Montana Land Watch (2024)

FAQs

How much does 1 acre of land in Montana cost? ›

Average and median per acre prices (for unimproved land) have remained fairly constant from 2020 – 2022 with an average per acre price of $4,000+ and a median per acre price of approximately $2,000, both values notably higher from the two previous years (2018-2019).

The Moment You Buy It, It Doesn't Depreciate In Value – Unlike buying a new car and driving it off the lot, land in Montana doesn't depreciate like that… and it been increasing in value. It's an investment you can watch grow while having something to show for it. It's rare to find an investment that does this for you.

Population density, measured in people per square mile, was 7.4 in 2020, third lowest in the United States. Montana's 57.6 million acres of land in farms and ranches ranks second in the nation behind Texas.

The ten states with the cheapest land are Arizona, New Mexico, Mississippi, Colorado, Arkansas, New York, Missouri, Oregon, Alabama, and Michigan. Arizona is the cheapest state to buy land with a median price of $4,164 per acre.

But it was the Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909 that brought the greatest influx of homesteaders to Montana. Most were individual farmers. This new act doubled the amount of land available for claim to 320 acres and later shortened the "prove up" time to three years.

The Homestead Act of 1862 is no longer in effect, but free land is still available out there in the great wide open (often literally in the great wide open).

Average Cost of Living in Montana: $47,887 per year

That means Montana is more expensive to live in than over half of the country. If you have your heart set on living in the Rocky Mountain region, Wyoming is a much more affordable option, ranked 16th on the same list.

Montana Property Taxes

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 0.74%, well below the U.S. average, which currently stands at 0.99%.

Dan Wilks and his brother Farris are the largest landowners in Montana, and Idaho.

Do you have to pay land taxes in Montana? ›

Residential property is valued in odd-numbered years. Taxes are billed annually and due in two payments on November 30 and May 31. Homeowners with a mortgage often pay property taxes with their mortgage payments. Property taxes in Montana account for 10% of state taxes compared with 2% for all states combined.

— Montana is known for its agricultural production, but over the past 15 years, the state's farmland has been shrinking. As the state's farmland declines, the property is becoming increasingly appealing to investors.

The leading crops are wheat, hay, barley, and sugar beets. The majority of agriculture takes place in the eastern half of the state, although livestock production is important in the mountain basins of the western half of the state. Most of the 2 million acres of irrigated land is devoted to the production of hay.

The record for a Montana ranch sale was set in 2021 with the roughly $200 million sale of Beaverhead ranch to media mogul Rupert Murdoch. (Murdoch is the executive chairman of News Corp, which owns The Wall Street Journal's publisher.)

Eastern Montana is where you'll find large tracts of relatively flat, fertile land for farming and ranching.

Montana has approximately 23,000 landowners who own nearly 64 million acres of private land, much of which offers excellent hunting opportunities.

Land in California is an investment! Property taxes are relatively minimal, and maintenance is low. Since many individuals are looking to relocate to more rural locations due to the pandemic, there is a significant increase in demand for land, houses, or rentals in these places.

With the median price of $135,800 an acre, Wyoming is one of the 10 cheapest states to buy property in the country. The average varies by county.