Overview of Montana Taxes
Montana has relatively low taxes on residential real estate. The state’s average effective property tax rate is 0.85%, lower than the national average of 1.19%.
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| Average County Tax Rate 0.638% (Stillwater County) | Property Taxes $3,190 (Annual) |
| Stillwater County$3,190 | 0.638% of Assessed Home Value |
| Montana$3,955 | 0.791% of Assessed Home Value |
| National $4,495 | 0.899% of Assessed Home Value |
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- About This Answer
To calculate the exact amount of property tax you will owe requires your property's assessed value and the property tax rates based on your property's address. Please note that we can only estimate your property tax based on median property taxes in your area. There are typically multiple rates in a given area, because your state, county, local schools and emergency responders each receive funding partly through these taxes. In our calculator, we take your home value and multiply that by your county's effective property tax rate. This is equal to the median property tax paid as a percentage of the median home value in your county.
Montana Property Taxes
Buying a house in Billings? Missoula? Helena? If so, it’s a good idea to get familiar with the Montana property tax system. Montana has relatively low taxes on residential real estate. The state’s average effective property tax rate is 0.85%, lower than the national average of 1.19%.
In part, rates in Montana are low because the system is structured to reduce the burden on homeowners. The taxable value (the value on which your taxes are based) for an owner-occupied residential property is only a small percentage of the property’s market value. Commercial and business property also receive big exemptions. Below we will take a closer look at Montana’s tax rates and other important information for you to consider.
If you are buying a house in Montana, it’s also a good idea to familiarize yourself with the details of getting mortgage in the Big Sky State. You can find this information, along with details about rates on our Montana mortgage guide.
You can also learn more about your mortgage payments with our mortgage loan calculator.
How Montana Property Taxes Are Calculated
Property taxes in Montana are based on your total tax rate and the taxable value of your home. Taxable value is based on your home’s market value, but the state of Montana calculates it using a somewhat complicated formula.
First, residential property is reappraised by state assessors once every two years. (Reappraisal occurred every six years prior to 2015.) The goal of the reappraisal is to match the current market value for each property. If the reappraised value is greater than the previous value, the difference is phased in over the course of the two-year reappraisal cycle. That means there is a slight lag between your current market value and the value on which your taxes are based.
Taxes on residential properties are also limited by the fact that Montana only levies taxes on a small percentage of a property’s market value. This rate changes annually and the most recent rate is 1.35%. So for a home with a market value of $100,000, the taxable value is only $1,350. Your total state and local property tax millage rates (described in the next section) apply to that $1,350.
Montana Property Tax Rates
Cities, counties and school districts largely determine tax rates in Montana. The state also collects statewide taxes to support education. Tax rates are expressed in mills, or as millage rates. A mill equals $1 for every $1,000 of taxable value, while a millage rate is a mill expressed as a decimal. For example, 1 mill is equivalent to a millage rate of 0.001.
For example, the statewide taxes are 95 mills for public schools and another 6 mills for higher education. In 2016, the average mill levy across all taxing districts in Montana was 573.83 mills.
While your tax bill will reflect a millage rate, a good way of comparing tax rates from one area to the next is an effective tax rate. This is equal to annual property taxes as a percentage of home value. The table below shows average effective property tax rates for every county in Montana.
| County | Median Home Value | Median Annual Property Tax Payment | Average Effective Property Tax Rate |
| Beaverhead | $168,000 | $1,351 | 0.80% |
| Big Horn | $96,500 | $939 | 0.97% |
| Blaine | $86,000 | $1,343 | 1.56% |
| Broadwater | $192,400 | $1,365 | 0.71% |
| Carbon | $217,700 | $1,337 | 0.61% |
| Carter | $86,400 | $665 | 0.77% |
| Cascade | $165,800 | $1,516 | 0.91% |
| Chouteau | $121,900 | $1,144 | 0.94% |
| Custer | $145,100 | $1,430 | 0.99% |
| Daniels | $119,300 | $1,220 | 1.02% |
| Dawson | $158,900 | $1,371 | 0.86% |
| Deer Lodge | $122,700 | $1,284 | 1.05% |
| Fallon | $151,700 | $715 | 0.47% |
| Fergus | $119,700 | $1,163 | 0.97% |
| Flathead | $236,800 | $1,969 | 0.83% |
| Gallatin | $285,200 | $2,380 | 0.83% |
| Garfield | $117,900 | $904 | 0.77% |
| Glacier | $100,600 | $1,219 | 1.21% |
| Golden Valley | $94,200 | $571 | 0.61% |
| Granite | $216,000 | $1,563 | 0.72% |
| Hill | $131,300 | $1,565 | 1.19% |
| Jefferson | $247,900 | $1,649 | 0.67% |
| Judith Basin | $136,500 | $776 | 0.57% |
| Lake | $226,300 | $1,719 | 0.76% |
| Lewis and Clark | $212,600 | $2,026 | 0.95% |
| Liberty | $104,100 | $1,200 | 1.15% |
| Lincoln | $173,900 | $1,268 | 0.73% |
| Madison | $240,300 | $1,337 | 0.56% |
| McCone | $138,500 | $1,102 | 0.80% |
| Meagher | $122,200 | $876 | 0.72% |
| Mineral | $166,800 | $1,340 | 0.80% |
| Missoula | $243,700 | $2,459 | 1.01% |
| Musselshell | $148,800 | $928 | 0.62% |
| Park | $222,500 | $1,770 | 0.80% |
| Petroleum | $83,000 | $750 | 0.90% |
| Phillips | $118,500 | $1,098 | 0.93% |
| Pondera | $116,600 | $1,152 | 0.99% |
| Powder River | $108,700 | $997 | 0.92% |
| Powell | $136,600 | $1,326 | 0.97% |
| Prairie | $80,600 | $1,034 | 1.28% |
| Ravalli | $238,100 | $1,584 | 0.67% |
| Richland | $203,700 | $1,046 | 0.51% |
| Roosevelt | $117,000 | $879 | 0.75% |
| Rosebud | $113,200 | $690 | 0.61% |
| Sanders | $183,100 | $1,217 | 0.66% |
| Sheridan | $144,300 | $931 | 0.65% |
| Silver Bow | $133,700 | $1,410 | 1.05% |
| Stillwater | $213,100 | $1,395 | 0.65% |
| Sweet Grass | $217,300 | $1,359 | 0.63% |
| Teton | $147,900 | $1,354 | 0.92% |
| Toole | $129,600 | $1,195 | 0.92% |
| Treasure | $81,400 | $843 | 1.04% |
| Valley | $143,000 | $1,218 | 0.85% |
| Wheatland | $89,700 | $630 | 0.70% |
| Wibaux | $109,600 | $648 | 0.59% |
| Yellowstone | $201,500 | $1,807 | 0.90% |
Yellowstone County
Yellowstone County is located in central Montana and contains the city of Billings. Tax rates in Yellowstone County are near the state average. The county’s average effective tax rate is 0.90%.
There are 28 different school districts in Yellowstone County and rates between the school districts can be significantly different. In the Billings School District, the total rate for the 2018 fiscal year is 692.36 mills. Of that, 102.50 mills go to the state, 159 go to the city of Billings and 112.09 go to the county.
Missoula County
The median annual property tax in Missoula County is $2,459, highest in the state. That is also about $260 higher than the national median. The city of Missoula has some of the highest taxes of Montana’s largest cities, with total mill levies of over 700 mills.
Flathead County
Located in northwest Montana along the western boundary of Glacier National Park, Flathead County has some truly beautiful real estate. It also has relatively modest property taxes. The average effective property tax rate in the county is 0.83%, slightly lower than the state average.
Gallatin County
Gallatin County stretches from the tristate border with Idaho and Wyoming up to the city of Bozeman. It contains parts of the Gallatin National Forest and Yellowstone National Park. According to the U.S. Census Bureau the median home value in Gallatin County is $285,200. That is the highest of any county in Montana.
While Gallatin County’s property tax rates are slightly lower than the state average, homeowners in the county still pay the second highest property taxes in Montana in dollar terms. Over half of all homeowners in Gallatin County pay at least $2,000 annually in property taxes.
Cascade County
The average effective property tax rate in Cascade County is 0.91%, 22nd highest in the state. At that rate the annual taxes on a home worth $165,800 (the median home value in the county) would be $1,509.
Lewis and Clark County
The sixth most populous county in Montana, Lewis and Clark County has property tax rates slightly higher than the state average. The county’s average effective property tax rate of 0.95% ranks as the 16th highest rate in the state.
Ravalli County
If you’re buying a home in Montana but don’t like paying property taxes, Ravalli County may be the place for you. The county’s average effective property tax rate of 0.67% ranks as the 15th lowest in the state.
Silver Bow County
The average effective property tax rate in Silver Bow County is 1.05%, 14th highest in the state. A homeowner whose home is worth $120,000 would pay $1,260 annually at that rate.
Lake County
Situated at the southern end of Flathead Lake in northwest Montana, Lake County is the ninth most populous county in the state. The county’s average effective property tax rate of 0.76% is close to the state average. For tax year 2017 the average mill rate in the county was more than 600 mills.
Lincoln County
The typical homeowner in Lincoln County pays $1,268 annually in property taxes. That is about $430 less than the state average and about $900 less than the national average.
Places Receiving the Most Value for Their Property Taxes
SmartAsset’s interactive map highlights the places across the country where property tax dollars are being spent most effectively. Zoom between states and the national map to see the counties getting the biggest bang for their property tax buck.
Methodology
Our study aims to find the places in the United States where people are getting the most value for their property tax dollars. To do this, we looked at property taxes paid, school rankings and the change in property values over a five-year period.
First, we used the number of households, median home value and average property tax rate to calculate a per capita property tax collected for each county.
As a way to measure the quality of schools, we analyzed the math and reading/language arts proficiencies for every school district in the country. We created an average score for each district by looking at the scores for every school in that district, weighting it to account for the number of students in each school. Within each state, we assigned every county a score between 1 and 10 (with 10 being the best) based on the average scores of the districts in each county.
Then, we calculated the change in property tax value in each county over a five-year period. Places where property values rose by the greatest amount indicated where consumers were motivated to buy homes, and a positive return on investment for homeowners in the community.
Finally, we calculated a property tax index, based on the criteria above. Counties with the highest scores were those where property tax dollars are going the furthest.
Sources: US Census Bureau 2018 American Community Survey, Department of Education
