Montana

Typical Montana home value up 66% in four years

Published

8 months ago

July 15, 2025

Typical Montana home value up 66% in four years

Montana’s typical home value has increased by two-thirds in four years, according to new valuations published this month by the Montana Department of Revenue.

The department estimates that the median residential property in Montana was worth $378,000 as of the beginning of last year. Four years previously, before the state housing market blew up during the COVID-19 pandemic, the median value was $228,000 — meaning values have increased 66%.

The department’s valuations, produced every other year for the purpose of calculating property tax bills, are a somewhat delayed look at Montana’s real estate market. The new figures represent the department’s effort to estimate market conditions as of Jan. 1, 2024.

However, because state law keeps sale prices for individual properties private, the tax valuation data is one of the most comprehensive measures available for the Montana housing market at a time when housing affordability — and property tax bills — are major points of public concern.

The valuations indicate that the potential market price for the median residential property statewide increased by 35% during the 2023 reappraisal cycle, which accounted for shifts between 2020 and 2022, and then by another 22% with this year’s cycle.

The increases tabulated by the department generally align with data from other sources. A Montana housing price index kept by real estate website Zillow, for example, estimates that the price of the typical Montana home rose by 61% between the start of 2020 and the start of 2024. Zillow’s typical home value estimates are higher than the state figures — $449,000 at the beginning of 2024 and $465,000 as of June.

Buying a median $228,000 home in 2020 with a 10% down payment and a mortgage at the then-average 3.5% interest rate would have required a housing payment of about $921 a month, excluding property taxes and insurance. Four years later, with that median home at $378,000 and interest rates at 6.6%, the monthly housing payment would be about $2,173 — 2.4 times as much.

In comparison, the per-capita personal income available to the average Montanan grew by 26% over the past four years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. The average personal income as of 2024, $67,625, is enough for a $1,700-a-month housing payment if no more than 30% of income is put toward housing expenses.

Montana elected officials have responded to concerns about rising home prices by passing a number of laws intended to encourage housing construction, in some cases by limiting the power of cities and counties to restrict new development over concerns such as parking availability.

On the property tax side, lawmakers also passed a major tax code rework this year that aims to address how higher values have translated to higher taxes for homeowners and long-term rental landlords, ultimately shifting much higher taxes to residential properties being used as second homes.

The most expensive home prices are generally in and around Montana’s fast-growing urban centers. Gallatin County, around Bozeman, has the state’s most expensive median home value, at $685,000, according to the state data. That’s a 77% increase in four years.

Madison County (including both Ennis and portions of Big Sky) has the second-highest median value at $671,000, followed by Flathead County (Kalispell) at $578,000 and Missoula County at $507,000.

Southwest Montana counties that have historically had affordable housing markets saw the fastest value growth. The median values in three southwest Montana counties — Granite (Philipsburg), Deer Lodge (Anaconda) and Madison — have more than doubled in four years.

Flathead County also came close to the doubling threshold, with a 95% increase in prices bringing the county median to $578,000.

Additionally, many rural plains counties in north-central and eastern Montana have also seen hefty increases in excess of 30% or 40%, according to the state data.

Fergus County, around Lewistown, for example, has seen its median home value increase by 82% in four years, to $242,000. Custer County, around Miles City, has seen a 44% increase, to $194,000.

During the first of the two COVID-era reappraisal cycles, growth was especially focused on western Montana. Some eastern Montana counties, such as Daniels (Scobey), Sheridan (Plentywood) and Roosevelt (Wolf Point) in the state’s northeast corner, actually posted modest value declines.

By the time numbers were tabulated for this year’s cycle, however, higher prices had come to eastern Montana. Daniels County, for example, shifted from an 8% decline to a 36% increase.

Additionally, 30%-plus growth sustained across both cycles in much of western Montana, particularly counties in the state’s northwest corner. Lincoln County, around Libby, for example, saw a 41% increase followed by a 31% one, bringing its median value up from $177,000 to $324,000.

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Montana

Your guide to local sports events, plus what’s on TV

Published

8 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Your guide to local sports events, plus what’s on TV

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Montana

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

Published

20 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

HELENA — You probably have goals and plans for 2026—the Montana Department of Agriculture does too.

“We’re really focusing on innovative agricultural practices,” Montana Department of Agriculture director Jillien Streit said.

It’s no secret that agriculture—farming and ranching—is not easy. There are long days, planning, monitoring crops and livestock, and other challenges beyond farmers’ and ranchers’ control.

(WATCH: Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026)

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

“We have very low commodity prices across the board,” Streit said. “We still have very high input prices across the board, and we have really high prices when it comes to our equipment, and so, it’s a really tough year.”

But innovation, including new practices, partnerships and technology use, can help navigate some of those challenges.

“We can’t make more time and we can’t make more land, so we need to start putting together innovative practices that help us maximize what our time and land can do,” Streit said.

Practices range from using technology like autonomous tractors and virtual fencing—allowing rangers to contain and move cattle right from their phones—to regenerative farming and ranching.

“It is bringing cattle back into farming operations to be able to work with cover cropping practices to invigorate the soil for new soil health benefits,” Streit said.

The Montana Department of Agriculture is working to help producers learn, share, and collaborate on new ideas to work in their operations.

The department will share stories of practices that work from farms and ranches across the state. Also, within the next year or so, Streit said the department is hoping to roll out technology to help producers collaborate.

“(It’s) providing a communication platform where people can get together and really help each other out by utilizing each other’s assets,” she said.

While not easy, agriculture is still one of Montana’s largest industries, and Streit said innovating and sharing ideas across the state can keep it going long into the future.

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Montana

Frontier Conference women: MSU-Northern, Montana Western pull upsets to advance to semifinal round

Published

1 day ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Frontier Conference women: MSU-Northern, Montana Western pull upsets to advance to semifinal round

BUTTE — MSU-Northern and Montana Western pulled a pair of upsets Saturday at the Butte Civic Center to wrap up the quarterfinal round of the Frontier Conference women’s basketball postseason tournament.

The fifth-seeded Skylights started the day with a red-hot shooting performance to down No. 4 Rocky Mountain College 82-74. Western, the sixth seed, used a third-quarter surge to defeat No. 3 Carroll College 65-56.

MSU-Northern (17-11) and Western (14-13) now advance to Sunday’s semifinal round, where the Skylights will play No. 1 seed Dakota State at noon and the Bulldogs will face No. 2 Montana Tech at 2:30 p.m.

MSU-Northern 82, Rocky Mountain College 74

MSU-Northern sizzled in the first quarter, making seven 3-pointers to take a double-digit lead, and put together a crucial third-quarter run to get past Rocky and advance to the semifinal round.

Becky Melcher splashed four 3s in the first 10 minutes, and Taya Trottier, Canzas HisBadHorse and Shania Moananu added one apiece as the Skylights built a 29-13 lead. Melcher scored 14 first-quarter points and finished with a game-high 30 on 10-of-19 shooting (7 of 15 from 3-point range). She added 11 rebounds, a blocked shot and three steals to her stat line.

Rocky battled back to tie the game at 36-36 in the second quarter on a Brenna Linse basket, but MSUN responded with consecutive triples from Trottier and Melcher and took a 44-38 lead into halftime. The Bears eventually stole the lead back in the third quarter following a 9-0 run capped be an Isabelle Heggem bucket.

But the Skylights again answered — this time with a 13-2 run to take a 60-51 lead. MSUN led 66-59 going to the fourth and wouldn’t trail the rest of the way. The Skylights trailed for less than two total minutes of the game.

As a team, MSUN made 14 of 26 3s in the game. Ciera Agasiva was 3 for 3 from behind the arc, and Trottier was 2 for 3. Trottier had 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists, while Agasiva had 13 points.

Paige Wasson led Rocky (20-9) with 29 points but was 0 for 10 on 3-point attempts. Heggem had a double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds.

Montana Western 65, Carroll 56

After neither team led by more than five points in the first half, Western broke open a 25-25 tie game by outscoring Carroll 20-9 in the third quarter.

Bailee Sayler scored 10 points in the quarter, including making two 3-pointers, to help the Bulldogs take control. They led 45-34 going to the fourth, and Carroll wouldn’t get closer than six points the rest of the way.

The Fighting Saints were just 18-of-65 shooting (27.7%) for the game.

Sayler scored an efficient 22 points on 7-of-8 shooting. She was 2 for 3 from 3-point range and 6 for 7 at the free throw line. The Missoula native also had nine rebounds.

Isabella Lund added 16 points for the Bulldogs, and Keke Davis had 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Carroll (19-10) was led by Kenzie Allen with 12 points. Willa Albrecht and Meagan Karstetter scored 11 points apiece for the Saints.

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