Montana Housing Market: Home Prices, Rent and Affordability
The typical Montana home is worth $471,746, up 2.0% over the past year and up 25.0% over five years, 27.9% above the national $368,697 (Zillow, latest release). That ranks #13 of 50 on price. A 20%-down mortgage runs $2,427 a month and takes about $119,850 of income; the median Montana household earns $72,340, $47,510 short.
In Billings, the state's largest metro, typical rent is $1,426 a month against a $2,109 principal-and-interest payment on the typical home, so renting is $683 a month cheaper before taxes, insurance and maintenance. The market is warm: 21.9% of listings cut their price (national 26.4%), homes go pending in 63 days (national 53), and for-sale inventory is down 1.0% from a year ago.
All figures are Zillow Research's published numbers for August; median household income is from the Census Bureau. How the data works → · Home prices in all 50 states →
Montana Housing by the Numbers
How much does a house cost in Montana? The typical home is worth $471,746, the median sale price is $495,009 and the median list price $593,000. The six figures below describe the market this month, each with the national comparison.
How Have Montana Home Prices Changed?
The typical Montana home value every month since 2000, with the national typical home as a dashed line. Values rose 2.0% over the past year, are up 25.0% over five years, up 105.1% over ten, and unchanged since January 2000.
Is It Cheaper to Rent or Buy in Montana?
Two direct answers from the Zillow data. Rent versus buy sets typical asking rent in Billings, the state's largest metro, against the mortgage payment on the typical home there, since Zillow publishes rents by metro rather than by state. The affordability gap is the income needed to buy the typical Montana home minus what the median household actually earns.
Rent vs. buy · Billings, MT
The payment excludes property tax (0.79% of value in Montana), insurance and maintenance, all of which push the cost of owning higher; renting builds no equity. If values kept rising at the past five years' pace (25.0%), equity would narrow that gap over a long stay.
Affordability gap · #41 of 50
A $2,427 monthly payment takes 40.3% of the median Montana household's income before property tax and insurance; lenders generally cap total housing costs near 28–31%. Full budget for your household →
Is Montana a Buyer's or a Seller's Market?
Market temperature is our label from three Zillow signals compared with the national market: the share of listings with a price cut, days from listing to pending (days on market), and whether homes for sale are up from a year ago. Montana is warm: it slightly favors sellers: one of the three market signals points cooler than the national market.
Median sale price $495,009 against a median list price of $593,000, so the typical home closes 16.5% below asking.
Where the Montana market is heading
Compared with a year ago, two of the three signals point tighter, in sellers' favor: the share of listings with a price cut is down 2.0 points from a year ago to 21.9%, homes take 3 days longer to go pending than a year ago (63 now), and the number of homes for sale is down 1.0%. The typical home value rose 2.0% over the same period and is at an all-time high. We publish no forecasts: these are Zillow's current-month readings, not a prediction of where Montana home prices go next.
Home Values and Rents in Montana Cities
Zillow publishes a city-level home value or rent for 14 of the Montana cities we track. The most expensive is Whitefish ($871,592) and the cheapest Havre ($233,821). Click a city for its full profile.
| City | Population | Home value | 1 yr | 5 yr | Rent | Rent 1 yr | Value ÷ income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Billings | 120,874 | $400,819 | +2.5% | ||||
| Missoula | 77,763 | $568,490 | +1.2% | ||||
| Great Falls | 60,412 | $340,160 | +3.0% | ||||
| Bozeman | 55,042 | $725,769 | +0.4% | ||||
| Helena | 33,126 | $480,407 | +3.0% | ||||
| Kalispell | 26,830 | $562,374 | +1.5% | ||||
| Belgrade | 11,425 | $551,966 | -0.6% | ||||
| Havre | 9,333 | $233,821 | +6.0% | ||||
| Livingston | 8,635 | $535,479 | -0.3% | ||||
| Whitefish | 8,422 | $871,592 | +1.4% | ||||
| Miles City | 8,412 | $248,668 | +9.2% | ||||
| Laurel | 7,198 | $378,211 | +1.2% | ||||
| Sidney | 6,235 | $273,345 | +5.8% | ||||
| Lewistown | 6,028 | $290,669 | +6.3% |
Home value and rent are Zillow's city-level indexes; population and median household income are Census ACS. Cities without a Zillow index are omitted. All Montana cities ranked →
How Montana Compares With Nearby States
The West states closest to Montana on price. Each card links to that state's housing page; the compare link puts the two states side by side on every category.
More on Montana
Montana dashboard
→Overall rank and grade, every category score, taxes, utilities, safety, schools and all tracked cities.
What you'd keep in Montana
→Take-home after housing, taxes, childcare, utilities and groceries for your household and income.
Who is moving to Montana
→IRS migration data: where new residents come from, where leavers go, and what both groups earn.
Montana Housing Market FAQ
What is the average house price in Montana?
$471,746 is the typical Montana home value according to the latest Zillow Research release of the Zillow Home Value Index, which tracks homes in the middle third of the market. The median sale price was $495,009 and the median list price $593,000. That makes Montana the #13 most expensive state; the national typical home is worth $368,697.
Are home prices dropping in Montana?
No. The typical Montana home value rose 2.0% over the past year and is at an all-time high. Over five years it is up 25.0% and over ten years up 105.1%. Nationally, values rose 1.2% over the year.
How have Montana home prices changed over the past 1, 5 and 10 years?
+2.0% over one year, +25.0% over five years and +105.1% over ten years for the typical Montana home value, per the latest Zillow Research release; the national figures are +1.2%, +20.3% and +77.9%. Since January 2000 the typical Montana home is unchanged. The monthly chart above shows the full series against the national line.
Will the Montana housing market crash?
We publish no forecasts, so this page cannot answer that; it can show the current readings and the historical worst case. Right now the typical Montana home value is at an all-time high after it rose 2.0% over the past year; 21.9% of listings have cut their price (national 26.4%), homes go pending in 63 days (national 53), and inventory is down 1.0% from a year ago, per Zillow Research. The largest decline in Zillow's monthly series for Montana was 8.5% from February 2008 to August 2011, and values took 26 months to regain that peak.
Is it a good time to buy a house in Montana?
The Montana market is warm right now, which means it slightly favors sellers: one of the three market signals points cooler than the national market. 21.9% of listings cut their price (national 26.4%), homes go pending in 63 days (national 53), and for-sale inventory is down 1.0% from a year ago. Affordability is the constraint: buying the typical home takes $119,850 of income, $47,510 more than the median household earns. Whether the timing is right also depends on mortgage rates and how long you plan to stay.
Is Montana a buyer's or seller's market?
Montana leans toward sellers. Fewer listings are cutting prices than the national average (21.9% vs. 26.4%), homes take 63 days to go pending (national 53), and the number of homes for sale is down 1.0% from a year ago at 8K listings. One of those three signals points toward buyers.
What is the average rent in Montana?
In Billings, Montana's largest metro, the typical asking rent is $1,426 a month, up 3.3% over the past year and up 29.3% over five years, per the Zillow Observed Rent Index. The national typical rent is $1,948. Among Montana cities we track, rents range from $1,329 to $2,677 a month.
Is it cheaper to rent or buy in Montana?
Renting is cheaper month to month in Billings, Montana's largest metro. Typical rent is $1,426 and the principal-and-interest payment on the typical home with 20% down is $2,109, a difference of $683 a month in favor of renting. The payment excludes property tax (0.79% of value in Montana), insurance and maintenance, and renting builds no equity, so the full answer depends on how long you stay.
How much income do you need to buy a house in Montana?
About $119,850 a year, using Zillow's assumptions of 20% down at current mortgage rates and a payment of no more than 30% of income. The median Montana household earns $72,340, so the typical household is $47,510 short. That is the #41 smallest affordability gap of the 50 states. The monthly payment of $2,427 equals 40.3% of the median household's income.
Where are homes cheapest and most expensive in Montana?
Among the Montana cities we track with Zillow data, the most expensive typical home is in Whitefish ($871,592) and the cheapest in Havre ($233,821). Also at the top: Bozeman ($725,769), Missoula ($568,490), and Kalispell ($562,374). The city table above lists every tracked Montana city with its value, one-year change and rent.
How does Montana compare with nearby states?
In the West, the closest comparisons on price are Idaho ($478,744, up 2.0% in a year), Oregon ($496,113, down 0.1% in a year), and Nevada ($442,027, down 1.8% in a year). Montana's typical home is $471,746, up 2.0%. On affordability, Montana ranks #41 of 50 versus Idaho at #44, Oregon at #42, and Nevada at #40.
How current is the Montana housing data?
Every figure on this page comes from Zillow Research, which publishes state, metro and city data free each month for the prior month; the latest month shown is August. Median household income is from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. We rebuild the page from the newest Zillow files as they are released.
Home values, rents, mortgage payments, income needed, inventory, price cuts, days to pending and sale and list prices are published by Zillow Research and shown as released, with attribution. Median household income and city populations are from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. Home prices and housing markets in all 50 states →