here's a lovely line about averages take a
man and put one of his feet in a bucket of ice and the other in a bucket of boiling
water and on average he's comfortable on average Jackson Hole Wyoming is
a really comfortable place to live but as Ben Tracy found it does
help if you have a lot of money Jackson Wyoming is often called the last of the
old west its Cowboy culture runs so deep it even rides along on the morning cup of coffee and while
some of the best things in life here may be free you pay a steep price to live in this Valley known
as Jackson Hole I love this community and I love the place where I live but there is always that
question in the back your mind of are you going to be able to survive here Elizabeth Hutchings
moved here from Massachusetts in 2018. for the first seven months the only place she could afford
to live was in her van between living in your van your car in various Apartments how many places
have you lived here in four years let's see pan eight or nine eight or nine and in a lot of places
there's been that question of oh this is home but for for how long Teton County is now home to a
divide bigger than those mountains for which it's named it is the wealthiest and most unequal in
America the average income here is three hundred eighteen thousand dollars and the average single
family home price is now more than 5.5 million dollars that's left a food pantry overwhelmed by
demand staring at six million dollar Town Homes Rising across the street the level of wealth you
see in the level of disparity that you see I mean some people have more money you could spend in
10 lifetimes there's a saying in town that you either have three homes or three jobs many workers
have been forced to cheaper towns nearly 40 miles away over sometimes treacherous roads Hutchings
works at a local restaurant and when we met last summer she shared this basement apartment with
a roommate since then she's had to move again if you're spending so much of your time driving
or so much your time working just trying to survive I think everybody has that question of
is it worth it this area here is actually one of the holdovers in town that I imagine in five
years even will look very different Yale School of the environment Professor Justin Farrell
grew up in Wyoming and is author of the book billionaire Wilderness he says the middle
class here has been completely hollowed out inequality is an issue playing out across
the country is it uniquely bad here it is uniquely bad actually it's nation-leading bad if
you're making forty fifty sixty thousand dollars you're likely living in your car or you're only
leaving 45 minutes away for most people it's becoming unlivable the reason he says is that the
ultra wealthy find Teton County very livable their arrival here accelerated during covid the desire
for multi-million dollar Mountain escapes has created a new land rush Americans have always
looked West it's always been the load star of American identity and probably Jackson Hole with
the cowboy image and the Tetons it's I think what makes it so special for so many people on top
of that it's functionally a tax Haven so Wyoming does not have a state income tax it doesn't have a
corporate tax so it's a really great place to park your money legally all that wealth is cleverly
disguised behind a facade of pickup trucks and jeans it's almost as if the landmark Watering Hole
The Million Dollar Cowboy Bar knew what was coming this place is really unique because it allows
people to engage in this personal transformation to become a normal person they rely on the
Western stereotypes to do that and so you have these millionaires even billionaires dressing in
Wrangler jeans dressing down trying to avoid any sort of class indicators that might make them look
wealthy and I think it's really well intentioned Phil hartl is a private wealth advisor who
moved here from high tax California good girl he and his wife Monica relocated to Jackson
in late 2020. it was really about living in a different kind of place and really being
closer to Nature and so it's tremendous to be a part of that I get a sense that you really
do have a respect for the place and I don't want this to sound rude but I assume you're aware that
some people here think you're part of the problem oh of course absolutely how does that feel it's
my responsibility to show them that you know I understand that we came here more recently we're
covered babies right but at the same time if you approach it with a regard and a respect and a
listening and at the end of the day like anywhere they judge you as an individual what kind of
person you are hurdle says he's planning to donate a third of his tax savings to local non-profits
and Charities Teton County is one of the most philanthropic communities in America am I part
of the problem sure I am you know I'm one of the people that came in who was able to buy a house at
a marked up price and I'm very grateful for that but again I also see that I have an obligation as
a result for Elizabeth Hutchings she says she just wants to make sure people like her the horsepower
that keeps this Cowboy town running can also call it home if we don't find a way to create a
more Equitable society and to support people with housing and Human Services you won't have an
economy you won't have dozens of nice restaurants to eat at do you look down the road and do you
see yourself here in 10 years I don't care if I'm here in 10 years but I want other people
to have a better quality of life in 10 years
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