- Elizabeth Bagdon and her fiancé, Ryan Heming, moved from a small town in Wyoming to San Antonio.
- Bagdon appreciates the convenience San Antonio offers, as well as how much there is to do.
- She misses the community and affordability of Wyoming.
Elizabeth Bagdon always wanted to live in a big city.
Bagdon, 30, is originally from Pennsylvania. But when her fiancé, Ryan Heming, got a job working on wirelines for oil and gas, they got the chance to explore different parts of the US.
“When the opportunity came for us to travel, I was like, ‘Let’s go. I’m ready,'” Bagdon told Business Insider.
Heming’s work first took the couple to Colorado for about a year in 2020. Then, they moved to Gillette, Wyoming, which has a population of about 33,000.
Though the couple loved living in Gillette for two years, Bagdon was looking forward to a change when they relocated to San Antonio in June 2023.
“After living in Wyoming for two years, I was over the cold, and I’ve never lived in a big city,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to live near the beach, so I felt like it was completing something I’ve always wanted to do.”
But almost a year and a half later, Bagdon can’t wait to move back to Wyoming.
San Antonio offers more convenience
Bagdon and Heming moved into a rental home in San Antonio with their dog, Lucy. After arriving in Texas, they rescued their second dog, Sadie.
Bagdon likes a lot about San Antonio, which has a population of about 1.4 million. The convenience compared to Gillette has been a nice change of pace.
“When we lived in Wyoming, if we wanted to go to Sam’s Club, we’d have to go to the biggest city nearby,” she said. “It would be like a two to three-hour drive. We’d have to bring a cooler for our food.”
“Having five targets nearby and every store you could want is really nice,” she added.
Bagdon, who works in customer service, also found more job opportunities in San Antonio. Due to limited job availability in Gillette, she worked as a bartender before they moved. In San Antonio, she quickly secured a customer service job at a healthcare company.
The warmer weather and easy beach access have also been fun for Bagdon, as are the activities that San Antonio offers. But the drawbacks of city life have overshadowed the positives for Bagdon.
Missing community
Bagdon said the sheer number of people living in San Antonio has made forming real connections with others more challenging.
“It makes it harder to find people that have similar interests,” Bagdon said, adding that it was “easy to strike up a conversation with somebody” in Wyoming.
“Everybody knows each other, which I didn’t like at first, but I got really used to it,” she said about Gillette, adding that small store owners in town quickly knew who they were. “They would know us by name and ask us about the dogs, and I just really like that small-town feel.”
Bagdon also discovered that she doesn’t like some of the aspects of living in any major city, such as heavy traffic.
Likewise, though the San Antonio Police Department says crime is declining overall in the city, Bagdon said it’s “been an adjustment” not to be able to leave her home or car unlocked like she could in Gillette.
Bagdon said she and Heming also spend more than they did in Wyoming. According to Salary.com, the cost of living in San Antonio is lower than in Gillette, but that hasn’t been the couple’s reality.
Their rental home is about 2,000 square feet, nearly identical to their Wyoming space. But while their Gillette home was $1,200 each month, Bagdon said their San Antonio house is “almost double” that price.
Bagdon also said groceries have been more expensive. She was particularly surprised by the higher cost of fresh produce.
Wyoming is home
Bagdon and Heming plan to return to Wyoming when their lease is up in June 2025.
“We think of ourselves like explorers,” Bagdon said, adding that they wanted to experience life on the East Coast, the West, and the Southern US before picking a residence more permanently.
“We’re ready to pick the place that we want to settle in, and that place will definitely be Wyoming,” Bagdon said.
The community feel of Wyoming still appeals to the couple. They also love camping and hiking, which are easy to do there.
Bagdon and Heming intend to return to Gillette and ultimately end up in Sheridan, Wyoming, which has an even smaller population of about 19,000.
Bagdon also plans to use her experience in San Antonio to expand her job opportunities in Wyoming.
“I’m currently training to be a pharmacy technician,” she said, which she could do through her customer service job. The training will give her a national certification she could use for potential employment in Wyoming.
Though they plan for Wyoming to be their permanent home, Bagdon said she’s grateful she got to experience city life before making that decision.
“I’ve learned a lot about myself during this time, and I think since I grew up in the smaller areas, that seems to be what I prefer, which I didn’t know,” she said. But she doesn’t think it will be hard to leave Texas when the time comes.
“I don’t really get sad about leaving something behind,” she added. “It just makes me excited for the next step.”
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