Cost of Living in Montana

Reading the Montana Cost of Living Picture

The Bureau of Economic Analysis places Montana's statewide Regional Price Parity at 94.6 for the 2024 data year, 5.4% less expensive the U.S. baseline of 100. Inside the headline figure, the state's categories sit near average, while services offer the biggest relief at 72.3. That internal spread — rather than the single state number — is what determines whether a household actually feels priced in or priced out.

Montana captures 5 metro areas in the BEA dataset, and the range across them is meaningful. Bozeman, MT leads on cost at 102.5, while Billings, MT sits at the opposite end at 93.5 — a gap of 9.0 index points inside a single state. For goods the state indexes at 96.0, for services 72.3, and for rents 84.6 — the rent figure tends to be the most volatile input and deserves its own line-item review before any relocation decision.

Over time, Montana's statewide index has held steady within 0.6 points, suggesting a stable competitive position against other states. Practically, this means a $100,000 national salary delivers the purchasing power of about $105,658 of national buying power when earned inside Montana, and a household relocating here would need roughly $94,645 to reproduce a $100K lifestyle. Pair these numbers with metro-specific wage data and rent tables before treating the statewide figure as your planning assumption.