I think it's good that places like Wyoming still exist. Not every place on earth needs to be ridden with civilization.

It's nice to know that everyone in Wyoming already watched this in a day.

I've lived in Wyoming my whole life. We like it this way, empty. Like other comments have said, the vast emptiness and the ability to get lost is kind of amazing. Anyone can go be alone. It's one of the few places on the planet you can actually do that and it lends itself to being amazing.

As a Colorado transplant to Wyoming, I can say with absolute certainty no one in Wyoming thinks the differences between the two states are a bad thing.

i like the idea that the person overlooking this video just blinked at the same time and never saw it mess up

Screen blinking at 8:10 is kind of intense

The aerial town scene shown at 16:30-16:39 is actually...Pasadena, California. The main street through Pasadena is called "Colorado Boulevard" so maybe that's how you found the stock footage. 😄

Glad to see a video talking about my home of Colorado. But please do not say that Wyoming has mild weather. It is somehow much noticeably colder year round and the wind is absolutely insane on the plains of Wyoming. You also forgot to mention the housing crisis in Colorado. Many residents I know cannot even afford to own their own homes. A lot of us rent for ridiculous rates but can't move because we have nowhere else to go.

I used to live in Northern Colorado. Wyoming weather is a whole different animal. Not mild by any means

As a person who has lived in Wyoming their whole life, I can confirm that the weather hates us. One time, when I was fishing with my old man, it started snowing on us in the middle of June. We often joke that their are only 2 real seasons in Wyoming, Winter and Construction.

As someone who has visited all U.S states, Wyoming is definitely the most underrated.

Wyomingite here. All Im gonna say is that Wyoming is an extremely spiritual place and very native friendly. I used to live on the reservation and my Elders taught me a lot, and how the spirituality is so great and vast there. The biggest thing im gonna tell people, whatever energy you bring n give to the land, is what your goin to receive there. Keep that in mind.

As someone who has spent a lot of time in both states, wyoming is far colder and windier than colorado is. Wyoming also didn't have the massive gold rush that Colorado had, so there was no population boom like in colorado in the late 1800's and early 1900's. This allowed people to buy a lot of land for cattle ranching.

As a Northern Colorado resident I can confirm that as soon as you drive past the Wyoming border the wind wants to blow your car onto the other side of the highway. Temps are often 15-20 degrees colder in the winter as well. My experience is that two states have vastly different climates, with that of Colorado being much more hospitable.

I moved to Wyoming when I was 12. I lived there for many years. I got married, then divorced and then moved to Wisconsin. Wyoming is a very large empty state, but it's beauty will call you back. Nothing like seeing a Semi being picked up by the wind and flipped around and landing back on all of it's wheels. The winds are very strong around Douglas and Glenrock. It's just crazy. My favorite story about the weather is when I went on a picnic one afternoon up on Casper Mountain wearing shorts and a tank top, and I am throwing snowballs at my husband!

My memories of Wyoming stem from a mid May cross country road trip. Mid may, snow, and 6.5 hours of barely anything. It was eerie, yet it was beautiful to see.

I have lived in both Wyoming and Colorado and have traveled each state extensively. The weather and terrain might seem superficially similar, but they are actually very different. Wyoming's weather and terrain are much harsher than Colorado's. Colorado is like a lush tropical jungle compared to the cold, frozen desert of Wyoming. One trait they share is that both states are incredibly beautiful. *The Tetons are the most beautiful mountain range in the world.*

Most "major" towns in Wyoming (i say major meaning big by Wyoming standards) are roughly about 100 miles apart from each other because that is about how far a steam engine would go before it had to stop to refill on water. It is also why most towns are built on or near a water source.

I really appreciated that you talked about the definite advantages to an environment like Wyoming. As a native Los Angeleno, city life can most definitely get claustrophobic and ironic lonely at times. The great outdoors is such a cure to both problems.

Northern CO resident here that relocated from the middle of CO about 3yr ago. I'll say, we get a small sample of Wyomings weather, which is enough to keep us from going farther north. There are some amazingly beautiful parts of Wyoming, and the residents who can withstand the weather/wind are stronger than I am.

As a born and raised Wyomingite, we very much welcome visitors to our great state! You are very correct in saying we would like for our state not to become the next boom state like Colorado! The hospitality here is amazing wherever you go but we are a quiet bunch.

The presenter failed to mention that 85% of Colorado's population is situated along the front range. This is because the mountains create a break for the incoming storms, resulting in a six or seven mile wide swath from Fort Collins to Pueblo that is insulated from the worst of the storms coming in from the west. Wyoming mountains are not situated thusly, and therefore cannot provide a natural shelter for people living in the shadow of those mountains.

I'm a native Texan and I love my state but I also love hiking and camping and the rocky mountain states are my dream hiking scenery!

Amazing video!!! So informative, makes me want to visit both states. More videos like this please!

Born in Colorado. Went up to wyoming in 2017 to see the eclipse, and I was definitely impressed by how empty the place was. Glad to see a video explaining why!

I live in Cheyenne. This video has more than double the views than the entire population of Wyoming. I love it here because it is one of the only places in the world where nature in clearly still intact. The air is clean and the traffic jams don't exist. I like to watch deer eat my neighbors grass. HIgh populations shouldn't be the metric of a successful society. The people of Wyoming are hardworking, genuine, and kind. Feel free to visit

Loved this video. I would love videos from you just about every single state in the country.

This video is amazing. So cool! Really high quality and informative. Thank you!

As someone who lived in Wyoming, I would not call our climate "mild"

I'm a meteorologist in Cheyenne and I'll be real with you, mild isn't the right word for our weather. I like to call it Triple W. Wild, Wyoming, Weather. From winds that regularly gust over 40 MPH (I grew up in STL and never saw a High Wind Warning before. Now I'm in one every other day), temperatures that will get over 70 for a few days and then back down to freezing, we hit -36 and a wind chill of -60 this winter alone. Meanwhile Fort Collins is always nice comparatively. Sometimes I wish the station was down there so I could be warm

Geographic questions ive never thought about, but found interesting when you covered it. Awesome video. Thanks for teaching me something new ❤

Another point of note, Denver is on a North/South East/West grid system… except downtown. Which is situated diagonally. This is due to its mining town heritage and miners setting up base camps along the Platte River which runs diagonally through Denver.

I travelled from the UK and spent time on a Ranch west of Lovell towards bighorn lake. It was a real eye opener, as I have never experienced such vastness of place and at times being truly alone from other people. It was over 30 years ago and I was very young, but I will never forget it. Here in Europe, even in some isolated and sparse places you are never truly alone, but in Wyoming you can really step back to a time before industrialised population boom times, wonderful!

I am studying at the University of Wyoming. I have met a lot of people born and raised here. Never have I ever heard anyone wanting Wyoming to turn into something like Colorado. They just like things the way it is - wild.

I want to share that I watched this video right after you posted it last spring, all while hoping to make a move to Colorado from a different, southern state I’d prefer not to name. I moved here (to Denver) in August with my family! I work for one of the public colleges you mentioned. Thank you for this video. I feel like it slightly helped me better decide where to relocate to.

Amazing video, informative and well-produced.

I drove through Wyoming and went for the Tetons and stuff. It’s genuinely one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. The emptiness is eerie but powerful in a way.

From having lived and worked in both states, I'd say it's as simple as this. The southern half of the Rockies has tolerable winters, the northern half has brutal ones, and I put the line between the two at the state CO/WY border. I spent most of my time between those two states in Colorado, but it was only in Wyoming that I ever couldn't see my bright red gloved hand more than 6 inches from my eyes because of wild whiteout conditions, only in Wyoming did I get my 4x4 work truck stuck in sudden blizzards, only in Wyoming did I have to spend multiple nights under piles of blankets holding my terrified fiance, stuck on the side of I-80 because forecasted tolerable snowy conditions suddenly became whiteout ones. There's 556 miles of difference between Wyoming's northern border and Colorado's southern one, when you compare the weather averages from Sheridan, WY to Trinidad, CO, you have your answer.

Born in Colorado loved the mountains, but was raised from 5yrs old on in Wyoming, I live between two mountain ranges and I enjoy the small population throughout the state, however the Tetons, Yellowstone, Jackson area gets nearly a million visitors each year. It’s very congested and can take a couple hrs to travel two miles. Beautiful state. We like the small population

I lost it when he used Civilization icons for the resources on the map! Brilliant 👍

I lived in Wyoming until I was 10 and then Colorado until age 24. I remember being thrilled when we moved from Laramie to the Denver area, having always wanted to live in a big city. But now I appreciate the vast emptiness of Wyoming. Both states have a lot to offer.

Drove through Wyoming on a road trip once: white-out blizzard with black ice road conditions in early May, weather cleared to a pleasant spring drizzle and fields of flowers as soon as we crossed border into Montana. I no longer have questions about why nobody lives in Wyoming 😂

I grew up in Casper WY. I loved it. I would move back in a heartbeat if I could! ❤

One of the Denver stock clips you used is of my apartment building. I don't think I've ever been so genuinely surprised and shocked at a video that is so low-stakes, lol.

One part of this you didn't mention is the two states' early transportation histories. Because it's actually easier to cross Wyoming east-west than Colorado, Wyoming was on the main transcontinental route in the 19th century, while Colorado was off of it. Recognizing the importance of this, Denver city leaders paid to build a spur off the Transcontinental Railroad. Then in the 1950s, when the Interstate Highway System was being planned, I-70 was going to dead-end in Denver, but Dwight Eisenhower's wife happened to be from Colorado, so state leaders used her to lobby him for an extension through Colorado toward the West Coast. This was so hard to build (the Colorado Rockies are basically a wall), the last part of the interstate system to be built was in Colorado -- but it was built, and now a major coast-to-coast highway (effectively -- I-70 ends in Utah, but it runs right into I-15, which continues on to Vegas and L.A.) runs right through Denver. DIA is part of this, too -- its predecessor, Stapleton, had all the same locational advantages, but it would regularly get shut down by winter weather, limiting its growth potential. So the state made a major investment, a huge gamble really, in the only new large airport to be built in the US in the late 20th Century -- and it paid off. Bottom line, Denver and Colorado leaders have always just had a ... hustler mentality, I guess you could say? While Wyoming leaders ... I guess they just didn't care as much about money?

I was born in Colorado and I live in Wyoming with my grandparents (to help them out, mainly) for half the year in the Medicine Bow mountain range. It’s honestly my favorite part of the year. I love how away from it all it is and I spend way more time outside and appreciating the world around me. Even if I am just collecting/stacking wood or building/repairing fences for them 😂. I love both Wyoming and Colorado and I’m thankful to experience and enjoy all that they offer me.

My son graduated from USAFA last year and still lives and works in Colorado Springs. We are from Louisville Ky. It’s absolutely beautiful there but super expensive and crowded!

your channel is dope man good work

Been noticing a lot of render issues in your videos, feel like you’re rushing through these and giving yourself a tight schedule. Just know that your fans are willing to wait for good content ❤

Great video! As a native Coloradan, the comment about how we’ve literally never had a time where the majority of the population has been born in Colorado made me both laugh and cry. I love our state, but I do often envy the un-crowdedness of Wyoming. Great job!

Thanks for pointing out the settlers' skin color. It was extremely relevant in the presentation.

Interesting and informative. Excellent photography /drawings/map comparison job. Enabling viewers to better understand what the orator was describing.

Wyoming has a lot of residents who aren't interested in urbanizing their state. While they do welcome visitors, they kind of want to keep their state the way it is naturally and discourage any big change for their area. They want to cherish their environment and keep it isolated and quiet, and have nature take its course.

I was born in Denver, grew up in Cheyenne, lived in Fort Collins for several years, and now live Denver again. From my perspective, geographically and culturally, they might as well be different countries. Some thoughts for those that have never been to either: Fort Collins, being the closest major city to Cheyenne (30-45 minute drive), is tucked right against the mountain and is arguably one of the most beautiful modern towns in the world. Cheyenne on the other hand, sits in the middle of grass plains (not even remotely comparable to the geographic positioning of Fort Collins). The vibe of Cheyenne feels like a cross between an old western film and “Breaking Bad”, set in a conservative military town in the 70’s (albeit it still has a lot of charm and one of the best skateparks anywhere👀). Because of the geographic location, Cheyenne is brutally windy all year and often 10+ degrees colder than its closest neighbor Fort Collins. Everywhere from Fort Collins to Denver can get windy as well, but you can feel how starkly the geographic landscape/vibe changes when you cross that border into Wyoming (it baffles me how early settlers ever survived in Cheyenne). Cheyenne is positioned very close to a quasi-mountain area called “Vedauwoo”(a hidden treasure centrally(ish) located between Cheyenne, Laramie, and Fort Collins). However, you have to go at least an hour and a half west through Laramie to reach mountain landscapes (in Wyoming) that compare to what the entire front range of Colorado is built into. Once you get into the northern part of Wyoming, you’ll see some of the most gorgeous landscapes in the U.S. (some of which drastically differ from what you’ll see in Colorado, albeit similar). There’s also a rare abundance of wildlife due to the lack of population centers and even classic cowboys that live in those northern areas, who roam the plains/mountains all day on horses, drinking Budweiesser like water, and who barley use modern technology (straight out of old western films and these are some of the most badass people alive). However, much of what’s between Cheyenne and those northern areas is a vast dessert of arid nothingness with mountain views far into the horizon. Colorado on the otherhand, has a whole different world of stunning geographic attractions, and the major population centers are conveniently packed alongside everything. The cost of that though, is you usually have to venture a couple hours into the Colorado mountains to truly get away from people (unlike Wyoming). The farther south and/or west you venture into Colorado, you start to get into open nothingness territory as well (when driving between the major population areas and the small destination mountain towns), but it doesn’t have the same arid/dreary vibe as when you’re driving through Wyoming (north of Cheyenne). If you’ve never been to either state, the experience is really quite stark in contrast between the two states geographically and culturally (even/especially along the boarder towns/areas). Both states are beautiful and interesting in their own ways and so they’re equally worth exploring if you ever get the chance!

4:30 I'm literally planning to move to Fort Collins with my Aunt and Uncle while heavily speculating to move to Wyoming from there and was wondering where to start. This video was basically made for me, thank you!

At 5:10 when talking about Denver, the pic is from Colorado Springs. I live there and recognize the mountains and formations like the old strip mine on the far right. Still great video. Fun to learn so much about the differences. I have wondered all these years.

I remember when I was a kid watching the Garfield and Friends cartoon. Garfield stated "There is no such place as Wyoming". Others were rightfully skeptical about this until he stated "Think about it, have you ever met anyone from Wyoming?" It later went to a story of a mapmaker in Italy piecing together the United States, when completed, there was a space left, they put in the word Wyoming, which they explained was an old Italian word for "No state here".

As a Wyoming resident, I'm disappointed you didn't mention that there are exactly TWO escaladers in this state.

Love Wyoming ❤ Spent there 4 months as a student on Work & Travel in Yellowstone National Park. That was almost 20 years ago, great experience. Keep it rural and woke free! 👍

I am Colorado native. I was born here, I’ve lived here my whole life and I don’t plan on moving anytime soon. That being said, I do envy the quiet Wyoming. I’ve seen a big population boom in my state within the past few years and it’s definitely noticeable. The population boom combined with post pandemic supply chain issues, has made things are more expensive now than ever before!! Not just housing but everyday things like groceries and gas! Please stop moving here, out of state people 😫

I moved to Wyoming four years ago. Thanks for this comparison. I will disagree with a mild winter. I haven't wore shorts in 8 months. It snowed today and its mid April. However, when the summer comes it is a paradise.

As a born-and-raised Coloradan, I can safely say Chief Niwot was right on the money: “People seeing the beauty of this valley will want to stay, and their staying will be the undoing of the beauty.”

I think Wyoming could see more population growth in the future. Now that a lot of people can work remotely full time, I would not be surprised if people start moving to Wyoming who previously would not have been willing to. Remote work seems to be the great equalizer these days and a lot of people are relocating because of it. This has been happening to a huge extent in Montana and Idaho. I think the same will happen in Wyoming on a smaller scale. A lot of people love the idea of living somewhere with a low population and tons of natural beauty, but most of these sorts of places have sucky job markets. Remote work removes this barrier.

Excellent review! Thanks.

It's a little weird that El Paso is selected as the nearest city of comparable size when it looks like, in terms of (distance, population), you have Denver (0, 2.9M) and El Paso (600mi, 868k), but then there's Albuquerque (400mi, 915k), Phoenix (700mi, 4.9M), Kansas City (600mi, 2.4M), and Salt Lake City (500mi, 1.2M). Really just seems like a lack of research, given that I identified these other metropolitan areas inside of 30 minutes.

Seems a lot of people have already said what I was going to say. The weather in Wyoming isn't close to the same it is here in Colorado. My parents live in Wyoming, and when I tell them "It is has been snowing the last couple days," they'll send my a picture of their driveway which has a car in it that you can't see because it is buried under the snow. Edit: Last time I went to visit my parents, I saw three semi-trailers blown over on the side of the road. I haven't experienced wind remotely close to that in Colorado.

The civ resource icons are much appreciated

I am looking to move to Wyoming in the near future. I live in Georgia right now, I have been to Wyoming on many occassions. I love the idea that there is land with very few people around you. A few friends of mine are also interested in moving to Wyoming. We are looking at the south west corner of the state near the Utah and Idaho state lines.

As someone originally from Wyoming, I can attest. The winters are very long and harsh with the constant wind. It is a very inhospitable place to homestead which is most likely why it is the least populous state. Very nice in the summer months though!

My favourite fact about Wyoming, when trying to explain just how unpopulated we are, is our escalators. There's only 2 in the entire state, both in Casper. Both in banks. Casper also has the largest mall in the entire state, that being the Eastridge Mall. We don't have a lot but its sure fun shocking people with those fun facts

Living in Colorado has been great! This place has wild weather, but the summers cannot be beat. I have yet to get to visit Cheyenne.

I like driving through Wyoming (when it's not during the winter lol) because the scenery is so nice and there's minimal traffic. I-25 from Cheyenne to the Montana border is one of the most quiet and peaceful drives you can have. I remember driving down from Cody en route to Colorado one day and I stopped @ a rest area where not a single soul was present. I hadn't seen a single car for probably an hour on the roads and being @ that rest area was the closest I've ever felt to feeling like I was the only person on this planet.

my dad was military, we was spent 3 years in cheyenne, wyoming. Some of the best 3 years of my childhood some of the nicest people ive ever had the pleasure to meet. really got into 4 wheelers and fishing while i lived there. Many people used to mail letters to my family even years after we left. Frontier Days is awesome too.

I'm from NZ and Wyoming is my favorite state of The US. Amazing, isolated rural locations. If you're into these, Wyoming is the place for you. Amazing railroad history Wyoming has too, the home of the biggest, baddest Locos the world has seen. Then, there's the tourist spots of Wyoming, Yellowstone etc. And another great thing about Wyoming- no Vegas like BS.

great video!

Lived in Cheyenne for 4 years. Only place you can go to lunch and sit next to the governor. Wind is overwhelming, I bought a huge kite and learned to love it. It is easy to be a big fish in a small pond. Cheyenne Frontier Days is a community event wher most of the population are involved in some way.

As a proud Wyomingite, I could never imagine living anywhere else. Open spaces and uninterrupted outdoor opportunities are a requirement for me.

VERY interesting video with lots of information. El Paso, however, is not the closest large population center to Denver at 560 miles away (actually 557 “as the crow flies”). Albuquerque, NM, is just 334 miles from Denver and boasts an urban area population over 900,0000, which is about 50,000 more people than El Paso, according to Wikipedia. Also, Salt Lake City is closer to Denver than El Paso at just 370 miles as the crow flies, and has a metro population of 1.3 million, nearly 400,000 people more than El Paso. Finally, at the same exact 557 miles from Denver is Kansas City, MO, with a metro population of 2.4 million! So, yes, Denver is isolated by distance from other population centers, but not to the degree that this video suggests.

Shout out to the civ 6 resource icons! Love seeing a fellow civ player in the wild :)

As an Alaskan it makes me slightly uncomfortable when he says Wyoming is the least dense US state BY FAR. We are around 0.62 people/sqkm, although it's understandable that it would be left out of the comparison.

As a central Wyoming resident let me tell you about the blizzards of 2023. Yes blizzards. Casper set an all time low temperature of -42 right before Christmas. We broke the record of seasonal snowfall and took 2nd place for snowfall in a single storm. And that storm happened in the first week of April. I had 3 consecutive snow days and a half day for my highschool in the FIRST WEEK OF APRIL and as of writing this it is gonna snow again before April ends. I love the snow :)

Once went on a (around) 24 hour road trip from Southern Illinois to Boise Idaho. I drove most of the way and Wyoming was the hardest part. We passed through the southern part and I can tell you it is the most alien place I've ever seen. No desert, just kinda vast openness and brown grass, zero trees and light hills. Just vacant nothingness and I was fighting to stay awake because it felt like I was driving forever in the same spot. The entire time through Wyoming, we saw I think two populated spots, one was a packed Walmart halfway through Wyoming and it was weird because there were zero houses for people to live in for as far as the eye can see (remember, mostly flat land and zero trees, so lots of miles). And the other was a town with lots of gas stations and old farm equipment rusted everywhere i think it was Rawlins. 10/10 would recommend getting sleep before passing through

Great video !!!

I'm not from Colorado or Wyoming, but I have been to both states during a trip to Yellowstone National Park when I was younger. We still have pictures from that trip, and it was beautiful. I would love to live there since I am not a fan of big cities and crowds of people, but I hate winter and the harsh climate that it brings, so I'll be content to simply visit.

When we went on a vacation in the west we were in Wyoming for a bit, and it was absolutely beautiful. Jackson Hole still had snow, even in August, and white water rafting on the snake river was one of the top 3 experiences of my life. The raft guide told us that “in Wyoming we have 9 months of good skiing, and 3 months of bad skiing” 😂

As someone who used to live in Wyoming. I'm so glad I moved away. I don't ever want to go back and don't plan to. The only time I'll go back is to visit friends their.

VERY INFORMATIVE !!!!!

hey i’m so glad they featured a photo of green river wyoming!! that’s my hometown

Sorry as a geographer I have to correct you on a few things. The closest other major metro area to Denver is salt lake city which by highway miles is 521 miles and much shorter as a the crow flies. It is definitely still and island city I think that's why Denver Airport has some of the most connecting flight stops in the nation, but I just wanted to let you know that. Salt Lake has a low city pop, but a large metro pop if you were just going of city sizes.

I have lived in Colorado my whole life. The amount of building going on here is insane. When I was born my home town had less then 5,000 people. Almost 30 years later it has close to 100,000 people

Most awesome place to live, I've lived in Wyoming most of my life been in plenty of other states but I will never leave Wyoming ever!!!

Interesting explanation thanks.

I love Wyoming. As a college student from Texas I didn’t understand why more people didn’t live here! Now that I live here I completely understand…Wyoming doesn’t exist, keep moving :)

Years ago, I would travel to Gillette for work for 2 weeks at a time and I did that 3 or 4 times over a couple of years. When one of the older engineers heard I was going he said "You're going to love it Alex! There's a beautiful woman behind every tree in Wyoming!" When I got there, I quickly noticed that there were very few trees... :D As the saying going, nice place to visit. After about 3 days, the awe of the truly "Big Sky" wears off and you quickly realize there's not much to do there. I went to that 1 theater in Gillette several times. And the weather was wild. 40's in the morning, 72 by lunch, a crazy, end of the world hail store moved in around 4 and temps dropped 40 degrees. Crazy. But Wyoming is definitely where the deer and the antelope play.

Nice video - I learned some things!

The VAST majority of Colorado's population lives in a small area. Most of Colorado is actually VERY sparsely populated. Outside of a narrow front range corridor from Colorado Springs to Fort Collins, Colorado is basically Wyoming population wise. Take away that front range population and the population of Colorado is about 500,000 - and this is over 90% of the state.

Despite its reputation, Denver has relatively warm winter highs that average near the 50 degree mark. There are cold days, but it’s warm enough to support large scale population growth. There is a big shift in winters from Colorado to Wyoming.

Love the Civilization resource icons.

I really want to go to Wyoming (in the summer!) to do a horse riding course. Obviously I had my own horse when I was young, but, sadly, that was the 70’s and 80s. But I grew up on a ranch in New Zealand, but, it seems like forever ago, but being in a country environment is a dream. Hoping I can get there soon.

Living in the great state of Wyoming, for nearly 50 years, I can tell you it was a joy to watch this video. I too, had noticed a huge disparity in population between Wyoming and Colorado and it’s actually only gotten bigger as the decades go by.