11 Things Wyomingites Do That Only Make Sense in the Least Populated State

Some Wyomingites call Cheyenne the big city. It had about 66,500 residents last year.

Life in a state that small comes with habits that puzzle people from busier places.

Here’s what Wyomingites do that only makes sense in the least populated state.

1. Waving at Oncoming Drivers

Waving at an oncoming driver is a rural-road custom, according to a 2025 Cowboy State Daily column.

A wave, a nod or a raised finger on the steering wheel all work, and you answer in kind.

The columnist’s wave means he’d stop to help if you broke down.

Wyoming’s thin population may help explain why the custom fits there.

Wyoming had an estimated 588,753 residents on July 1, 2025.

The Census Bureau’s 2020 write-up calls it the nation’s least populous state.

That works out to 5.9 people per square mile in 2020, against 93.8 across the country.

2. Contacting Your Legislator

Contacting your legislator in Wyoming can start with the Legislature’s website, which lists contact information for legislators.

The Legislature’s citizen guidebook says you can also email any legislator at a firstname.lastname@wyoleg.gov address.

A telephone hotline for recommending a vote or checking a bill’s status is also listed, open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on days the Legislature is in session.

Wyoming’s Legislature has 93 members: 31 senators and 62 representatives.

That’s about one lawmaker for every 6,300 residents.

The National Conference of State Legislatures’ table adds up to 7,386 seats across the 50 states.

Spread across the country’s 341.8 million residents, that’s about one lawmaker for every 46,000 people.

That means you share your legislator with about one-seventh as many people as the national average.

3. Driving Out of State to Shop

A Sheridan resident explained in a 2025 Business Insider essay why driving out of state to shop is a monthly routine.

When the essay ran, Wyoming was one of three states without a Costco.

The writer described a 130-mile drive to Billings, Montana.

Every month.

4. Playing Six-Man Football

Playing six-man football is a small-town Wyoming tradition, Cowboy State Daily reports.

At a school with about 25 students, you can lose a season to one year with too few boys.

Meeteetse’s high school has 24 students, and only six of them are boys.

Meeteetse canceled its 2026 season, and two of its players travel nearly an hour to Basin to play for the Riverside Rebels.

Kaycee’s coach and three of his players joined the Midwest team, 30 minutes south, after Kaycee canceled its season.

A typical six-man team in Wyoming has 12 to 16 players, according to Kaycee’s coach.

By comparison, Cody’s 3A team usually averages 85 to 105 players a year.

5. Traveling for Medical Care

Traveling for medical care can mean a long drive for maternal and newborn specialty care.

A Maternal and Child Health report Wyoming filed with the Health Resources and Services Administration says so.

Of the 21 counties outside Laramie and Natrona, 17 are frontier, meaning fewer than six people per square mile.

Those counties are home to 46% of the state’s population, per a 2020 state estimate.

In many cases, families also cross state boundaries to receive that care, and they may have to miss work.

Your appointment can become a day trip.

6. Voting in a Statewide House Race

Wyoming has a single at-large seat, so voting in a statewide House race is how every voter picks a U.S. representative.

The 2020 Census counted 576,851 people in Wyoming, the fewest of any state.

The average is 761,169 people for each House member.

Wyoming falls about 184,000 people short of that average, but each state is entitled to at least one seat.

If you vote in Sheridan or Evanston, your ballot lists the same House candidates.

7. Sending Kids to a One-Room School

Sending kids to a one-room school is still possible in Wyoming: Antelope Creek School opened in northern Albany County in September 2024.

It opened with two students and a teacher who lives on site.

The area is so remote that locals call it "Little Siberia."

The drive to the ranch where the school sits takes about another 90 minutes on gravel roads.

Before it opened, your choices as a ranch parent there were homeschooling or long trips to public schools in Rock River and Laramie.

The state budget added $300,000 for the school in 2024, according to a state representative.

8. Buying an Air Ambulance Membership

Buying an air ambulance membership is a step some families take before an emergency.

Emergency air ambulance transports can easily cost tens of thousands of dollars, the Powell Tribune reported in 2022.

AirMedCare Network offers memberships meant to reduce what you'd pay for one of those flights.

Legislators at the 2022 membership signing ceremony at Yellowstone Regional Airport kept returning to a lot of driving between populated areas.

The state's outdoor opportunities can also lead to emergencies in places only a helicopter can reach.

The network says about 10,000 Wyoming residents bought memberships between April 1 and April 22, 2022, after it resumed sales.

9. Getting Online by Satellite

Satellite service is among the options in the state's broadband push.

In 2025, Wyoming awarded about $11 million for satellite service to 15,629 locations.

The Wyoming Business Council's broadband manager counted 38,933 locations without high-speed service and listed the state's terrain and sparse population among the challenges.

If you have a ranch 25 miles out of town, fiber could cost $100,000 to $150,000 to reach it, a Vistabeam co-founder estimated.

Fixed wireless can bring that down to $2,000 to $3,000 at many locations.

10. Volunteering for the Fire Department

Volunteering for the fire department is how fire protection works for most Wyoming residents, a 2022 Cowboy State Daily story reported.

Only seven of the state's 114 fire departments were staffed with paid professionals.

About 80% of its firefighters were volunteers.

Park County Fire District No. 2 is one of the largest all-volunteer districts in the state, with 70 volunteers and four paid staff.

If you join, its fire marshal says you'll typically log over 100 hours of training in your first year.

After that, the regular training runs probably 50 to 60 hours a year.

11. Calling Cheyenne the Big City

Calling Cheyenne the big city is a joke some Wyomingites make, and the population figures show why.

Wyoming's capital had an estimated 66,507 residents on July 1, 2025.