Havre, Montana
This tiny town in Hill County lost three major stores in 2018 alone — Kmart, Sears Hometown Stores, and Herberger’s — and shut down its Holiday Village Mall, displacing hundreds of employees. According to The Havre Herald’s series “Is Havre Dying or Evolving?” residents were shaken by the string of closures, despite the area’s relatively diverse economy. While the median household income in this area is $48,294 dollars, unemployment and poverty rates in this area are both higher than the state average. The Havre Herald, which went out of business a couple of years later, predicted that Montana’s high quality of life and the proliferation of remote work would help the town of Havre weather a difficult transition.
Havre, Montana
Kalifornsky, Alaska
Located in the Kenai Peninsula Borough, this census-designated place of approximately 8,100 people is primarily supported by the oil and gas industry, similar to that of the rest of the state of Alaska. Alaska, on the other hand, has lost thousands of jobs in recent years as oil companies such as BP relocate to areas with better prospects. Timber and fishing are two of Kalifornsky’s other major industries. Houses in Kalifornsky are extremely expensive, even though the median household income is a respectable $88,984. There are no libraries or post offices in Kalifornsky, which is another disadvantage.
Kalifornsky, Alaska