The Truth About Bozeman’s Soaring ‘New Living Wage’

How much money do you need to make to live in Bozeman? How much do you need to make to live, ANYWHERE in Montana? We've got answers from local Montanans, and the math breakdown about what it actually costs to live here - for real.

Bozeman didn't used to be 'expensive'. It got expensive if you needed a ski pass, new gear, kayaks, upgrades for your rig, etc. But a person was certainly able to work a full time job and pay their rent along with basic bills. You could even buy a house - and yes, enjoy the outdoors.

When did Montana get to be so expensive? The answer you get depends on who you ask. You might hear something quite clear and tangible, or you might get an answer that is more broad:

• "When people stopped calling it the "Valley of the Flowers"
• "In the 90s when 'A River Runs Through It' came out"
• "The second Nelson Story showed up with his cattle and settled a ranch"
• "That stupid f***ing TV show and COVID out of staters made everything around here expensive"
• "The same year the full Taste of Bozeman event went away, this place got nuts."

HOW MUCH HOME CAN I AFFORD?

Let's put it this way - if you made $100,000 per year AND had $50,000 for a down payment...most home budgeting calculators would say you can afford a house that costs $380,000 on the conservative side. ($470k on the high side.)

You know what $380k buys you in Bozeman? At the time of this writing, it will get you a 784 square foot condo. Or a 2 bed/1bath 896 square foot house in Manhattan.

If you're hellbent on buying a single family home, good luck with that. There are NINE listings for sale in ALL OF GALLATING COUNTY with a listing price of $450,000 or less - and NOT ONE OF THEM is in Bozeman or Belgrade (as of this writing).

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What do you think a livable wage in Bozeman is? We asked this question to Bozeman locals and got many interesting responses - some where the math works, and others that suggest a very humble lifestyle.

• I don’t really know what rent is nowadays, but my apartment by Main and 19th in 2018 cost around $1200 a month for a two bedroom. Those days are probably long gone.
• $30/hour to not feel too uncomfortable.
• I can "sustain life" at $23/hr working full-time, but that's having cheap rent. I'm looking to move in with my girlfriend and we can barely find a small place for 5 times what I'm paying for a room by myself.
• $26/hr at least, if paying rent solo
• It's always been a job and a half town.
• Projects with total of 16,000 apartments in the que waiting to be approved by city planning department should help the livability conversation.
• For very basics and not having roommates, $35+/hr.
• Whatever the rate of a moving truck is so you could move to somewhere cheaper.
• 250k/yr
• $30 an hour with OT

The conversation about how much it 'costs to live' in Bozeman (or southwest Montana in general) is a complex one. Can you do it on $30,000 a year?

I'm not sure that's realistic when the most basic of shared living expenses will run about $18,000 per year. ($1,500 x 12 months).There's certainly no room to get ahead with that kind of money.

When you keep doing the math: $20/hour full time equates to about $41,600 per year before taxes. I think we can all agree that whatever Bozeman's 'living wage' is - it's much higher than that.