Airport access is a big deal for rural Montana economies. Here’s how far small-town residents have to go.

When Lana Zellner and her husband — an architect and a software developer, respectively — moved to Philipsburg from New York City five years ago seeking a quieter place to call home, they joined the ranks of Montana’s remote workers.

In doing so, they brought their professional incomes into a rural Montana community that has long been hungry for good jobs. The Philipsburg chamber of commerce, they discovered after they arrived, had even produced a brochure aimed at attracting remote workers like them.

Zellner and her husband liked the town, with its restaurants, brewery, and nearby ski area. But a year later, they had moved on — in part, she said, because of how hard it was to travel for business.