The local economy of Montana and its counties, metro areas and cities, from official US government data.
Unemployment rate
3.2%
August 2026, 3.4% a year ago
Average weekly pay
$1,229
Q1 2026, 506,648 jobs
New homes permitted
5,457
Last 12 months to August 2026
Net people moving in
+5,264
2022 to 2023
Newest data: -. Not seasonally adjusted: compare with the same month a year earlier. Click a row for its history.
The newest unemployment rate, pay, new home permits, moves and gas price for Montana, updated as new official numbers come out.
Unemployment for Montana is seasonally adjusted; for its counties, metro areas and cities it is not, so compare a month with the same month a year earlier. Pay covers all jobs that pay into unemployment insurance. Building permits count homes approved to be built, not homes sold. Moves count households by where they filed their tax returns in two years in a row.
The unemployment rate in Montana was 3.2% in August 2026 (seasonally adjusted, preliminary), compared with 3.4% a year earlier. 556,375 people were employed out of a labor force of 574,642. Among its counties, Carter County had the lowest rate (1.4%) and Big Horn County the highest (6.2%, not seasonally adjusted).
Average weekly pay in Montana was $1,229 in Q1 2026, up 3.5% from a year earlier, across 506,648 jobs at 63,172 business locations.
Building permits were issued for 634 new homes in Montana in August 2026 (275 single-family and 328 in buildings with 5 or more units). From January to August the total was 3,752, up 7.8% from the same months last year, and 5,457 in the last 12 months. The most homes were permitted in Gallatin County (1,489), Yellowstone County (999), Flathead County (858) over the last 12 months.
Yes. From 2022 to 2023, 35,634 people moved to Montana and 30,370 moved away, a net gain of 5,264 (+5.9 per 1,000 residents). Most newcomers came from California, Washington, Colorado, and most people who left went to Washington, California, Arizona.
The weekly survey does not publish a separate price for Montana. In its region, Rocky Mountain, regular gasoline averaged $4.49 per gallon in the week of September 28, 2026.
DataPorium brings real estate market data into one clean interface. Explore property prices and listings for homes for sale, rent, sold, and pending, track housing-market trends over time, and follow REIT performance — giving buyers, sellers, and investors a clearer view of the property market.
Real estate is one of the largest asset classes in the world, and its health shapes everything from household wealth to the broader economy. Tracking property prices, inventory, and how quickly homes sell helps you understand whether a market favors buyers or sellers. Investors can also gain exposure through real estate investment trusts (REITs), which trade like stocks. The same market data is also available through the DataPorium financial data API.
When reading the housing market, look beyond a single price point. Rising listing counts and longer time-on-market often signal cooling demand, while shrinking inventory and quick sales point to a competitive market. Mortgage rates and the wider economy play a major role too, so pairing property data with economic indicators helps you put local trends in a national context.
Explore property prices and listings for homes for sale, rent, sold, and pending, alongside broader housing-market and REIT performance trends.
Yes. Follow how prices and listing activity shift over time and across areas, so you can gauge whether a market is heating up or cooling down.
Real estate investment trusts (REITs) let you invest in property through the stock market, and you can track their performance alongside direct housing data.
The best ZIP codes for gross rental yield in 2026 are in Detroit, St. Louis and Philadelphia, topping 20%, while the best coastal California ZIPs yield about 6%.
How to evaluate a rental listing in 15 minutes, using a real $165,000 Cleveland house: comparable rents, a 2.64% tax rate and a 6.95% mortgage turn a 10.9% gross yield into thin cash flow.
The Boise housing market in September 2026 shows a typical home value of $493,522, up 1.4% in a year, rents up 6.3%, inventory down 9.7% and homes pending in 15 days.