Montana

How Montana ranks among the states

Montana ranks 47th of the 50 states and D.C., among the five least distressed. Where Montanans’ income comes from also stands out. In 2024, dividends, interest and rent made up 27.1% of all the income Montanans received, the 3rd highest share in the country (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis). Wages and salaries made up 41.5%, tied for 3rd lowest. These income figures sit beside very little debt trouble in Montana; we haven’t measured whether one explains the other.

Montana spent every quarter from mid-2006 to early 2025 in the less distressed half of the states

How many people live in Montana? More each year since 2020, and all of the growth came from people moving in

Montana had 1,144,694 residents on July 1, 2025, by the Census Bureau’s estimate. That was 5.3% more than in July 2020, growth tied for 10th fastest among the 50 states and D.C. over those five years. Deaths outnumbered births in every year from 2021 through 2025, so the gain came from people arriving from other states and abroad.

Growth is well below its 2021 pace. Moves from other states added 20,693 people in the year to July 2021 but 6,348 in the year to July 2025, as the table shows.

Montana’s 56 counties range from Yellowstone, around Billings, the most populous, to Petroleum, with 554 residents. Strain is concentrated in a handful of those counties, as the next sections show. Montana’s counties, ranked →

Montana’s three poorest counties are also its three most distressed: Glacier, Roosevelt and Big Horn

Of Montana’s 56 counties, Glacier County, whose seat is Cut Bank, had the highest poverty rate in 2024, 25.9%, by the Census Bureau’s estimate. It is also the state’s most distressed county on our County Distress Index, which scores strain on household budgets in all 3,144 U.S. counties. Glacier scores 90, so it is more distressed than 90% of those counties. Roosevelt and Big Horn counties hold the next two places on both lists. No Montana county reaches the nation’s 100 most distressed. At the other end, Jefferson and Stillwater counties score 1 and rank among the 100 least distressed in the country.

Every county, by score

Most of Montana sits in the least distressed group: 36 of its 56 counties score under 30, and they are home to 73.0% of Montanans. Glacier alone scores 80 or more, with 1.2% of the state’s people. The three counties in the 70s are Big Horn, Roosevelt and Musselshell.

All Montana counties, ranked →

Are Montana’s reservation counties more distressed than the rest of the state? By far

Yes. Using the Census Bureau’s 2020 land records, we picked out the seven counties that each hold more than half of one of Montana’s seven Indian reservations. Weighted by population, their County Distress Index scores average 60. The other 49 counties average 23. The seven are home to 8.9% of Montanans but include five of the state’s ten most distressed counties.

The table below sets the seven beside Montana’s five most populous counties, which hold 54.5% of Montana’s residents, and beside every other county. Each group’s score and poverty rate weight its counties by population.

What the grouping can’t tell you

A county’s score covers everyone who lives there, tribal members and others alike, and our index records neither race nor tribal membership. The reasons behind any county’s score aren’t in our data, so this page doesn’t offer an explanation.

Strain isn’t confined to the reservation counties. Musselshell, Sanders, Lincoln, Wheatland and Silver Bow also rank among Montana’s ten most distressed without holding most of a reservation. Sanders does hold part of one: 37.0% of the Flathead Reservation’s land lies there. Every county’s page, ranked →

What changed in Montana in the past year

1. Oct. 6, 2026

   A month-long strike at Sibanye-Stillwater’s Montana mine and smelter ended

   Union workers at the Stillwater Mine and the company’s smelter and refinery in Columbus, the seat of Stillwater County, walked out on Sept. 3. On Oct. 6 the union approved a three-year contract, a company spokesperson told the Montana Free Press; the paper did not report its terms. On our County Distress Index, Stillwater County scores 1, among Montana’s least distressed counties.

   Montana Free Press, the strike begins and the strike ends

2. July 31, 2026

   The Homeowner Assistance Fund’s last application day for mortgage help

   Montana Housing set July 31 at 5 p.m. as the last day to apply for help catching up on a mortgage or clearing a lien, and March 31 as the last day for utility help. The program spends federal pandemic relief money (see foreclosure). In May 2025, the Montana Department of Commerce said the program’s funding would expire Sept. 30, 2026.

   Montana Housing, Homeowner Assistance Fund; Montana Department of Commerce, release of May 14, 2025

3. July 1, 2026

   Many Medicaid expansion adults must report work or other activity

   Medicaid expansion adults ages 19 to 64 who aren’t in an excluded group must document 80 hours a month of work, community service, school or job training, the state health department says. American Indian and Alaska Native members are among the groups left out of the rule. The department ties the change to the 2025 federal law known as H.R. 1; neither of the department’s pages cited here gives a count of people affected.

   Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, Medicaid changes and release of June 30, 2026

4. Feb. 1, 2026

   NorthWestern Energy’s new electric and gas rates were set to start

   On Nov. 19, 2025, the Montana Public Service Commission let NorthWestern count $246 million of its Yellowstone County Generating Station in the base on which NorthWestern’s rates are built. The utility had asked for $289 million. NorthWestern’s rate page says the new rates begin Feb. 1. By NorthWestern’s own estimate, a 750 kWh monthly electric bill falls $2.16 against January rates, and a 65-therm gas bill rises $1.62.

   Montana Public Service Commission, Nov. 19, 2025; NorthWestern Energy, Montana rate review facts

5. Jan. 1, 2026

   Montana’s minimum wage went up with inflation

   The state minimum wage rose to $10.85 an hour from $10.55, an increase tied to inflation, the state labor department’s notice says. Montana’s labor department has set the next step, to $11.20, for Jan. 1, 2027 (see what to watch).

   Montana’s labor department, state minimum wage

Is Montana a poor state? Fewer Montanans are poor than Americans overall, but incomes trail most states

By the poverty rate, no. Census figures put 10.4% of Montanans below the poverty line in 2024, against 12.1% nationwide, tied for 17th lowest among the 50 states and D.C. (Census Bureau, Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates). By income, the picture is weaker. The typical household earned $75,520, which is 17th lowest among the 50 states and D.C., while the U.S. median was $81,604.

Montana’s poverty rate has fallen most years since 2013, and the chart below follows it against the nation’s from 1989.

Where Montana’s income comes from

Paychecks make up a smaller share of Montana’s income than of almost any other state’s, as the ranking section above shows (see how it ranks); the national wage share in 2024 was 49.7%. Benefit payments, such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, made up 18.8% of Montanans’ income, close to the U.S. share of 18.3%. Income per resident came to $69,240, below the national $73,204 (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis).

Montana is also older than most states. Over 2020 to 2024, 20.1% of residents were 65 or older, and 14.5% reported a disability, 14th highest among the states and D.C. (Census Bureau, American Community Survey).

SNAP reaches fewer Montanans than it did before the pandemic

SNAP, the federal food benefit once called food stamps, reached 72,352 Montanans in July 2026, the U.S. Department of Agriculture counts. That is 6.3% of the 2025 population, a smaller share than in all but eight states. The count was 8.0% lower than in July 2025 and well under the 105,498 Montana averaged from October 2019 through February 2020.

Set against the poverty rate, Montana’s SNAP count equals about 61 people for every 100 below the poverty line; nationwide the figure is about 87 (our calculation, July 2026 SNAP against 2024 poverty). SNAP’s income limit sits above the poverty line, so the two groups aren’t the same people. We haven’t found a source that explains why Montana’s ratio is lower, and a smaller count isn’t proof of less need.

Applications for SNAP and Medicaid go through Montana’s health department →

Why other sites give Montana a different poverty rate

The Census Bureau’s QuickFacts page shows 10.2%, a one-year estimate from the bureau’s American Community Survey. This page uses the bureau’s Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates, which cover the state and every county in one set. Sites built on the survey can also name Roosevelt County, not Glacier, as the poorest.

Benefit programs use a separate yardstick, the federal poverty guideline: $15,960 a year for a single person in 2026 (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). Rent against income →

Is Montana expensive to live in? For renters, rent takes a smaller bite of income than in most states

Montana renters pay less than renters in most states. Their median rent was $1,081 a month over 2020 to 2024, by the Census Bureau’s survey, against a national median of $1,413. A year of that rent equals 17.2% of the typical Montana household’s 2024 income; for the whole country it equals 20.8% (our calculation). We don’t track prices for groceries, utilities or homes, so we can’t rank Montana’s overall cost of living.

Commercial cost-of-living calculators put Montana above the national average, by different amounts: RentCafe’s by 11%, Salary.com’s by 5%. Neither counts debts or late payments, which our score does.

The chart below tracks how many renters pay half their income or more for housing, in Montana and nationwide, in every year the Census Bureau’s one-year survey was published.

That one share is the whole renters’ part of the State Distress Index, Montana’s lowest part (see how it ranks). County figures can differ: Gallatin County’s renters’ costs score is among the highest in the state (see Gallatin).

What is Montana’s unemployment rate? Among the lowest in the country, with payroll jobs a little below last year’s count

Montana’s jobless rate was 3.2% in August 2026, tied for 8th lowest among the 50 states and D.C., by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ count. The national rate was 4.1%, and Montana’s own rate a year earlier was 3.4%. BLS counted 522,100 jobs on Montana’s nonfarm payrolls that month, a preliminary figure 0.9% below a year earlier. BLS did not list that change as statistically significant.

BLS released September state rates on Oct. 20, too late for the October 2026 figures, which use August data. The chart below shows how Montana’s rate has compared with the nation’s since 1990.

Big Horn County has Montana’s highest unemployment rate

Montanans file unemployment claims with the state’s labor department, and its labor market information office publishes the state’s own job figures. The minimum wage rose on Jan. 1, 2026 (see what changed).

Are Montanans behind on their bills? Less often than people in all but four states

In early 2025, 11.0% of Montanans with a credit record had a debt 90 or more days late, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia found. That share was 5th lowest of the 50 states and D.C., against 17.2% for the whole country, our population-weighted average of the states. These figures count household debt, not state government debt.

Montana’s shares are below the U.S. shares on all four kinds of trouble the chart below compares, from debts in collections to late mortgage payments.

Montanans were less likely than Americans overall to be far behind on cards, car loans and mortgages in early 2025, and less likely to have a debt in collections

First quarter of 2025. Collections: the share of people with a credit record who had a debt with a collector. Loans: the share of Montana and U.S. borrowers 90 days or more behind on that kind of loan.

People with a debt in collections

Mont. 10.7% U.S. 13.2%

Card borrowers 90+ days late

Mont. 8.9% U.S. 13.5%

Car-loan borrowers 90+ days late

Mont. 5.5% U.S. 8.5%

Mortgage borrowers 90+ days late

Mont. 0.8% U.S. 1.2%

Among the 50 states and D.C., Montana’s share is 22nd lowest on collections, 5th lowest on cards, 12th lowest on car loans and tied for 7th lowest on mortgages. Each U.S. bar is our population-weighted average of the states.

Collections fell sharply. At the end of 2019, 18.8% of Montanans with a credit record had a debt in collections; by early 2025 the share was 10.7%. Most of that fall came between mid-2022 and mid-2023, the stretch in which the three big credit bureaus took most medical debts off credit reports.

Our data can’t show how much of Montana’s fall came from that change, and a debt missing from a report may still be owed. Nationwide, people with a medical collection on their report went from about 14% in March 2022 to about 5% in June 2023 (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau).

Card trouble moved the other way. At the end of 2019, 7.1% of Montana card borrowers were 90 days or more behind, against 8.9% in early 2025.

Bankruptcy in Montana: the filing rate is less than half the nation’s, even after three yearly increases

Montanans filed 830 bankruptcy cases in 2025, or 72.5 for every 100,000 residents (2025 population), by the count of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. That rate was 7th lowest among the 50 states and D.C.; the nation’s was 166.3. Filings rose 12.8% from 2024, faster than the national rise of 11.1%.

The 2025 total was Montana’s highest since 2020 and the third yearly rise in a row after a low of 591 in 2022. It was still below the 1,318 cases filed in 2019. Newer court figures show filings still climbing: 943 cases in the 12 months through June 2026.

Most Montana cases are Chapter 7, which cancels many debts outright, though a filer can lose property that state law leaves unprotected. Chapter 13 cases, in which a filer repays part of the debt under a court-approved plan of three to five years, made up 15.8% of Montana’s 2025 filings. Nationwide the share was 35.9%; Montana’s was tied for 6th lowest among the states and D.C.

The table below lists filings in selected years and in every year since 2019.

How does foreclosure work in Montana? A trustee can sell the home without a lawsuit, but not sooner than 120 days after notice

Montana’s name for a deed of trust is a trust indenture, and it names a trustee, a third party who can run the sale. When a trust indenture secures a home loan on 40 acres or less, the lender can sell the home through a trustee without going to court (Montana Code Annotated 71-1-304). The lender may also choose to go through the courts. The sale can’t take place until at least 120 days after the notice of sale is recorded (71-1-313).

The notice must be mailed by certified mail to the borrower at least 120 days before the sale. It must also be posted on the property at least 20 days ahead and printed in a local newspaper once a week for three weeks (71-1-315). Until the time set for the sale, the borrower can cancel the foreclosure by paying what is overdue, plus costs and capped fees (71-1-312 and 71-1-320).

After a trustee’s sale, the lender can’t sue the borrower for any balance left over (71-1-317), and the borrower has no right to buy the home back (71-1-318). The buyer may take possession on the 10th day after the sale (71-1-319). On a home the borrower lives in, federal rules generally bar the mortgage company from starting foreclosure until payments are more than 120 days late.

Montana was awarded $50.0 million from the federal Homeowner Assistance Fund and had helped 1,872 households with it, according to the U.S. Treasury’s report for the first quarter of 2026. The fund’s last application day was July 31, 2026 (see what changed). Housing counselors and legal aid are listed in Montana’s foreclosure guide.

Montana mortgage complaints to the CFPB: trouble with payments leads the list

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau logged 735 mortgage complaints from Montana between 2012 and mid-October 2026. Trouble during the payment process came up in 242 of them, more than any other issue. Loan servicing, payments and escrow came next, at 128, just ahead of loan modification, collection and foreclosure, at 116.

What to watch before the next edition

Each date below comes from the agency named with it, nearest first.

1. Nov. 1, 2026

   Montana’s ban on SNAP purchases of candy and sugary drinks is set to start

   Montana’s rule barring SNAP purchases of candy, sugary drinks, energy drinks and shelf-stable desserts is scheduled to start, after a delay, the state health department says. It doesn’t change who qualifies or how much a household gets.

   Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, SNAP food restriction; U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Administration, food restriction waivers

2. Nov. 20, 2026

   October jobless rates for every state

   The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics plans to release October state unemployment rates at 10 a.m., and November’s on Dec. 18. Montana’s August rate, the one this page ranks, was 3.2%.

   U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, release schedule

3. Nov. 30, 2026

   First half of property taxes due, the first year of new homestead rates

   County treasurers usually mail property-tax bills in late October, and the first half is due Nov. 30 or 30 days after the postmark, whichever is later. For tax year 2026, the Montana Department of Revenue applies a tax rate of 0.76% to the first $378,000 of market value for a home its owner lives in or rents out long term. Second homes and short-term rentals get a flat 1.90%. We don’t measure property-tax bills, so this page can’t say how much they changed.

   Montana Department of Revenue, 2026 property tax information and residential property

4. Jan. 1, 2027

   Minimum wage and Medicaid renewals change on the same day

   The minimum wage is set to rise to $11.20 an hour. The same day, the state health department says, most Medicaid expansion adults move to eligibility checks every six months. American Indian and Alaska Native members are left out of that change. For expansion adults, coverage backdated before an application shrinks from three months to one.

   Montana’s labor department, state minimum wage; Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, Medicaid changes

Where Montana ranks highest and lowest