These Are The 10 Most Affordable Places In Montana

A wise sage once said “she works hard for the money” and these places in Montana definitely treat her right.

You see, these are the places in Montana where the cost of living is the lowest; where your salary goes the furthest. And when if you have the luxury of choosing where to live in the Treasure State, then the cost of living should play a role in the decision.

So we did the hard for you and crunched the numbers to find the cities that have lower food, energy, and housing costs. After the dust settled on our analysis of the 21 largest places in Montana, we were left with this set of the best value for your money:

1. Miles City
2. Lewistown
3. Anaconda-Deer Lodge County
4. Havre
5. Butte-Silver Bow
6. Laurel
7. Great Falls
8. Lockwood
9. Sidney
10. Evergreen

So listen up Orchard Homes as we explain how we created this ranking, you could learn some things from the rest of the state.

How We Determined The Most Affordable Places To Live In The Treasure State

There are basic necessities that you have to buy no matter where in the country you live. Those things include:

• Housing
• Food
• Gas
• Health Insurance
• Utilities
• Transportation

You can then compare the cost of these things in each of the places in Montana to figure out which is the least expensive.

What you are left with is a “Cost of Living Index” that normalizes to 100 for an average place in the United States.

So we used that cost of living index in order to rank all of the 21 places in Montana that have more than 5,000 people.

And just so you can better understand how the cost of living index works, 100 is the average cost of a place in the United States. A score of 90 means that the place cost 10% less than average. A score of 90 means it’s 10% less expensive.

San Francisco has a score of 243 meaning it’s almost 2.5 times as expensive as the average place in the country.

1. Miles City

Population: 8,428
Services: 97
Groceries: 107
Healthcare: 106
Housing: 53
Transportation: 104
Utiltiies: 86

2. Lewistown

Population: 5,897
Services: 101
Groceries: 101
Healthcare: 106
Housing: 60
Transportation: 94
Utiltiies: 86

3. Anaconda-Deer Lodge County

Population: 9,277
Services: 101
Groceries: 101
Healthcare: 106
Housing: 61
Transportation: 94
Utiltiies: 86

4. Havre

Population: 9,425
Services: 101
Groceries: 101
Healthcare: 106
Housing: 66
Transportation: 94
Utiltiies: 86

5. Butte-Silver Bow

Population: 34,164
Services: 101
Groceries: 101
Healthcare: 106
Housing: 69
Transportation: 94
Utiltiies: 86

6. Laurel

Population: 6,763
Services: 101
Groceries: 101
Healthcare: 106
Housing: 76
Transportation: 94
Utiltiies: 86

7. Great Falls

Population: 58,498
Services: 101
Groceries: 101
Healthcare: 106
Housing: 79
Transportation: 94
Utiltiies: 86

8. Lockwood

Population: 6,606
Services: 101
Groceries: 101
Healthcare: 106
Housing: 81
Transportation: 94
Utiltiies: 86

9. Sidney

Population: 5,360
Services: 103
Groceries: 108
Healthcare: 108
Housing: 71
Transportation: 100
Utiltiies: 87

10. Evergreen

Population: 6,696
Services: 95
Groceries: 92
Healthcare: 114
Housing: 87
Transportation: 93
Utiltiies: 81

Detailed List Of Affordable Places In Montana

City	Rank	Population	Services	Grociers	Healthcare
Miles City	1	8,428	97	107	106
Lewistown	2	5,897	101	101	106
Anaconda-Deer Lodge County	3	9,277	101	101	106
Havre	4	9,425	101	101	106
Butte-Silver Bow	5	34,164	101	101	106
Laurel	6	6,763	101	101	106
Great Falls	7	58,498	101	101	106
Lockwood	8	6,606	101	101	106
Sidney	9	5,360	103	108	108
Evergreen	10	6,696	95	92	114
Livingston	11	7,071	101	101	106
Kalispell	12	20,016	95	92	114
Billings	13	104,374	101	101	106
Helena	14	28,381	101	101	106
Belgrade	15	7,439	101	101	106
Helena Valley Southeast	16	7,860	101	101	106
Helena Valley West Central	17	8,293	101	101	106
Missoula	18	66,982	101	101	106
Whitefish	19	6,402	95	92	114
Bozeman	20	37,619	101	101	106
Orchard Homes	21	5,491	101	101	106