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

Rent, home values and prices in Helena

Census figures put the median gross rent in the Helena, MT metro at $853 for a one-bedroom, $1,102 for a two-bedroom and $1,541 for a three-bedroom. Moving from one to two bedrooms adds $249 a month, and the third bedroom another $439.

Homeowners in Helena report a median home value of $401,200. That works out to 5.1× the local median household income of $78,528, a mid-range ratio.

BEA's Regional Price Parity for the metro is 95.7, where 100 is the US average. In plain terms, the full basket of goods, services and housing costs 4.3% less than average, so $100,000 here buys roughly what $104,521 would at average US prices.

Income needed for each grade in Helena

For two bedrooms, $165,000 is where Helena turns Comfortable. Below that, $82,000 marks the start of Okay and $41,000 the start of Tight; under $41,000 the score reads Stretched. Rent at the Comfortable line is 8% of gross pay.

Royal, the top band, starts at $399,000. At that income rent is 3% 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.

Helena at four common salaries

At $75,000, a one-bedroom scores 46 (Okay), a two-bedroom 43 (Tight) and a three-bedroom 37 (Tight). The $8,256 a year between the smallest and largest home is what moves the grade.

Comfortable is above every row of the table here. At $150,000 a two-bedroom still grades Okay, with rent taking 9% of income.

Helena compared with every US metro

On price level Helena is 153rd of 387 (1 = most expensive); on two-bedroom rent it is 215th, and on median home value 75th. The two rankings agree, both falling in the middle half.

For a sense of scale, the metros just above and below it on two-bedroom rent are Warner Robins, GA ($1,103) and Lawrence, KS ($1,100).

Helena vs. the rest of Montana

How Helena stacks up against its state: $1,102 for a two-bedroom against Montana's $1,099, $401,200 for the median home against $375,800, and a price level of 95.7 against 94.6.

The Montana figure for the Comfortable line, using state medians, is $156,000 against $165,000 for Helena.

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

Does the typical Helena income clear the bar?

A household at the Helena median income of $78,528 would see a two-bedroom score of 44 — Tight — with rent at 17% of income. That falls $86,472 short of the $165,000 Comfortable line, a reminder that the typical household here spends a larger share on housing than the Comfortable band allows. For Montana as a whole, the median household income of $72,509 scores 43 against statewide rents. A household figure may pool several earners, unlike a single salary.

Treat every number here as a pre-tax, public-data estimate rather than financial advice.