Taylor Kitsch spent more than fifteen years in Austin, built the house he had wanted to build, and then sold it and drove north. He moved to Bozeman, Montana, in 2021, bought a considerably smaller house, and has described the whole exercise as simplifying everything in his life.
That is the opposite of the usual celebrity property trajectory, and he has been unusually direct about why he did it. This guide covers the Austin house he built and let go, the Montana house he bought instead, the nature retreat he is developing there, and what he says he misses.
Austin vs Bozeman
Austin
Lake Austin
The waterfront house he built
Montana
Bozeman
Where he has lived since 2021
Who is Taylor Kitsch?
Taylor Kitsch is a Canadian actor, born in Kelowna, British Columbia, in 1981. He became widely known as Tim Riggins in Friday Night Lights, which was filmed in and around Austin, and that job is the reason he ended up living in Texas at all.
His later work includes Lone Survivor, the second season of True Detective, Waco, The Terminal List, Painkiller, and American Primeval. He is also a keen wildlife photographer and fly fisherman, which turns out to matter a great deal to where he chose to live.
The Austin house he built
Kitsch stayed in Austin long after Friday Night Lights ended, living there for over fifteen years, and at some point built his own house rather than buying one. He has referred to it as his dream home, and coverage of it consistently describes a waterfront property on Lake Austin.
Precise figures are not well established. A price of around $5.6 million circulates, but it comes from social media accounts that publish celebrity house content rather than from a recorded transaction or a listing report, and this article does not treat it as documented. What is documented, from Kitsch himself, is that he built the house and that he sold it when he left.
Lake Austin has drawn a long list of people who wanted water and space within reach of the city, including the properties described in the accounts of Matthew McConaughey’s Lake Austin home and Joe Rogan’s estate on the same stretch of water.
The move to Montana
In 2021 Kitsch relocated to Bozeman, Montana. He has explained the decision in terms that have nothing to do with property values.
He wanted mountains and proper seasons; he wanted quiet, and he wanted to be closer to the outdoors for his photography and fishing. He has said that being in the wilderness brings him a lot more peace and that Montana reminds him of home, which for a man raised in British Columbia is a fairly literal statement. He has also been blunt that he does not miss the Texas heat.
The one thing he says he does miss is Lake Austin itself, specifically wakesurfing and sunset rides with friends, which is a more honest answer than most people give about a place they have left.
The Bozeman house
He bought a four-bedroom house in Bozeman, contemporary in style and built in steel, glass and timber, with a wine cellar, a gym and a vault. It was listed at $2.795 million.
That figure is the asking price at the time it was on the market rather than a confirmed price he paid, and no closing figure has been published. Even taken at face value, it represents a substantial step down from the Austin lake house, which is consistent with everything he has said about the move.
He has also been reported to be building a geodesic dome on his Montana land, which fits a broader pattern of him treating buildings as things to make rather than things to buy.
The retreat he is developing
The most interesting thing on his Montana property is not a house at all. Kitsch has been developing a nature retreat intended to serve the sober community, with plans to welcome young people and veterans looking for somewhere quiet.
He also keeps an adventure van for backcountry trips, using it to reach places for wildlife photography and fishing that a house cannot get you to.
On his Montana land
Home
The Bozeman house
Four bedrooms, contemporary, with a wine cellar, gym, and vault.
Reported
Geodesic dome
A dome he has been reported to be building on the land.
In progress
Nature retreat
For the sober community, with plans to welcome young people and veterans.
On the road
Adventure van
For backcountry trips, wildlife photography and fishing.
Taken together, that is a coherent picture: land used for a purpose, a modest house on it, and a vehicle for the parts of life that happen away from both. Other actors who have relocated to remote property have followed a similar logic, including the arrangement set out in the account of Hayden Christensen’s Canadian farm.
Where does Taylor Kitsch live now?
Bozeman, Montana.
This is well supported and comes substantially from Kitsch himself. He moved in 2021, has discussed the move and his reasons for it in interviews since, has bought a house there, and is developing land there for a retreat. He no longer owns the Austin property, having sold it as part of the move.
What is not documented is the exact price of either transaction, or where on the Bozeman side of Montana his land sits. Neither has been published in a source worth citing, and this article will not estimate them.
His ties to Canada remain through family and background, but nothing in reliable reporting places him living there. Montana is the answer, and unusually for this genre it is an answer the subject has given directly rather than one assembled from property records.
Sources
- People, via AOL, for his own account of the 2021 move, selling the Austin house he built, the nature retreat, and what he misses about Lake Austin.
- Texas Monthly on his years in Austin, the sale of the lake house and the move north.
- Bozeman’s KISS FM on the Bozeman house he bought and its listing details.
- Wikipedia for his background and career.
