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Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
In plain English: Dollar for dollar, few states match Montana's value. 1 out of 1 cities undercut the national cost index of 111. Leading the pack: Billings at index 81, where median rent of $1,383/month saves renters $6,144/year versus the national median (not adjusted for inflation, but still tell…
In plain English: Dollar for dollar, few states match Montana's value. 1 out of 1 cities undercut the national cost index of 111. Leading the pack: Billings at index 81, where median rent of $1,383/month saves renters $6,144/year versus the national median (not adjusted for inflation, but still telling).
What does daily life actually cost in Billings? Start with the 23% rent-to-income ratio — that's the kind of margin that lets people build savings. On the category level, Housing (index 81) is where the real savings show up, while Healthcare (index 96) is the line item most likely to surprise newcomers. Income at $71,855 — not a number you see very often, by the way — and homes at $390,654 round out a profile that ranks #1 for clear reasons (which, to be fair, is a metric that favors smaller cities).
Rent data is sourced from Zillow's Observed Rent Index (ZORI), which tracks the median rent across all active listings — not just new leases. This gives a more representative and stable signal than asking prices alone. Billings: $1,383/mo — we had to double-check this one — . The cheapest city here is $512 under the national median — that's $6,144/year in savings on rent alone (not adjusted for inflation, but still telling).
It's a strong position — but not without footnotes. The 1 cities we track in Montana paint a clearly affordable picture. Average cost index: 81. Median rent: $1,383/month — worth pausing on — . Household income: $71,855. Montana is known for Big Sky country with an inflating housing bubble — and the data backs that reputation convincingly. Hard to argue with that.
What to do with this data: use the ranking as a shortlist, then dig into the city profiles for trend lines and category breakdowns. And as far as the data shows, the difference between #1 and #5 is often smaller than the difference between "good on paper" and "actually fits my life." Compare your top picks with our calculator to see real take-home numbers.
#1 Ranked: Billings — cost index 81, rent $1,383/mo, income $71,855
1 of 1 cities come in below the national cost-of-living average of 111
Data sourced from Census Bureau, Zillow, BLS, and Tax Foundation — current as of 2026
120,864 residents · Montana
At $1,383/month — which, honestly, is lower than you'd expect here — for rent and a cost index of 81, Billings is pretty much what you'd expect from a mid-size city in this part of the country. Income is $71,855. You get the picture (not adjusted for inflation, but still telling). A real contender.
Rent is the single largest expense for most households. We rank all tracked cities in Montana by median 1-bedroom rent (Zillow ZORI) from lowest to highest, filtering out any cities with incomplete data. 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 81 and 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.