence. Of course, I've never had the delight of meeting a drunk Republican uncle for Thanksgiving dinner, but the prevailing attitude to me seemed to be more along the lines of 'live and let live'.
- I know about Matthew Shepard. However, that happened more than 15 years ago - and only once. Laramie has actually put some effort in preventing a reoccurrence, I understand. Also, there seem to be reasons to have some doubts about whether this was purely a hate crime or not - we may never know for sure, I reckon. And assuming it was a hate crime, I think it would be wrong to assume that this could not have happened anywhere else in the USA - I know attitudes are evolving, but I am willing to bet there are also more than enough gay-fearing bastards in towns like Fort Collins, CO. My opinion - which of course you may discount as I don't live in the US - is that Laramie was unlucky in this respect.
- Lastly: imho, what turned Colorado blue is an influx of liberals from elsewhere. This is already happening around Jackson Hole (WY). Why not the whole state, in due course?
About the culture shock: not especially - at least not unexpectedly so. Let's say the whole of the US is in some respects weird when viewed through Dutch eyes. Also, the Netherlands is not the 100% tolerant liberal paradise progressive Americans tend to think it is. Sadly, anti-gay violence also happens right around the corner from where I live in Amsterdam.