Montana has 55 distinct rent areas for a population of about 1.1 million.
That is 55 areas across 56 counties: HUD measures almost every Montana county on its own. Arizona, with seven times the population and a larger land area, is divided into fourteen.
The practical result is that Montana's statewide two-bedroom figure of $1,307 describes almost nowhere in particular. Its areas run from $973 to $2,154 — a 121% spread.
A note before you start. This is general education, not housing, legal or financial advice. Rent figures come from HUD's Fair Market Rents for FY2026, published under 24 CFR 888.113. An FMR is the 40th percentile of GROSS rent — rent plus tenant-paid utilities — for standard-quality units in a defined rent area, so roughly 60% of units cost more. Take-home figures are computed by this site's own tax engine for tax year 2026 on a single filer taking the standard deduction. Montana landlord-tenant law is outside this dataset.
1. What HUD says renting costs in Montana
| Unit size | Statewide fair market rent |
|---|---|
| Studio | $968 |
| 1 bedroom | $1,067 |
| 2 bedroom | $1,307 |
| 3 bedroom | $1,702 |
| 4 bedroom | $1,990 |
The two-to-three-bedroom step is $395, or 30% — $4,740 a year.
The studio-to-one-bedroom step is $99, about 10%, which is a normal-shaped market. Montana's unusual feature is not the shape of its unit-size ladder; it is how finely the state is divided.
Work out what rent your own income actually supports in Montana2. Fifty-five rent areas
| Measure | Montana |
|---|---|
| Distinct rent areas | 55 |
| Cheapest 2-bedroom area | $973 — the administered minimum |
| Dearest 2-bedroom area | $2,154 |
| Internal spread | 121% |
| Statewide median | $1,307 |
Fifty-five areas across 56 counties means almost every Montana county is measured on its own.
This is genuinely useful and it is easy to under-use. In a state carved into fourteen areas, a county figure is an average over places that differ. In Montana it usually is not — the number for your county is largely a number for your county.
The consequence is that the statewide median is unusually weak as a guide here. $1,307 is the midpoint of 55 numbers spanning $973 to $2,154. It is arithmetic, not description.
Look up the county. In Montana it will actually tell you something.
And the $973 floor is real — Montana is one of seventeen states with a rent area sitting exactly at the administered minimum, so a genuinely cheap corner exists, unlike in Arizona, Vermont, Maine or Delaware.
3. Missoula and Billings
| County | Studio | 2 bedroom | 3 bedroom | 4 bedroom | Rent area |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Missoula County | $1,143 | $1,655 | $2,302 | $2,776 | Missoula, MT HUD Metro FMR Area |
| Yellowstone County (Billings) | $1,016 | $1,417 | $1,951 | $2,216 | Billings, MT HUD Metro FMR Area |
Missoula is $238 a month above Billings on a two-bedroom — $2,856 a year.
But look at the larger units. Missoula's three-bedroom is $351 above Billings's, and its four-bedroom is $560 above — $6,720 a year.
| Unit size | Missoula premium over Billings |
|---|---|
| Studio | +$127 |
| 2 bedroom | +$238 |
| 3 bedroom | +$351 |
| 4 bedroom | +$560 |
The premium grows with every bedroom. A single person pays 13% more to live in Missoula than Billings; a family needing four bedrooms pays 25% more.
Missoula's own ladder is the steepest part of this. Its two-to-three-bedroom step is $647 — a 39% jump, against Billings's 38% and the statewide 30%. Family-sized housing in Missoula is expensive in a way its studios are not.
Income required at 3x: $59,580 for Missoula's two-bedroom and $51,012 for Billings's.
4. Three things a fair market rent is not
It is the 40th percentile, not the median. Roughly 60% of standard-quality units rent for more than the FMR.
It is GROSS rent, including tenant-paid utilities. A Montana winter is a serious heating load — Montana records some of the coldest sustained winter temperatures in the lower 48. The difference between heat included and heat not included is worth a great deal here, and it is concentrated in five or six months rather than spread evenly.
It is per rent area, not per county — though in Montana, with 55 areas across 56 counties, the two are unusually close to the same thing.
5. No sales tax, and a two-rate income tax
Montana is one of five states with no general sales tax — alongside Alaska, Delaware, New Hampshire and Oregon.
For a renter that is worth real money and it appears in no figure on this page. A household spending $25,000 a year on taxable goods in a state with a 7% combined rate pays about $1,750 in sales tax; in Montana it pays nothing. That is larger than the income tax difference between many pairs of states.
Montana's income tax is a two-rate structure, and its lower rate applies to a band of income before the higher rate begins. The state also allows a deduction, so the effective rate at the salaries discussed here is meaningfully below the top statutory rate.
| Annual salary | 30% of gross | 30% of Montana take-home | The gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| $45,000 | $1,125 | $924 | $201 |
| $60,000 | $1,500 | $1,208 | $292 |
| $85,000 | $2,125 | $1,628 | $497 |
At a 3x landlord screen, Montana rent is 40.7% of take-home — comfortably above 30%, as it is in every state.
6. What the two-bedroom actually requires
| Statewide | Missoula | Billings | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2-bedroom | $1,307 | $1,655 | $1,417 |
| Gross income a 3x screen demands | $47,052 | $59,580 | $51,012 |
What passing that screen leaves
| Statewide 2-bed | |
|---|---|
| Gross income required | $47,052 |
| Montana take-home, single filer | About $38,520 |
| Take-home per month | $3,210 |
| Rent | $1,307 |
| Rent as a share of take-home | 40.7% |
What the two-bedroom costs at real salaries
| Annual salary | Statewide | Missoula | Billings |
|---|---|---|---|
| $45,000 | 42.4% | 53.7% | 46.0% |
| $60,000 | 32.5% | 41.1% | 35.2% |
| $85,000 | 24.1% | 30.5% | 26.1% |
Rent as a share of take-home pay.
At $85,000 Missoula sits at 30.5% — essentially exactly on HUD's line measured against take-home, and just past it.
At $45,000 nothing works. The statewide figure is 42.4% and Missoula is 53.7%, which HUD classes as severely cost-burdened.
And $85,000 is a high salary in Montana. The state's wage levels are below the national average across most occupations, which means the $45,000 and $60,000 columns describe a larger share of Montana renters than they would in most states.
7. Rent versus buy in Montana
Three things decide it, and the rent is not one of them:
Appreciation. Backward-looking, county-specific, and not a forecast — and in Montana it is the input to treat most carefully. Several Montana markets, Gallatin County among them, saw very large price movements over a short period. A backward-looking figure taken across that window is not a prediction of the next one.
Selling costs. Around 7% of the sale price, and it never comes back.
Ongoing carrying cost. Montana's effective property tax rates sit near the middle nationally. The state operates a property tax assistance programme for lower-income homeowners; the current thresholds are outside this dataset and are worth checking against the Montana Department of Revenue directly.
One Montana-specific factor: the absence of sales tax cuts both ways here. It makes Montana cheaper to live in as either a renter or an owner, so it does not tip the rent-versus-buy comparison — but it does mean the money you save can go into a deposit faster than it could in a sales-tax state.
Run the Montana rent-versus-buy calculator with your own county.
8. What you can actually control
Look up your county, and trust it. Montana's 55 rent areas mean a county figure here is a real measurement rather than a blurred average. The statewide $1,307 is the least useful number on this page.
If you need three or four bedrooms, the Missoula premium is much larger than the headline. $238 a month on a two-bedroom becomes $560 on a four-bedroom.
There is a $973 corner. Unlike Arizona, Vermont, Maine or Delaware, Montana genuinely has rent areas at the administered minimum — so moving within the state to lower your rent is a real option, if the work is there.
Ask what heat costs. Montana winters are long and the FMR is a gross-rent figure that already assumes you are paying for them.
Get the landlord test and the budget test straight. 3x gross gets you approved. 30% of take-home is what you can carry. On Missoula's $1,655 those are $59,580 of income and, at that income, $1,200 of rent — $455 less than the rent itself.
Existing debt does not appear in the landlord's test.
Count the absent sales tax. It is worth real money every year and it is in none of the percentages above.
9. How HUD's cost-burden thresholds actually work
The 30% and 50% figures quoted throughout this article are not rules of thumb. They are regulatory definitions, and knowing where they come from tells you what they are and are not good for.
HUD defines a household as "cost-burdened" when it spends more than 30% of gross income on housing, and "severely cost-burdened" above 50%. The threshold traces back to the National Housing Act, and HUD uses it to measure housing need and to set programme eligibility.
Three things follow from that origin, and all three matter to a renter:
It is measured against gross income because a housing programme can verify gross income. A caseworker can read a W-2. They cannot easily verify what your actual tax withholding, retirement deferrals and health premiums leave you. Gross is administratively tractable, not economically correct.
It counts housing costs, not just rent. HUD's measure includes utilities, which is precisely why the fair market rent is defined as gross rent. If you are comparing your own situation against the 30% threshold, include your utility bills — otherwise you are measuring a smaller number against the same line.
It is a population statistic before it is personal advice. The threshold exists to answer "how many households in this county are struggling," and it does that job well. It was never designed to tell one household what it can afford, and it does not account for household size, debt, childcare, medical costs, or the tax rate where you live.
Which is why this article reports both figures. In Montana a two-bedroom at $1,307 against a $47,052 income is exactly at HUD's 30% line by HUD's own measure. Against what actually reaches that household's account it is closer to 40%. Both numbers are correct; they answer different questions.
If you want one number to plan around, use 30% of take-home. It is the more conservative of the two, it is the one that reflects what you can actually spend, and it is what this site's calculator reports alongside the conventional figure.
10. What a landlord checks besides your income
The 3x income screen is the most visible test, and it is not the only one. None of the following is a legal requirement — they are common industry practice, and individual landlords differ.
Credit score. Most professionally managed buildings run a credit check, and many publish a minimum. A low score does not automatically disqualify you, but it commonly triggers a larger deposit or a guarantor requirement.
Rental history and references. Previous landlords, length of tenancy, and any eviction filings. An eviction filing can appear on a tenant screening report even where the case was dismissed, which is worth knowing if you have one.
The security deposit. How much a landlord may ask for, when it must be returned, and what may be deducted are all governed by state law, and those rules vary enormously. Check Montana's own statute — this site's rent dataset covers HUD fair market rents and does not cover landlord-tenant law, so nothing on this page should be read as describing it.
Application fees. Charged per applicant in most markets, and often non-refundable. Applying to several places at once is a real cost.
Guarantors and co-signers. Where an applicant fails the income screen, many landlords will accept a guarantor — commonly at a higher multiple, such as 80x the monthly rent in annual income rather than 36x. That is a much larger number than the tenant's own test, and it is the usual route for students and recent graduates.
Proof of income. Pay stubs, an offer letter, or tax returns for the self-employed. Self-employed applicants are frequently asked for two years of returns, which is a materially higher bar than a salaried applicant faces on the same income.
The practical point: the 3x screen decides whether you clear the first filter. Everything above decides whether you get the apartment, and several of those items cost money to fail.
11. When these figures change
HUD publishes fair market rents annually, effective at the start of the federal fiscal year on 1 October. The figures in this article are FY2026.
Three ways your area's number can move:
Re-measurement. HUD builds FMRs from American Community Survey data with more recent trend adjustments. A rent area whose measured market has moved will see its figure move with it.
Redefinition. HUD occasionally redraws rent areas — splitting a metro, adding a county to one, or creating a small-area FMR where ZIP-level figures replace a single metro figure. When that happens, a county's published rent can change substantially without any change in its actual market. Montana has 55 rent areas today; that count is not fixed.
The floor. HUD applies a national minimum. In FY2026 the two-bedroom floor is $973, and seventeen states have at least one rent area sitting on it. When the floor rises, every area at the floor rises with it — regardless of what happened locally.
What that means for planning. A fair market rent is a well-sourced annual snapshot, not a forecast. If you are signing a twelve-month lease, the figure that matters is the rent in the lease, and the FMR is context for judging whether that rent is reasonable for the area and the unit size.
Voucher holders should note one thing more. FMRs set the basis for Housing Choice Voucher payment standards, and a public housing agency may set its standard within a range around the FMR rather than exactly at it. Your agency's payment standard is the operative number, not the published FMR.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average rent in Montana? HUD's statewide fair market rent for a two-bedroom is $1,307 a month for FY2026, eighteenth-highest of the fifty states. Missoula County is $1,655 and Yellowstone County (Billings) is $1,417.
Why does Montana have 55 rent areas? Because HUD measures non-metropolitan geography county by county, and Montana is a large state with 56 counties and few metropolitan areas. The result is that almost every Montana county gets its own measurement.
Is the statewide figure useful in Montana? Less than in most states. It is the midpoint of 55 numbers spanning $973 to $2,154 — arithmetic rather than description. Look up your county instead.
What income do I need to rent a two-bedroom in Missoula? A 3x landlord screen on Missoula County's $1,655 needs $59,580 a year. In Billings, on $1,417, it needs $51,012.
Why is Missoula so much more expensive for families? Missoula's step from a two-bedroom to a three-bedroom is $647, a 39% jump against the statewide 30%. Its four-bedroom is $560 above Billings's, against a $238 gap on the two-bedroom.
Does Montana's lack of a sales tax help renters? Yes, and it appears in no figure on this page. A household spending $25,000 a year on taxable goods saves roughly $1,750 against a 7% combined-rate state — larger than the income tax difference between many pairs of states.
Is 30% of income a realistic rent budget in Montana? 30% of Montana take-home at $85,000 is about $1,628. The statewide $1,307 and Billings's $1,417 both fit inside it; Missoula's $1,655 is $27 over.
Should I buy in Montana instead? Montana's property tax sits near the national middle and a lower-income assistance programme exists. The input to treat carefully is appreciation — several Montana markets moved very sharply over a short period, and a backward-looking figure across that window is not a forecast.
What to do next
Montana is divided almost county by county, which makes its statewide figure the least useful number available and its county figure the most.
- Montana rent affordability calculator — the landlord's test and the budget test, side by side.
- Montana take-home pay — the two-rate structure at your own salary.
- Montana rent vs buy — the break-even year, computed rather than assumed.
- The 30% rule is measured against the wrong number — the full argument.
- Renting in the USA in 2026 — all fifty states, county by county.
Every figure on this site is sourced and dated. How we source every number.
Rent figures are HUD Fair Market Rents for FY2026, from HUD User, published under 24 CFR 888.113. An FMR is the 40th percentile of gross rent including tenant-paid utilities for standard-quality units in a defined rent area — not a market median. Statewide figures are the median across Montana's 55 distinct rent areas, unweighted by population. Take-home figures are computed by this site's own tax engine for tax year 2026 on a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependents or pre-tax deferrals, using federal figures from IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-32. The 3x landlord screen is a common industry practice, not a legal standard. Montana landlord-tenant law, property tax rates and the property tax assistance programme are outside this dataset and are discussed qualitatively. This is general education and not housing, legal or financial advice.