Red States Are Booming With Babies While Liberal Cities Collapse – Why Keeping Montana and Gallatin County Red Is Critical

While liberal cities across America continue to struggle with crime, homelessness, and an exodus of families and businesses, red states are quietly thriving — especially when it comes to the most important measure of a healthy future: children.

New data from the Centers for Disease Control and the Institute for Family Studies shows a clear national divide. In 2023–2025, the states with the highest fertility rates are overwhelmingly red states: South Dakota (2.01 births per woman), Texas (1.81), Utah (1.80), and others. By contrast, the bottom ten states for fertility are all blue: Vermont (1.30), Oregon (1.35), California (1.48), and more.

At the same time, Americans are voting with their feet. Red states gained hundreds of thousands of new residents through domestic migration in 2025, while blue states lost hundreds of thousands. Families are leaving high-tax, high-crime, anti-family environments in cities like San Francisco, Chicago, Portland, and New York for more affordable, safer, family-friendly red states.

Even here in Montana, the pattern is visible — but it is fragile.

Gallatin County (home to Bozeman) still shows strong natural population growth, with 1,141 births compared to just 686 deaths in the most recent data — a net gain of +455 residents from births alone. By comparison, Missoula County has seen births and deaths nearly equal for several years running, resulting in essentially flat natural growth — a trend much closer to the decline seen in liberal cities nationwide.

Yet Bozeman is not immune to the forces dragging down other blue-leaning urban areas. A strong progressive voting bloc in downtown Bozeman, combined with Democrat majorities on both the City and County Commissions, has already shifted local policy leftward. The 2023 redistricting further tilted many Gallatin legislative districts toward Democrats, making it statistically harder for conservatives to hold ground.

This is exactly how the “doom loop” begins. Liberal policies — soft-on-crime approaches, skyrocketing housing costs, business-hostile regulations, and cultural messages that devalue traditional family life — slowly erode the conditions families need to thrive.

To prevent Bozeman from turning into Missoula — or worse, Portland or Seattle — we must keep Montana and Gallatin County red.

Red policies and red values create the environment where families choose to stay and have children: limited government, strong rule of law, lower taxes, and respect for life and personal responsibility.



The data is clear. Families are choosing red states and red values nationwide. As conservatives in the Gallatin Valley, our job is to make sure Bozeman and Gallatin do not follow the same path that has hollowed out so many other once-thriving cities.

The June 2 Republican primary is your chance to push back. Support candidates who stand for limited government, public safety, fiscal responsibility, and pro-family policies. Stay engaged with the Bozeman Study Commission. Make your voice heard at every level.

Our children — and the future of Bozeman and Gallatin County — depend on it.