Montana Homes Now Cost Nearly 9 Years Of Income

The Montana Dream Is Becoming Harder to Afford

Since 1889, when Montana became a state, the dream has been pretty simple: work hard, find a place you love, and someday own a piece of it.

Sadly, a new report shows that dream is becoming harder for many Montanans to achieve.

Montana Home Prices Are Rising Faster Than Incomes

A new analysis from Visual Capitalist looked at which states have the biggest gap between home prices and household incomes by comparing median listing prices from Realtor.com with median household incomes.

For people who aren't already homeowners, the numbers confirm what many potential buyers have been feeling for years: buying a home is getting tougher.

According to the analysis, the typical home in Montana now costs the equivalent of about 8.7 years of the state's median household income.

To put that into perspective, if a family put every dollar they earned toward buying a home and spent nothing on food, gas, bills, or anything else, it would still take nearly nine years to match the price of a typical Montana house.

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Will Future Generations Be Able to Afford the Montana Dream?

For many families, that creates a difficult question. It's not just about whether they can afford a home today. It's about whether future generations will still be able to afford to stay in Montana.

Montana's recent growth has brought new opportunities and new money into the state, but it has also created challenges that can't be ignored.

I still believe the Montana dream is alive. The challenge is making sure the next generation can still afford to live it.