As someone from the PA Appalachians this was always jarring to me as well. Pretty much the whole movie was shot locally but then this one scene they shoot in the Cascades and it's like - this is not anywhere on the east coast, let alone southwest PA.

No, residents do live there year-round, but there's a somewhat famous saying that "it's illegal to die on Svalbard." The truth behind this is that the medical facilities on Svalbard are very, very limited, basically just a clinic. So if you are healthy and capable of caring for yourself, you can stay indefinitely, but otherwise you have to leave. I thought there was also a maximum age, above which you have to leave, but I can't find anything about that now.

Most people stay on average 7 years and tend to be younger. It's a place where a lot of people move during a time in their lives where they're looking for a new start or to escape their old life.

It's actually mildly more interesting than that - basically, the Svalbard Treaty did recognize Norway's sovereignty over it but there are a few limitations, and unlike mainland Norway, any citizen of a signatory country is permitted to live and conduct business on Svalbard, but nobody (not even Norwegians) are allowed permanent residency.

himynameisceciliaandiliveonsvalbardanislandclosetothenorthpole

3 of the people who represent me (state rep, state senator, congressional rep) all fought to nullify my vote. My congressional rep ran for his life on Jan 6 and yet hours later at 2 in the morning, bowed in fealty to Trump and delivered a speech protesting the certification of my vote before voting against.

Fuck them all.