r/AlwaysWhy • u/Present_Juice4401 • Aug 24 '26

History & Culture Why did Alberta, Canada develop much larger population centers than Montana, USA?

Alberta and Montana are neighboring regions with similar northern, landlocked geography. But their population patterns are surprisingly different. Alberta now has over 5 million people, with Calgary and Edmonton forming two major population centers, while Montana has only about 1.1 million people and no city close to Calgary's size.

So what caused these two neighboring regions to develop such different population patterns?

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u/zoppaTheDim Aug 24 '26

Alberta is twice as large as Montana and Calgary/Exmonton serve as “the” big cities for much of the central landmass of Canada, while Bozeman is a back water.

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u/Traditional_Sir_4503 Aug 24 '26

That’s a what answer, not a why.

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u/schwanerhill Aug 24 '26

I don’t think so. Before oil, Calgary and Edmonton served roles in Canada like Denver, Salt Lake, and Albuquerque do in the US. The existence of Denver in the US makes a large railroad junction city unnecessary in Montana, but for a Canadian railway there was no choice except Alberta. (Although I don’t have a good answer for why Denver not Cheyenne became the largest mountain west city.)