Montana mortgage calculator

Property tax in Montana

The median Montana homeowner pays $2,693 a year in property tax on a home valued at $375,800, an effective rate of 0.7166% in the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS 5-year 2020-2024). That ranks the 20th lowest of the 50 states and DC, at or below the middle state's 0.8003%. At that rate each $100,000 of home value carries about $717 a year of tax, or $59.72 a month in the payment, and that rate is what the calculator above starts from.

Inside Montana the rate swings widely: the top county pays more than three times the bottom one. Among counties whose survey figures pass both quality checks, the effective rate runs from 0.412% in Madison County to 1.3376% in Blaine County. On a $375,800 home that gap is worth about $3,478 a year. Pick a county in the calculator to use its rate, or type the rate from a listing or a current tax bill.

The survey rate is what owners actually pay divided by what they say their homes are worth, with exemptions, caps and local levies folded in; it will not match any rate printed in Montana law. Ask for the seller's latest bill and the assessed value too, since a new owner's assessment can differ from the long-held homes behind the median.

Montana property tax rates by county

All 56 counties, sorted from the highest effective rate to the lowest. The rate is the median tax paid divided by the median home value, from the ACS 5-year 2020-2024 survey (figures to December 31, 2024). Of these, nine carry a flag: where the survey's margin of error is wide or home values hit the survey's top code, the calculator uses the Montana median instead of that county's figure.

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Worked example: the median Montana home

The median owner-occupied home in Montana is valued at $375,800 (ACS 5-year 2020-2024). Put $75,160 down, enough to keep the loan at 80% of the price so no PMI is charged, and borrow the rest over 30 years at 7.4%, the Freddie Mac average for the week of October 15, 2026. Insurance is the calculator's default of $1,500 a year, the same figure on every state page and 5.1% of this payment; real premiums vary widely from state to state and with a home's exposure to wind, flood and wildfire, so replace it with a premium for the Montana home you are pricing.

Principal and interest dominate the bill; tax and insurance, usually collected through escrow, add $349.42 a month, 14.4% of the total. Over the full term the $300,640 loan costs $448,726 in interest.

With $37,580 down instead, the loan grows to $338,220 and PMI of $140.93 a month is added, for a first payment of $2,832.12. On the regular schedule the PMI stops after 10 years, with the payment in October 2036. A 15-year loan at the 6.71% average, with the larger down payment, raises the monthly figure to $3,003.15 but cuts the interest to $177,031.

What the median Montana wage can buy

The median annual wage in Montana is $48,740 (BLS wage survey, May 2025). Paid every two weeks as a single filer, that leaves about $3,317 a month after federal and Montana paycheck deductions. With $60,000 saved for a down payment and $400 a month of other debts, the home affordability calculator's default 28/36 rule gives this range at 7.4% and the Montana property tax rate:

Here the limit is total debt: the housing payment plus the other $400 a month reaches 36% of gross pay first. The target falls $195,952 short of the $375,800 median home value: the median home costs 7.7 times the median wage, so a typical Montana purchase usually needs a second income, a larger down payment or a cheaper area.

Everyday costs help: Montana's prices for goods and rent run 5.4% below the national average, by the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parities for 2024 (figures to December 31, 2024). That stretches the median wage to about $51,498 in national dollars.