JACKSON, Wyo. — Jackson Hole stars in a New York Times (NYT) feature that went live this week, marking the second time this year the valley has been covered by the Gray Lady.
NYT featured Jackson’s thriving cross-country skiing culture in a piece in January, and recommended ways for visitors to spend “36 Hours” in the Hole last August, which was at least the fifth time Jackson has been been profiled in that travel series since the early aughts. Monday’s new piece — a collaboration by writers Katie Benner, Steven Rich, Mike Baker and John Branch — is less itinerary and more socioeconomic analysis.
“The Jackson Hole region has long been a refuge for the rich, but an explosion of new affluence has allowed a growing cadre of extraordinarily wealthy people to dominate both the local economy and Wyoming state politics,” the piece reads. “Teton County is not merely the richest county in the country, per capita, by far; it is a window into America’s near future, as the country enters a new gilded age, one in which millionaires are turning into billionaires overnight.”
In the article, titled “Welcome to Wyoming, the Frontier of America’s New Gilded Age,” Jackson serves as a case study for examining the proliferation of high-net-worth individuals catalyzed by two Donald Trump presidencies.
“Teton County has long had the highest wealth inequality in the country,” the article states. “But that disparity has escalated sharply since 2017. The county’s top 1 percent of households, including Mr. [Joe] Ricketts, now have an estimated average annual income of about $35 million, 221 times what the bottom 99 percent is making, according to a Times analysis of tax data. The average single-family home price last year pushed past $7 million. The result has been a critical housing shortage for anyone who is not wealthy, and a strain on local services as tax cuts favored by the rich cut into local government revenues.”
Many locals are quoted in the article, including: County Commissioner Luther Propst, Wyoming Immigrant Advocacy Project founder Rosie Read, Persephone Bakery owner Ali Cohane, Rendezvous River Sports manager Kat Jacaruso, philanthropist Margot Snowdon, State Rep. Mike Yin, County Coroner Brent Blue, Town Councilor Jonathan Schechter, Jackson Hole Classical Academy founder Stephen Friess, Tumbleweed Creative Arts founder Andrew Munz and retiree Kathy Chandler. Research by “Billionaire Wilderness” author Justin Farrell also makes an appearance.
“We’ve added 4,300 jobs in the last 10 years, but only added 300 year-round residents,” Teton County Housing Director April Norton told the NYT.
Other topics covered by the article include property taxes, the Freedom Caucus, overcrowding at Jackson Hole High School and the local nonprofit landscape. The piece also touches on the region’s particular flavor of “stealth wealth” personal styling, which favors work boots and trucker hats over conspicuous designer clothes.
