What salary do you need to live in Billings, MT?

The cost side of living in Billings

A one-bedroom in Billings rents for a median of $874 a month, utilities the tenant pays included; a two-bedroom goes for $1,111 and a three-bedroom for $1,428. Over a full year, the two-bedroom median comes to $13,332.

Buying is the other half of the housing picture: owners put the median home in Billings, MT at $355,200. With median household income at $77,194, a typical home costs 4.6× a typical income, close to the middle of the range across US metros.

Price levels matter beyond rent. The Bureau of Economic Analysis measures Billings's overall prices at 93.5 on a scale where the nation is 100, which makes a $100,000 salary feel like about $106,922 would elsewhere.

Income needed for each grade in Billings

With a two-bedroom at the median rent, the score enters Tight at $37,000, Okay at $74,000 and Comfortable at $149,000 a year before tax. At the Comfortable line, a year of rent takes 9% of income and the median home is 2.4× income.

Royal, the top band, starts at $366,000. At that income rent is 4% of pay and the median home 1.0× income.

These lines come straight from the calculator's formula: the income is raised until the two-bedroom score crosses each cutoff, then rounded up to the next $1,000.

Scores at $50K, $75K, $100K and $150K in Billings

At $75,000, a one-bedroom scores 49 (Okay), a two-bedroom 45 (Okay) and a three-bedroom 42 (Tight). The $6,648 a year between the smallest and largest home is what moves the grade.

Of the four salaries, $150,000 is the first where a two-bedroom reads Comfortable or better; $100,000 still lands at Okay.

Where Billings falls nationally

Ranked against all 387 metros, Billings sits 195th on overall price level and 209th on the two-bedroom rent median, counting from the most expensive. Its median home value ranks 106th.

Its nearest neighbors on the rent list are Lubbock, TX ($1,112) and St. Cloud, MN ($1,110).

Billings vs. the rest of Montana

Statewide, Montana's median two-bedroom rent is $1,099 and its median home value $375,800. Billings's rent is +1% against that, and its home value −5%; the price parity is 93.5 versus 94.6 for the state.

Scored the same way, the statewide figures turn Comfortable at $156,000, so Billings needs $7,000 less than Montana overall.

Looking for somewhere comparable without leaving Montana? Helena, MT, Missoula, MT, and Great Falls, MT have the closest mix of rent and overall prices.

Where the typical Billings household lands

A household at the Billings median income of $77,194 would see a two-bedroom score of 46 — Okay — with rent at 17% of income. The Comfortable line is 93% above what the median household makes. For Montana as a whole, the median household income of $72,509 scores 43 against statewide rents. Keep in mind a household median often combines two incomes.

All figures are pre-tax estimates from public data, not financial advice.