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Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
"Affordable" for students means: can rent fit a part-time paycheck? Are groceries reasonable? We analyzed 1 cities in Montana, weighting rent and food highest. Billings takes the top spot.
"Affordable" for students means: can rent fit a part-time paycheck? Are groceries reasonable? We analyzed 1 cities in Montana, weighting rent and food highest. Billings takes the top spot.
Dive into Billings's numbers: cost index 100 (12 points below national average), rent $1,383/month, income $71,855, and a home price of $390,654. The city's cost profile isn't flat — Utilities is the cheapest category at 92, while Healthcare runs 103. With 120,864 residents, it balances mid-size city convenience with manageable costs.
Student affordability boils down to three survival metrics: rent under $1,200/month (25pts), overall cost index (20pts), and food costs (10pts). Billings leads at $1,383/month rent with a food index of 98 — 2% below the national food cost baseline.
Real talk: Below the radar, but not for long.
Contrast this with: State context matters: Montana's 1 cities average a 100 cost index with $1,383/month median rent and $71,855 household income. Big Sky country with an inflating housing bubble. The city profiles tell the rest of the story.
Bottom line: Billings leads this ranking for clear, data-backed reasons — but the "best" city depends on your priorities. Click into any city below to see the full detail page with 12-month trend charts, profession-specific salary data, and a breakdown of all five cost categories. If you're seriously considering a move, use our salary calculator to model your specific income against these numbers.
#1 Ranked: Billings — cost index 100, rent $1,383/mo, income $71,855
Student-budget scoring: rent $1,383/mo, food index 98, cost index 100 — survival-level affordability
Data sourced from Census Bureau, Zillow, BLS, and Tax Foundation — current as of 2026
120,864 residents · Montana
Here's Billings by the numbers — and there's a lot to like (and a little to watch). And most of the time, cost index: 100. Rent: $1,383/month. Income: $71,855/year. Home price: $390,654. Population: 120,864. The strongest category is Utilities at 92; the most expensive is Healthcare at 103. Translate that rent to annual numbers, and residents are saving renters $6,144 per year vs. the national median. That's a spread that makes moving costs look trivial.
Our persona scoring model weights cost of living, income, rent, healthcare costs, tax burden, and population size differently based on what matters most to students. 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 students 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.