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Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
When your office is wherever you open your laptop, the city you live in becomes a financial strategy. Fairly typical for a city this size. We ranked 1 cities in Montana for remote workers — weighting cost, utilities, and economic strength. Billings tops the list for 2026: index 100, rent $1,383/mo.
#1 Ranked: Billings — cost index 100, rent $1,383/mo, income $71,855
Remote-worker scoring: cost index 100, utilities index 92, income $71,855 — maximizing geographic arbitrage
Data sourced from Census Bureau, Zillow, BLS, and Tax Foundation — current as of 2026
When your office is wherever you open your laptop, the city you live in becomes a financial strategy. Fairly typical for a city this size. We ranked 1 cities in Montana for remote workers — weighting cost, utilities, and economic strength. Billings tops the list for 2026: index 100, rent $1,383/mo.
At $1,383/month for rent and a cost index of 100, Billings is pretty much what you'd expect from a mid-size city in this part of the country. That tracks. Income is $71,855. You get the picture.
If you're ready to act on this, three things to do next: 1) Click into the city pages for the top 3 and check rent trends — direction matters more than the snapshot. And as far as the data shows, 2) Run your income through the salary calculator for a personalized cost comparison. 3) Compare your top two picks head-to-head on our comparison page. The data is here; the decision is yours.
120,864 residents · Montana
Billings earns its position at #1 through a combination that's hard to replicate. The 100 cost index sits 12 points below the national baseline, and the $71,855 median income means purchasing power here is amplified by the low cost base. Homes list at $390,654 — $76,716 below the national median — a genuine ownership opportunity. That alone makes it worth considering. On the cost side, Utilities leads the way at 92, while Healthcare trails at 103.
Our persona scoring model weights cost of living, income, rent, healthcare costs, tax burden, and population size differently based on what matters most to remote workers. Each factor contributes 10-25 points to a 0-100 composite score. Cities with the highest composite rank first. All data is sourced from federal agencies and verified research institutions. Cost of living indices are normalized to 100 (national median) using Zillow rent as the primary signal, with sub-category adjustments derived from regional BLS price data. Rankings are updated monthly as new data is released.
Billings ranks #1 in Montana for this analysis with a cost index of 100 and median income of $71,855.
Billings scores highest for remote workers due to its strong income potential, median rent of $1,383/mo, and competitive median income of $71,855.
Our cost of living index uses real Zillow rent data as the foundation, indexed to 100 (national median). Sub-categories (housing, food, transport, utilities, healthcare) are derived from the overall index with regional adjustments. Data is updated monthly.
City data is refreshed monthly from Census Bureau population estimates, Zillow rent and home price indices, BLS salary data, and Tax Foundation tax rates. Last updated: 2026.
The median 1-bedroom rent in Billings is $1,383/month as of 2026, based on Zillow's Observed Rent Index. This is $512 below the national median of $1,895/month.
The median home price in Billings is $390,654, which is 5.4× the local median income. Most median-income households would stretch to buy at this ratio. The national median home price is $467,370.
Montana has a 5.9% state income tax rate. Combined state and local sales tax averages 0%, and the effective property tax rate is 0.74%.
This ranking was generated using data current as of early 2026. Population and income data comes from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (5-year estimates). Rent and home price data is from Zillow's monthly releases. Tax rates are from the Tax Foundation's 2025 edition. Rankings are refreshed monthly.