Home purchase in Montana
At $75,000 income
$1,232,162
Rank among states we cover
24 of 51
vs. national median
+1%
A home purchase is one of the few things Montana taxes without having a general sales tax at all. The gross income required is about $1,232,162 on a $75,000 salary, 24 of 51 states, because Montana's income tax runs about 3.84% effective at this income, and the money has to be earned before it can be spent. Montana charges no general sales tax. This is one of the things it taxes regardless, through a separate levy.
Then there is property tax, every year you own it. Montana charges 0.72% of what the home is worth — rank 32 in the country. On the same $440,600.00 home that is $3,157.34 a year. A typical home here is worth $375,800.00, and the typical bill is $2,693.00.
Effective property tax, Montana: about 0.72% of market value, ranking 32 nationally — $3,157 a year on the reference price above, recurring rather than due at closing. State medians behind the ratio: home value $375,800, annual tax $2,693. This is an effective rate — tax paid over market value — not a nominal millage against an assessed value, and being a statewide ratio of medians it describes no particular address.
Source: US Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates, tables B25103 (Median Real Estate Taxes Paid) and B25077 (Median Value, owner-occupied). ACS 5-year estimates covering 2020–2024, so the as-of date (2024-12-31) is the end of the estimation window rather than a measurement date.
Montana also charges a tax just for transferring the deed. On a $440,600.00 home — the national median — that comes to about $0.00. It is paid once, at closing, on top of everything above.
Real estate transfer tax, Montana, on a $440,600 home (NAR June 2026 national median): $0.00, due at closing and excluded from the gross-up figure above.
Source: No Montana real estate transfer tax exists, as of 2025-01-01.
Delaware costs about the same for a home purchase
Prices in Montana
Shopping in Montana costs 9.76% less than the national average. Rents, which housing costs follow, run 23.26% below average, lower than prices overall. Counting from the most expensive, Montana ranks 41 among the states. A hundred dollars of average American shopping costs $90.24 here.
The cost above uses one national price for a home purchase, so these local prices are not in it. See how prices break down in Montana.
BEA regional price parity, all items: about 9.76% below the national level, rank 41 by price level, most expensive first. Housing (rents) parity: about 23.26% below. A national-average basket costing one hundred dollars costs $90 here.
The category figures above apply a single national default price and are not adjusted for this price level. A parity measures what a basket costs, not what a salary is worth after tax. Full Montana price-level breakdown.
Source: US Bureau of Economic Analysis — Regional Price Parities by state (SARPP), 2023, as of 2023-12-31.
Try your own numbers
Adjust assumptions
to cover a home purchase
$701,945 invested upfront, assuming 7% a year. Includes your starting money and its growth. An illustration, not a forecast; investment growth is separate from the purchase cost above.
- Income tax (federal, FICA, state)43%$530,217
- Ownership costs21%$256,684
- Fees0%$4,661
- Home purchase36%$440,600
- Income tax (federal, FICA, state)
- Ownership costs
- Fees
- Home purchase
Data for nerds — sources, confidence and assumptions
Data for nerdssources, confidence, assumptions
Where each number comes from
| Component | Amount | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Item price | $440,600.00 | Your figureHigh confidence. You supplied this, so it is exact by definition. |
| Fees | $4,661.00 | Population averageLow confidence. A group statistic standing in for one person; your own costs may differ substantially. |
| Ownership costs | $256,683.70 | Population averageLow confidence. A group statistic standing in for one person; your own costs may differ substantially. |
| Income tax to earn it | $530,217.04 | StatutoryHigh confidence. This number is the law — federal, FICA and state tax rates are published rates, so the only real risk is staleness. |
Jurisdiction applied
- State:
MT - Local income tax: none selected
Assumptions
- Property tax uses the rate for the state you picked, not one national number. You can see the amount in the breakdown above, and it changes when you change state. Around the country the rate runs from about 0.27% to about 2.11%. It is a whole-state average, worked out from what a typical home is worth and what a typical owner pays, so your own county and your own house can be some way off it. We grow that cost with general inflation only, not with real reassessments.
- Insurance ($2,470.00 a year) and upkeep ($12,472.00 a year) are national averages for a typical home. We don't scale them to your purchase price.
- We only count mortgage interest for the 11 years you hold the home, not the full thirty-year loan. You'd still owe a large balance at that point — the same as in real life if you sell or refinance early.
- The about 3.5%-a-year rise in home value is our own estimate from a long-run price index, not an official published number like the mortgage rate is. Treat it as the shakiest figure here.
- The resale value we show is what the home is worth, not what you'd walk away with. We don't subtract the mortgage you'd still owe.
- We don't include PMI — the extra insurance lenders usually require when your down payment is under a fifth of the price. If yours is smaller than shown, your real monthly cost is higher.
- We show transfer tax for Texas (none) and California (county rate only, on the national median home price). Your own state may be very different, and city taxes on expensive homes aren't included.
- Property tax uses the selected state's own effective rate — the Census ACS five-year ratio of median real estate tax paid to median home value — rather than one national figure. The rate applied appears in the cost breakdown above and changes with the state you pick; across the country it runs from about 0.27% to about 2.11%. Because it is a statewide aggregate of medians, your county and your individual assessment can sit well away from it. Reassessment and rate changes over the holding period are modeled only as generic inflation, not as a real reassessment schedule.
- The $12,472/yr figure is total spending on the home, not unavoidable upkeep. Angi builds it from improvement projects as well as routine maintenance and emergency repairs, and improvement work is the largest of the three — so treat it as what a typical owner spends on the house rather than what the house obliges them to spend. A household that does no discretionary work would spend materially less. Homeowners insurance ($2,470/yr) is likewise a national average for a typical home, not scaled to your purchase price.
- Mortgage interest is calculated only through 11 years of ownership, not the full thirty-year loan term — a large remaining balance is still owed at that point, same as in reality if you sell or refinance before the mortgage matures.
- Home price appreciation (about 3.5% a year) is a derived long-run estimate from the S&P/Case-Shiller index's own trend, not an official published single statistic the way the mortgage rate or property tax rate are — treat it as the least certain figure in this model.
- Resale value shown is gross market value at the end of the holding period, not net proceeds after paying off the remaining mortgage balance — the same simplification used for vehicle resale value elsewhere on this site.
- PMI (private mortgage insurance, typically required when a down payment is under a fifth of the price) is not modeled — if your down payment is smaller than shown here, your real monthly cost is higher.
- Real estate transfer tax is shown for Texas (none) and California (county rate only, applied to the national median home price) — your state's transfer tax, if any, may differ substantially, and city-level surtaxes on high-value homes (like Los Angeles's Measure ULA) are not included.
Sources
- ATTOM Data Solutions — 2025 Property Tax Analysis (national average effective property tax rate) as of 2026-04-01
- Bankrate (Quadrant Information Services) — national average homeowners insurance premium as of 2025-07-01
- Angi 2025 State of Home Spending Report — improvements, maintenance and emergency repairs as of 2025-12-31
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey — 30-year fixed mortgage rate as of 2026-07-30
- LodeStar Software Solutions (via Bankrate) — national average closing costs as of 2025-01-01
- Texas Constitution, Article 8, Section 29 — real estate transfer taxes prohibited as of 2016-01-01
- California Revenue & Taxation Code §11911 — county documentary transfer tax as of 2026-01-01
- National Association of Realtors — Existing-Home Sales report (median price, median tenure) as of 2026-06-01
- S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index (via Macrotrends) — long-run appreciation trend as of 2026-01-01
The loan
$2,265/mo$352,480 borrowed at 6.66% over 30 years, after $88,120 down.
Early payments are mostly interest, so after 11 of 30 years you have paid 52% of the loan's total interest but retired only 17% of the principal. Only the interest actually paid within the holding period is counted in the cost above — assuming the loan runs its full term would overstate it.
Your position in the tax system
35.3% on the next dollarEvery extra dollar you earn is taxed at your marginal rate, not your average one — which is why a purchase costs more to fund than a paycheck stub suggests.
Marginal rates are read in gross-income terms: below the standard deduction an extra dollar of pay adds nothing to taxable income, so the true rate there is 0%, not the lowest bracket's. Excludes pre-tax deductions (401(k), HSA), which would lower all three.
Same purchase, different state
MT is #28 of 51The purchase inputs and income stay the same. Your row uses your calculator settings; other states use example counties and omit local income tax. Spread across all 51: $361,829, from Nevada to New Jersey.
- $1,098,012
- Montanayou$1,232,162
- $1,459,841
Choose a state name to compare against somewhere else.
Where every dollar goes
43% never reaches youThe $1,232,161.74 you must earn, followed to where it lands. Select a band to isolate it.
- Federal income tax$425,980.09
- FICA (Social Security + Medicare)$34,619.81
- MT income tax$69,617.14
- Home purchase$440,600.00
- Fees$4,661.00
- Ownership costs$256,683.70
Each tax layer is the extra tax this purchase causes — that layer's tax at your income subtracted from its tax at your income plus the gross-up — so bracket boundaries the purchase straddles are handled correctly rather than smoothed over with an average rate.
Is a raise actually a raise?
you keep 65%A raise arrives on top of everything you already earn, so it is taxed at your marginal rate — not the average rate on your whole salary.
Federal, FICA, state and any local income tax — no pre-tax deductions, benefit changes, or payroll withholding quirks, all of which move the real figure. Moving into a higher bracket never taxes the income below the threshold: only the dollars above it pay the higher rate.
The arithmetic, for Montana
Nothing below is illustrative — it's the real chain the calculator runs for a single filer earning $75,000 in Montana, 2026 tax year. Follow it step by step and check our work.
| Gross salary | $75,000 | Where every calculation starts. |
|---|---|---|
| Less the federal standard deduction | −$16,100 | The 2026 figure for a single filer. |
| Federally taxable income | $58,900 | What the bracket table is applied to. |
| Federal income tax | −$7,670 | Top bracket reached: 22.00%. |
| FICA — Social Security and Medicare | −$5,738 | 7.65% up to the wage base, then 1.45% above it. |
| Montana taxable income | $58,900 | After Montana's own deduction, which differs from the federal one. |
| Montana income tax | −$2,877 | Marginal rate on the next dollar earned here: 5.65%. |
| Take-home pay | $58,716 | $16,284 withheld — 21.71% of the salary never reaches you. |
That's the gap between a price tag and a real cost: it takes roughly 1.28 earned dollars to spend one here, and that's the multiplier this page applies to every purchase.
What's different about Montana
- On income tax Montana sits in the middle: about 3.84% at this salary, rank 22. No great advantage, no great penalty.
- For a home purchase, Montana ranks 24 at $1,232,162 in gross income. The national spread runs $361,829, from Nevada at $1,098,012 up to New Jersey at $1,459,841.
- On this one, Montana's nearest match is Delaware at $1,252,940, a gap of $20,778. Adding up the whole stack tends to put unlike states side by side.
- Montana takes its share on the way in rather than on the way out — income tax, but no general sales tax. States are rarely cheap or expensive outright. Mostly they differ in where they collect.
- Montana's effective state income tax at the representative salary is about 3.84%, ranking 22 nationally — mid-distribution, with neither the structural advantage of a no-tax state nor the drag of a top-decile one.
- Montana ranks 24 for a home purchase at $1,232,162 of required gross income. The national range spans $361,829 end to end — Nevada at $1,098,012, New Jersey at $1,459,841.
- Montana's closest analog for this purchase is Delaware at $1,252,940, $20,778 apart. Composing every layer tends to compress apparent differences that a single-layer comparison would exaggerate.
- Montana collects on the earn side and not the spend side: an individual income tax with no general sales tax. Characterising states as cheap or expensive obscures this — the more useful distinction is which layer of the transaction the revenue is drawn from.
What this page can't tell you
Worth being straight about, because a number without its limits is just a claim.
- These figures assume one filer with no dependants. They also assume nothing goes into a retirement account or an HSA before tax, and no itemized deductions. Any of those would cut the tax. That would cut the true cost too.
- Ownership costs fall back on national averages sometimes. That happens where a state figure does not exist, or could not be checked against a primary source. The data panel on the result says so outright when it does. We do not dress an estimate up as a measurement.
- Figures assume a single filer with no dependants, no pre-tax retirement or HSA contributions, and the standard deduction rather than itemized deductions. Each of those would reduce taxable income and therefore the gross-up, so the figures here should be read as an upper bound on the earn-side requirement for this household shape.
- Ownership-layer inputs fall back to national averages where a state-level figure is unavailable or could not be verified against a primary source. Those fallbacks are disclosed per-figure in the provenance panel rather than being silently blended into the total, so an estimate is never presented with the same confidence as a measurement.
Questions people ask
Is Montana an expensive place for this, or not?
It sits in the middle. $1,232,162 here, $8,502 away from the median state — a difference you would struggle to notice in a year.
Is there really no sales tax on this in Montana?
No general sales tax at the register. What you still pay is whatever is built into the price before it reaches the shelf, plus everything taken from your salary on the way to the shop.
Where in the country is this cheapest?
Nevada is the lightest, and doing this there would save you $134,149 of earning against Montana. At the other end, New Jersey would cost you $227,680 more.
Where does Montana sit relative to the national median here?
Montana is within a couple of percent of the national median, at $1,232,162 — a gap of $8,502. The state variable is therefore not the dominant term for this purchase; marginal rate on the buyer's own income slice is.
How does the absence of a general sales tax affect this purchase?
Montana levies no general sales tax, so the purchase-side component of the gross-up is limited to any product-specific excise and any local levy the model records. The income-side wedge is unaffected; required gross income remains $1,232,162.
What is the national spread on this purchase?
Against Nevada at the light end, Montana carries $134,149 of additional gross requirement; against New Jersey at the heavy end it is $227,680 lighter. ⚠️ The model holds the pre-tax outlay constant across states, so the spread reflects tax structure alone and not regional price levels.
Keep going
What you must earn to buy it
A $75,000 salary
| Sticker price | $440,600 |
|---|---|
| Out of pocket | $440,600 |
| Income tax on earning it | $316,390 |
| Hours of work | 120.8 work months |
41.8% of that pay never reaches the purchase.
This example uses the entered price and applicable sales tax. The full calculation above may also include fees, ownership costs.
Show your work
A $75,000 salary
| PriceWhat you typed | $440,600 |
|---|---|
| Sales taxNo sales tax applied to this purchase | $0.00 |
| Out of pocketPrice plus sales tax | $440,600 |
| Federal, next dollarIRS brackets, 2026 | 22% |
| Social Security and MedicareFICA rates, 2026 | 7.65% |
| State, next dollarMT brackets, 2026 | 5.65% |
| Pay you must earnWalked up your own bracket boundaries | $756,990 |
| Tax on earning itPay needed, less out of pocket | $316,390 |
This example uses the entered price and applicable sales tax. The full calculation above may also include fees, ownership costs.
If the money stayed put
A $75,000 salary
| Spent today | $440,600 |
|---|---|
| Growth given up | $348,448 |
| Pay needed to buy it | $756,990 |
Assumes a 6% annual return that you can edit. This example uses the entered price and applicable sales tax. The full calculation above may also include fees, ownership costs.