How To Get Paid To Move To Montana: Is It For Real?
Do you wish you could get paid to move to Montana?
Montana is known for its natural beauty. Snow-capped mountains, glaciers, lakes, and two of the most popular National Parks: Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks.
Where there is nature, there will be wildlife. And Montana has no shortage of those.
Bighorn sheep, mountain lions, grizzly bears, bison, mountain goats, elks, and more. I mean, why take your kids to the zoo when you can take them to Montana, amirite?
I would love to bring my little nephew here so he can see all these amazing animals! He would just love seeing all of the incredible animals!
With remote work on the rise, more people across the U.S. are looking to relocate out of busy cities and live in more rural areas.
The main draw would be accessibility to nature and away from the hustle and bustle of city life. Sounds like my kinda people!
Some states and towns are using this opportunity to lure younger people in, to boost their economies.
Some of these states offer cold hard cash as incentives, and people are definitely taking the bait.
Is Montana on that list, though?
Affiliate Link Disclosure
Some of the links here are affiliate links, and I may earn if you click on them AT NO EXTRA cost to you. I hope you find the information here useful! Thanks.
Can You Get Paid To Move To Montana?
With cities like Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Topeka, Kansas, paying for people to move there, you might be wondering if you can get paid to move to Montana.
With views like this, who wouldn’t want to move to Montana? And if you can get paid for it, anyone would jump at the chance, wouldn’t they?
Unfortunately, there is no get paid to move to Montana scheme right now.
But there are plenty of other ways to get paid to move to Montana.
With Montana being the 8th least populated state in the U.S. and the third least in population density, finding employees can sometimes be an issue.
This is why many jobs you find on job sites like Indeed, offer paid relocation, or relocation assistance.
When I checked, there were about 580 jobs that offered paid relocation. That’s a huge deal!
If you’re hoping to score jobs in Montana with housing provided, those are available, too!
Pros And Cons Of Moving To Montana
Ok, you’re really thinking of moving to Montana. You’ve checked out all the jobs, and you’re hopeful you can get one.
There are plenty of things to consider when relocating, and you want to know you’re making the right decision.
The best thing to do would be to find out the pros and cons of Montana. If you wanted a list all made out for you, I got you covered!
| PROS | CONS |
| Tax Benefits | Cost Of Living |
| Breathtaking Nature and Outdoor Recreation | Weather |
| Education | Summer Wildfires |
| Jobs | Public Transportation |
Pros
1. Tax Benefits
Montana is one of the five states that does not have state sales tax!
Certain locations, mainly tourist areas, can levy their own resort tax, which is a type of local sales tax. This tax only applies to areas with populations of under 5500.
These towns get their primary income from recreation.
So these towns get plenty of visitors who want to take part in recreational activities such as camping, hiking etc; but these towns have relatively fewer residents.
Resort tax is implemented on goods and services sold by camping facilities, restaurants, bars and other recreational service providers in these towns.
The resort tax helps these small towns to make enough money without overburdening the small number of residents.
Currently, only the municipalities of Red Lodge, Whitefish, Virginia City, and West Yellowstone charge resort tax.
Montana also has one of the lowest tax burdens in the U.S., with a maximum income tax of 6.75%. Property taxes are also pretty low, at about 0.74%.
That can be a considerable amount of savings each year!
2. Breathtaking Nature And Outdoor Recreation
If you’re a fan of nature, Montana is THE place to be.
When you have nicknames like, ‘Big Sky Country’, ‘Land of the Shining Mountains’, and ‘The Last Best Place’ (my favorite btw), you know you’ve got a winner in terms of natural beauty.
I mean, Yellowstone National Park alone has enough to draw you: Giant waterfalls, more than 500 geysers, its very own Grand Canyon, herds of bison and bears.
Yellowstone National Park gets more than 3 million visitors each year!
And then you have Glacier National Park also: melting glaciers, breathtaking lakes, and all the wildlife: mountain goats, grizzlies and black bears.
Where there is nature, there is outdoor recreation.
There are hundreds of hiking trails (and some multi-day trails), fly fishing, biking, horseback riding, whitewater rafting, and rock climbing. The possibilities are endless!
And during the winter, Montana just turns into a winter wonderland. Then you’ll have skiing, snowboarding, and snowmobiling.
If you’re an outdoorsy person, Montana is THE place to be. It wasn’t named the most outdoorsy state in the U.S. without a reason.
3. Education
Montana has 31 colleges and universities, with 14 of them being four-year institutions. This is a small number of universities when compared to other states.
But they do pretty well.
Montana State University offers top-quality programs in agriculture, arts and architecture, business, education, engineering, and nursing.
Montana ranks #20 in school education and #20 for higher education. Overall, Montana ranks #25 out of all the states for education. The top half of 50 ain’t bad, I would say.
4. Jobs
Montana has an unemployment rate of 3.3%, which is pretty good. Most people who need a job, have a job.
There still are plenty of vacancies in Montana.
If you’re wondering how do most people in Montana make a living, these are the most common jobs in the state:
- Office and administrative jobs
- Tourism sector (although these can be seasonal)
- Agriculture
- Healthcare.
If you are from any of these sectors, finding a job in Montana may be quite doable.
In fact, the Montana employment department projects 6000 healthcare job openings each year from now till 2032. That’s a huge number!
Granted, most of these jobs are mainly due to turnover and retirement. A huge number of these jobs are for home health aides and nurses.
Montana Labour Commissioner Sarah Swanson announced that the state’s total employment and labor force has grown, with more than 441,000 jobs created since January 2021.
The minimum wage in Montana is $10.30 per hour, which is higher than the national minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.
With the USA ranking 2nd lowest worldwide in paid vacation days, it is a welcome surprise that Montana Department of Labour jobs get 38 paid days off a year, including vacation, sick leave, and holidays.
Well, I suppose you can’t be the most outdoorsy state in the country without giving your employees vacation days to go and be outdoorsy, amirite? Good job, Montana!
Cons
Let’s move on to the cons now!
1. Cost Of Living
The median individual income of a person in Montana is 34,350 USD, which makes Montana the 39th highest state in terms of median individual income.
Out of 50.
That’s not amazing.
And when you think that to be a middle-class person in Montana, you would have to be earning an annual income of 59,496 USD, that’s really not good.
The general cost of living in Montana is pretty low. However, this is where prices get high: Cost of Housing.
Housing costs have been going up, up and away in Montana ever since the show Yellowstone showed up on TV screens and the pandemic. Ugh, the pandemic.
After that, everyone wanted a ranch in Montana. And especially with the pandemic, the third-lowest state in terms of population density was a definite draw.
With the rise of people trying to buy property in Montana, housing prices have gone over the roof.
The average home price in Montana is 456,199 USD, much higher than the national average of 354,179 USD.
If you were thinking of how to move to Montana with no money, I wouldn’t recommend it.
The cost of housing has even made many Montana residents, especially those in cities like Bozeman, live in RVs.
Some of these are people who have lived all their lives in Bozeman and now can’t afford to pay for a home.
But if you’re after rural life, you’ll be happy to know that house prices in rural areas like Butte and Great Falls, are still quite affordable.
2. Weather
The sixth coldest state in the U.S., Montana, has an average temperature of 42.6 degrees F (5.8 degrees C). Brrrrr!
If you’re from Florida, Montana winters are sure to freeze your butts!
After the initial ooh-ing and aah-ing of how beautiful everything looks, covered in a blanket of snow, you’ll just be cold and tired.
With temperatures dropping to -50 degrees F, the cold weather brings a lot of other logistical difficulties.
Things can get pretty amusing. But the constant shoveling driveways, frozen faucets, and winter driving are not fun during the long winters.
3. Summer Wildfires
Global warming is wreaking havoc all over the world. With hotter temperatures and earlier snowmelts, Montana is experiencing dry summers.
This gives rise to more wildfires. Montana has seen an average of 61,376 wildfires in the last ten years, with 5 wildfires burning right now.
Wildfires burn acres and acres of beautiful forests and contribute to poor air quality. If you are someone who suffers from asthma, this can be pretty detrimental to your health.
Regardless of asthma or not, poor air quality can lead to respiratory problems in anyone.
If you are moving to Montana, investing in a good-quality air filter should be a top priority.
Wildfires can also cause property damage, and with people already struggling to make ends meet, this can be disastrous.
Fire protecting your home by installing fire alarms and monitors, home sprinkler systems, and fire-proofing your lawn can be pretty expensive, too.
4. Public Transportation
Public transportation in Montana is sparse. Even in big cities like Bozeman, getting around without a car is challenging.
Uber and cabs do exist, but really, if you think you can survive without your own car, you’re dead wrong.
In spring, summer, and fall, Bozeman is quite a bike-friendly city and you can get by without a car.
Provided you’re ok with arriving all sweaty and smelly to wherever you were going.
In winter, get used to driving everywhere because you’re pretty stuck without a car!
Related Posts
- Get Paid To House Refugees (And Help The Needy)
- Get Paid To Move To Denmark: 15 Steps To Get You Settled in 2024
FAQs On Get Paid To Move To Montana
Can I Get Paid To Move To Montana?
So can you get paid to move to Montana? There is no get paid to move to Montana scheme as of now.
However, there are plenty of job vacancies that provide paid relocation and even paid housing. That’s as close to getting paid to move here that I can think of.
What Do Most People Do For Work In Montana?
If you are wondering what most people do for work in Montana, these are the main ways on how to make money in Montana:
- Office and administrative jobs
- Tourism sector
- Agriculture
- Healthcare.
Is It Worth It To Move To Montana?
If you are wondering if it is worth it to move to Montana, that’s entirely dependent on the lifestyle you seek.
The breathtaking nature alone would be a draw for many people, but you’ll have to consider other things as well.
If you are happy living in rural areas and just enjoying all the nature that Montana has to offer, then I think it is pretty damn worth it to move to Montana.
But if you prefer a city or bigger-town life, then the cost of housing is sure to dampen your spirits about Montana.
Who can enjoy all that nature when trying to stave off debt?
Related Posts
