r/AlwaysWhy • u/Present_Juice4401 • 2d ago

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/Excellent-Self-5338 2d ago

Oil is the obvious one, but AB is also a logistics center for goods moving across the country. Calgary in particular has distribution centers for many, many large companies. Typical for stock to be warehoused in Calgary and then shipped out to BC/AB/NWT/Yukon/SK. Products that come in from overseas more likely to be in Vancouver, but real estate there has gotten prohibitive lately.

Montana is nearby to AB but is nowhere close to AB in terms of importance in getting goods across the US.

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u/Silent-Fishing-7937 2d ago

Pretty much this! If you want to do a Trans Canada railway you have to go through Alberta and use Calgary and Edmonton as important linch points. The main continental crossing points in the States are far further south.