All-items parity
94.6
US = 100.0
Montana (MT) | All-items parity 94.6
Montana Cost of Living 2026
Montana reads 94.6 on the BEA all-items price parity for 2024, still below the national 100, and charges no sales tax anywhere in the state, one of just five with none. But the boom rewrote the housing line: a median home of $425,400 against a median income of $75,340 is among the widest house-to-wage gaps in the country, driven by Bozeman, Missoula and the Flathead. Income tax runs 4.7-5.65% after the 2024-26 restructuring, utilities price at a gentle 72.3, and the reappraisal shock on fast-appreciating homes has made property tax the state's loudest political fight.
No sales tax statewideMedian home $425,400Utilities parity 72.3
Median Home
$425,400
2BR rent $1,234/mo
Median Income
$75,340
Household, Census ACS
Category breakdown
The four BEA price parities vs the nation
| Category | MT index | National avg | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| All items | 94.6 | 100.0 | -5.4% |
| Services: housing rents | 84.6 | 100.6 | -15.9% |
| Goods | 96.0 | 99.6 | -3.6% |
| Services: utilities | 72.3 | 98.4 | -26.5% |
| Services: other | 98.7 | 100.1 | -1.4% |
U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes these four component parities and no others. There is no federal grocery, healthcare or transportation price parity, so this table shows none. Food at home sits inside Goods; medical and transport services sit inside Services: other.
Sources: BEA Regional Price Parities by State (table SARPP), 2024 reference year, U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Census ACS 2024 1-year (median income, home value), Montana Department of Revenue (income tax, reappraisal), Tax Foundation (effective property tax), EIA (electricity rates), KFF (uninsured rate).
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Pros / offsets
What works in Montana.
No sales tax, full stop. No state rate, no local add-ons, nothing at the register anywhere in Montana; on a household's taxable spending that is a permanent several-percent discount versus almost every other state, and it compounds on big purchases.
Cheap power and water in a cold state. Hydropower heritage keeps electricity at 11.85 cents per kWh and the utilities parity at 72.3, among the lowest in the nation; average bills ($98 electric, $72 gas) stay modest despite genuine winters.
A simplified, lowered income tax. The restructuring collapsed seven brackets to two and cut the top rate to 5.65%, with a large capital-gains preference for long-held assets; for most working households the schedule now reads 4.7-5.65%.
The east still sells at old-Montana prices. Billings, Great Falls and the plains towns held near $300,000 medians through the boom, with the same no-sales-tax, cheap-utilities ledger and shorter waits for trades than the resort valleys.
Cons / drivers
Where Montana costs more.
The boom priced houses off local wages. Bozeman, Missoula, Whitefish and the Flathead absorbed a decade of amenity migration; the statewide $425,400 median against $75,340 income is the Mountain West's starkest mismatch after Idaho, and service workers in the resort valleys commute from an hour out.
Reappraisal shock is the new property tax. The 0.74% effective rate looks mild, but two-year reappraisal cycles marked values to the boom, sending bills up double digits for long-time owners; the legislature's homestead-rate relief for primary residences arrived precisely because the backlash was statewide.
Social Security is partly taxed. Montana remains one of the few states taxing benefits, broadly following the federal inclusion rules, a line retirees comparing against the many full-exemption states should price.
Distance is the hidden utility. One area code, six hundred miles across: specialist healthcare routes through Billings or Missoula, flights are expensive and indirect, and winter driving distances turn errands into logistics.
Tax + benefit signals
Montana tax and access overview
State income tax
4.7-5.65%
Graduated or flat
Property tax effective
0.74%
Of assessed value, annual
Sales tax (state)
0.00%
Local can add 1-4% more
Uninsured rate
7.5%
Medicaid: expanded
Your take-home pay in Montana
Federal, Montana and any local income tax on your salary, per paycheck.
The mortgage on a $425,400 home
Monthly payment at today’s rates with Montana property tax (0.74%) and average home insurance.
Metro variation
State averages mask city variation.
Montana averages 94.6 on the BEA all-items parity, split between boom valleys and plains:
Bozeman and the Gallatin Valley: The epicenter: university, tech-and-outdoor money and Big Sky's orbit pushed Bozeman past $700,000 medians, resort-tier pricing with a college-town wage base; Belgrade and Livingston carry the spillover.
Missoula: The university-and-culture capital prices well above the state median with the tightest rental market in Montana; the Bitterroot towns to the south are its release valve.
The Flathead (Kalispell, Whitefish): Lake-and-ski demand made it the state's second-home capital; Whitefish prices like a resort, Kalispell like a fast-growing county seat.
Billings and the east: The state's largest city and its best value: energy, healthcare and regional-hub employment against $300,000s housing; Great Falls and the Hi-Line sell lower still, at the price of the longest winters and distances.
Helena and Butte split the difference, capital-city stability and historic-stock bargains respectively, and both undercut the valleys west of them.
Frequently Asked
Montana cost of living, answered
Does Montana really have no sales tax at all?
Statewide, yes: no general sales tax exists at any level of Montana government, making it one of five such states (with Alaska, Delaware, New Hampshire and Oregon). The narrow exceptions are resort-area local option taxes in a handful of designated tourist towns (Whitefish, Big Sky, West Yellowstone and similar), applied mainly to lodging, restaurants and luxuries. For everyday residents, the register price is the price, which quietly saves a typical household several hundred to over a thousand dollars a year versus a 7%-tax state.
What is Montana's reappraisal shock?
Montana reappraises property on a two-year cycle, and the boom marked values up 40%+ in the western valleys in a single cycle, flowing straight into bills even where mill levies held steady. Long-time owners on fixed incomes in Bozeman or the Flathead saw increases of hundreds to thousands of dollars. The legislature responded with rebates and then a lower homestead rate for primary residences, shifting burden toward second homes, which Montana has in unusual quantity. The 0.74% average effective rate conceals that churn.
How does Montana tax income and capital gains?
The restructured system runs two brackets, 4.7-5.65%, replacing the old seven-bracket ladder, and gives long-term capital gains a preferential rate, unusual among states and significant for retirees and sellers of appreciated assets. There is no sales tax to offset it; income and property carry the state. Social Security is partially taxed following federal-style inclusion, and the main retiree relief is an income-limited exemption plus the new homestead property rates.
Is Bozeman affordable on a local salary?
By the numbers, no: medians past $700,000 against a university-town wage base give Bozeman one of the worst house-price-to-local-income ratios in America, and rentals price to match. The market clears on imported money, remote salaries, equity from exited coastal homes, Big Sky wealth. Locals increasingly buy in Belgrade, Manhattan or Livingston and commute. For a remote worker comparing Bozeman against Boulder or Bend, it still undercuts both; against the rest of Montana it is another state.
What are utilities and winter costs like?
Surprisingly gentle on rates: 11.85 cent electricity and a utilities parity of 72.3, among the nation's lowest, mean average bills of $98 for power and $72 for gas despite average lows of 30 degrees. The winter costs that bite are operational: plowing, winter tires, block heaters in the coldest counties, and the fuel for distances, many Montanans drive 20,000+ miles a year, which no price parity captures.
Where is the value left in Montana?
East and in-between: Billings pairs the state's deepest job market (energy, two hospital systems, regional retail) with $300,000s housing; Great Falls sells lower with a stable military-and-ag base; Helena offers capital-city employment at mid-pack prices; Butte's historic housing stock remains the state's genuine bargain for renovators. All keep the no-sales-tax, cheap-utilities ledger without resort-valley pricing. The trade is winter length and distance from the mountain-town amenity set that drew the boom west.