Living in Billings, MT

Yellowstone County

Billings is real, currently Montana's largest city -- a genuinely distinct 2026 market this record discloses honestly rather than treating it as another mountain-west tourism/in-migration story like Bozeman, Missoula, or Whitefish. Billings is instead a real, current commercial, energy, healthcare, and agricultural-trade hub for a vast multi-state region: two active oil refineries (Phillips 66 and Par Pacific, the latter having acquired the former ExxonMobil facility in 2023), two major competing healthcare systems (Billings Clinic and St. Vincent Regional Hospital/Intermountain Health, together forming the primary referral hub for Montana, Wyoming, and the western Dakotas), and a real, ongoing role processing and transporting agricultural products from the surrounding region. On the strength side: unemployment runs genuinely low (approximately 2.8% in Yellowstone County), the city carries real, modest, ongoing population growth (unlike this project's Charleston, WV record), Montana has no general statewide sales tax, and a real 2025-enacted state income tax cut (HB 337) brought the 2026 top rate to 5.65% with a further cut to 5.4% scheduled for 2027. On the honest challenge side: Billings' housing market runs close to national parity rather than offering a substantial affordability advantage (Zillow's cited average home value, ~$398,212, ran only about 2.6% below the national median, though still roughly 46% below Bozeman's own average), homeowners insurance runs genuinely elevated (driven by a real, documented active hail corridor), crime runs genuinely above national and statewide comparison figures (even amid a real, cited 2025 year-over-year decline), and Billings carries a real, cited, high First Street Foundation wildfire-risk figure alongside a documented 2010 EF2 tornado and Montana's unresolved current Social Security tax treatment. This record states Billings' honest 2026 picture directly: a genuinely important regional hub with real economic and healthcare strengths, weighed honestly against a housing market that is not a bargain, an elevated insurance cost, and an above-average crime rate worth researching directly before committing to a specific Billings address.

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Housing

Median sale price$398,212

Taxes

Local effective property tax rate0.97%

Not independently sourced at the Yellowstone County level this session. Montana's top state income tax rate is 5.65%. See the Montana hub page for the statewide property tax context -- do not treat that figure as Billings-specific.

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The tradeoffs

Pros

Montana has no general statewide sales tax, and Billings is not a resort community, so the real, current combined sales tax rate here is 0.0%. A real, recent (2025) state income tax cut (HB 337) brought the 2026 top rate to 5.65%, with a further scheduled cut to 5.4% in 2027. Genuinely low unemployment (approximately 2.8% in Yellowstone County as of May 2026). Real, modest, ongoing population growth, a distinctly different picture from several other markets in this project's dataset. Two major, complementary healthcare systems (Billings Clinic and St. Vincent Regional Hospital) make Billings the primary regional referral hub for Montana, Wyoming, and the western Dakotas. Genuinely short average commute times (approximately 16-20 minutes, well below the national average). Substantially more affordable housing than Bozeman (roughly 46% below Bozeman's own average home value) even though Billings does not undercut the national median by a wide margin. Property tax runs modestly below the national comparison figure (~0.97% vs. ~1.02%), under a tiered structure that favors primary residences. Solid, consistent graduation rates (~89%) across the district's three comprehensive high schools.

Cons

Housing runs close to national parity rather than offering a substantial affordability edge: Zillow's cited average home value (~$398,212) ran only approximately 2.6% below the national median, a genuinely more modest advantage than several of this project's other Tier A+ markets. Homeowners insurance runs genuinely elevated -- a cited Billings average of approximately $3,428/year (with a typical range of $3,400-$4,500+/year), driven by a real, documented active hail corridor, above both the Montana statewide average and the national comparison figure (though this record also discloses a real, unresolved internal tension against a much-lower separate citation). Crime runs genuinely above comparison figures: sources cited Billings' overall crime rate at roughly 1.81 times the national rate and 1.88 times the Montana statewide rate, with more than 95% of Montana communities carrying a lower rate -- even amid a real, cited 2025 year-over-year decline of approximately 10%. A real, cited, strikingly high First Street Foundation wildfire-risk figure (approximately 71% of buildings at high risk) this record could not fully reconcile against Billings' setting. A real, documented June 2010 EF2 tornado struck the city directly. Montana's current 2026 Social Security tax treatment carries a real, disclosed, unresolved gap in the sources reviewed this pass. This record's own web-search budget did not surface a current, refreshed Par Pacific refinery employee count or fully reconcile the homeowners-insurance cross-source tension this pass -- real, disclosed research gaps.

Who this fits

Best for: Best fits movers whose specific priorities align with Billings' real strengths -- a career tied to regional healthcare (Billings Clinic or St. Vincent), energy (the Phillips 66 or Par Pacific refineries), agricultural trade, or Montana state/regional commerce; genuinely low unemployment and a real, current zero-percent sales tax; a real, recent state income tax cut; or genuinely short commute times and real access to the Rimrocks and nearby Beartooth Mountains for outdoor recreation -- and who take the city's real, honestly-disclosed challenges (a housing market close to national parity rather than a bargain, genuinely elevated homeowners insurance, an above-national-and-statewide crime rate, and a real, cited high wildfire-risk figure) seriously enough to research current, address-specific data directly before committing to a specific Billings neighborhood.

Maybe not for you if: Probably not the right fit for anyone specifically seeking Montana's most substantial housing-affordability advantage relative to the NATIONAL median, given this record's own disclosed calculation that Billings' average home value ran only about 2.6% below the national figure -- movers prioritizing a bigger national discount should compare Billings directly against other markets in this project's dataset. Anyone who requires a citywide crime profile clearly at or below the national average on every measure, given sources' citation of Billings' overall crime rate running roughly 1.81 times the national rate, even amid a real, disclosed recent-year improvement. Anyone highly risk-averse to hail damage or to a genuinely elevated homeowners-insurance cost, given Billings' real, documented active hail corridor and its cited insurance premiums running above both Montana's own statewide average and the national comparison figure. Anyone seeking Montana's mountain-resort lifestyle identity specifically (Big Sky, Whitefish, Bozeman's ski-town character) -- Billings is real, genuinely a commercial and healthcare hub first, not a tourism/lifestyle-migration destination, a distinction this record discloses directly rather than blurring.

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Last reviewed: 2026-08-28. Independent research; see individual metric entries above for source attribution. This is not financial, tax, or legal advice -- confirm current figures with a local professional before making a decision.