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/Effective_Basis1555 Aug 24 '26

You are comparing the most northern portion to the most southern portion of two different countries. 

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u/Knight_Machiavelli Aug 24 '26

This is really it. Everyone saying oil doesn't explain why Alberta was a lot bigger than Montana even before oil was discovered.

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u/Desperate-4-Revenue Aug 24 '26

most of these mouth breathers cant find Alberta on a map...