Montana cities

The best places to live in Montana

Montana's largest cities ranked on cost, safety, schools, jobs and quality of life. Billings leads the list.

We scored Montana's cities on the same factors as our state rankings, then ranked them. Below are the 7 largest by population. Two scores per city: value (what you get for the cost) and overall livability (everything combined). Tap any city for its full profile.

#CityMedian homeRentValueOverall
1 Billings $248,800 $965 70 77
2 Missoula $324,700 $971 59 73
3 Great Falls $190,300 $760 69 65
4 Helena $278,300 $880 45 44
5 Butte-Silver Bow $165,600 $704 53 38
6 Bozeman $466,400 $1,229 26 34
7 Kalispell $277,000 $849 28 19

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Sources: Home prices and rent from Zillow; income and jobs from the U.S. Census; schools from state education data; crime from the FBI; air quality from the EPA. Rankings are within Montana. Updated 2026.