Wyoming city guide
Moving From California to Sheridan, WY
A Bighorn Mountain town with a genuine main street and the most desirable non-resort housing market in Wyoming.
Housing comparison
California versus Sheridan, side by side
- Median home value
- $725,800
- $340,600
- Median annual property tax
- $5,114
- $2,022
- Median monthly cost, owners with a mortgage
- $2,844
- $1,754
- Population
- 39.0 million (state)
- 19,285
Figures are US Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020 to 2024 5-Year Estimates for the city place. Property tax and monthly cost rows cover owner-occupied units with a mortgage, so they describe what current owners pay, not what a new buyer would pay at today's prices. California column is the statewide baseline used across this site.
Why Californians look at Sheridan
Sheridan is the Wyoming town that most often converts California visitors into California sellers. It sits at the foot of the Bighorn Mountains on Interstate 90 in the north of the state, and it has something most small western towns lost decades ago, which is an intact, occupied, working main street.
That desirability shows in the numbers. At an ACS median home value of $340,600, Sheridan is the most expensive of Wyoming's non-resort cities, and it is still less than half the California statewide median.
The town balances a real hospital, a well-regarded community college, and mountain access within minutes, which is an unusual combination at a population of about 19,000.
Sheridan fits you if
- You want mountain access and a walkable historic downtown without Jackson Hole pricing.
- You want a hospital and a college in a town small enough to know your neighbors.
- You are retiring and want Wyoming's tax treatment with better weather than the state's high plains cities.
- Billings, Montana, roughly two hours north, is close enough for larger-city services and a bigger airport.
Look elsewhere if
- You need a broad job market. Sheridan's economy is small and concentrated.
- You want frequent nonstop flights. Air service is limited and regional.
- You need advanced specialty medicine locally rather than in Billings or Denver.
- You want the lowest possible purchase price in Wyoming. Casper offers considerably more house per dollar.
Housing in Sheridan
The historic neighborhoods near downtown hold well-kept older homes on tree-lined streets, which is the inventory most out-of-state buyers want and the reason those blocks clear quickly. Newer subdivisions sit south and west of town, and acreage properties climb toward the Bighorns.
The ACS median annual real estate tax for mortgaged owners is $2,022 and the median monthly owner cost with a mortgage is $1,754. Both are the highest of the six Wyoming cities profiled here, which reflects the higher values rather than a heavier tax structure.
Because Sheridan is a genuine destination market, competition for the best in-town homes is real. Being able to close quickly with California proceeds is a meaningful advantage here.
Work and the local economy
Sheridan Memorial Hospital and Sheridan College are the largest institutional employers, and between them they give the town a professional workforce and a steady payroll.
The wider region has historically drawn income from Powder River Basin coal and energy, from ranching, and from tourism moving between the Bighorns and Yellowstone. Energy employment carries the same cyclical exposure it does elsewhere in Wyoming.
There is a small but visible population of remote professionals and retirees who moved here for the setting and brought their income with them. That is the most common path for a California household.
Climate and setting
At about 3,900 feet, Sheridan is noticeably lower than Cheyenne, Laramie, or Casper, which means milder winters and a longer growing season than most of the state.
The Bighorn front to the west creates occasional chinook conditions that clear snow quickly, but it also generates strong downslope wind events. Winters are still real winters, with snow from October into April.
Summers are warm and dry, with cool nights, and the mountains stay accessible from late spring into fall for hiking, fishing, and hunting.
Getting around, care, and schools
- Commercial air
- Sheridan County Airport (SHR) offers limited regional service. Billings Logan International, about two hours north, is the larger option.
- Highways
- Interstate 90 and US 14 into the Bighorns.
- Hospital
- Sheridan Memorial Hospital, founded in 1922.
- Public schools
- Sheridan County School District 2.
- Higher education
- Sheridan College.
- Elevation
- About 3,900 feet.
The trade-offs
- This is the priciest non-resort market in Wyoming, and the best downtown-adjacent homes do not sit long.
- Regional energy employment carries boom-bust exposure even though the town itself feels stable.
- Advanced specialty care typically means traveling to Billings or Denver.
- Winter isolation is real. Interstate 90 and mountain roads close during storms.
Other Wyoming towns people compare
Cheyenne
Wyoming's capital and largest city, 100 miles from Denver, with the steadiest employment base in the state and no state income tax.
Casper
The state's second largest city, with the widest housing inventory and the lowest prices of Wyoming's real towns, tied to the energy cycle.
Laramie
A university town at 7,200 feet, younger and more walkable than the rest of Wyoming, with a single-employer economy.
Cody
Yellowstone's eastern gateway, with a tourism economy, a strong hospital for its size, and the highest home values of the six.
Buffalo
A quiet town of about 4,600 at the foot of the Bighorns, chosen by retirees who want mountains without resort pricing.
Statewide figures, tax detail, and the full Wyoming picture are on the Wyoming page. Compare property, income, and sales tax across all 49 destination states on Taxes, and see where Californians are actually moving on Stats.
Sources
- US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020 to 2024 5-Year Estimates, table B25077 (median home value), retrieved via Census Reporter, September 3, 2026.
- US Census Bureau, ACS 2020 to 2024 5-Year Estimates, table B25103 (median real estate taxes paid, owner-occupied units with a mortgage), retrieved September 3, 2026.
- US Census Bureau, ACS 2020 to 2024 5-Year Estimates, table B25088 (median selected monthly owner costs, owner-occupied units with a mortgage), retrieved September 3, 2026.
- US Census Bureau, ACS 2020 to 2024 5-Year Estimates, table B01003 (total population), retrieved September 3, 2026.
- Sheridan Memorial Hospital, sheridanhospital.org.
- Sheridan College, sheridan.edu.
- NOAA National Weather Service Billings climate summaries for Sheridan, weather.gov.
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