ership and focus on responsible, ….
ership and focus on responsible, conservative budgeting, Montana continues to demonstrate strong revenues,” the Governor’s Oce said in a statement to the Daily Montanan.
The report goes on to note trends and how potential legislative — and national — changes could impact the state’s budget.
Economically, by gross domestic product, real estate has been Montana’s largest industry for about two decades and added $12.2 billion to the state GDP in 2025. The report notes that GDP real estate contributes is larger than agricultural, mining, utilities and manufacturing combined. In essence, the house construction and transaction industry has become one of Montana’s most important contributors to its financial wellbeing. Real estate GDP includes profits from sale of homes and land. The growth is also being driven by expensive houses. The high-end luxury home market is centered in Madison, Gallatin, and Flathead counties. Lake County and Ravalli County also have a small share of high-value homes worth $1.5 million or more.
Madison County has 2,527 residential properties worth more than $1.5 million. Those properties have a total assessed value of $25.3 billion which, the report notes, is “more than all other counties combined.”
With the luxury home market and tourism as industries on the rise in the state, agriculture and mining have dipped. In 1950, agriculture represented nearly a third of the state’s earnings, while mining added 5.2 percent.
Those industries are still important to Montana, the report notes, but agriculture and mining, combined, now only represent 4.4 percent of the state’s economy.
“Additionally, while manufacturing earnings more than doubled in real terms from $950 million in 1950 to $2.1 billion in 2024 (in 2024 dollars), manufacturing’s share of the Montana economy shrank from 8.3 percent to 4 percent,” the report states.
State ocials have also considered birth rates and migration in its economic forecast. The report notes that migration into Montana has slowed significantly — back to pre-pandemic levels — after a large rush from 2020 to 2022. Fewer than 6,000 people moved to Montana from other places in 2024, the legislative fiscal division calculated.
Montana, like the rest of the country, also has a slow birth rate. Legislative sta noted during a June 24 Legislative Finance Committee meeting, where the report was shared with legislators, that the state is aging quickly. The greying of the state will lead to more medical care utilization, they said.
Healthcare is one of the state’s fastest growing industries, sta 3noted in the report. More of Montanans’ income is also coming more often from places other than wages.
“Montana is higher than the nation in the share of income coming from investments, which includes dividends, rent payments, and gains from the sale of investments including residential property,” the report states. “The gains in this category can also partially be explained by Montana’s population aging, as individuals tend to build up assets as they age, but it also suggests a higher average wealth level than in the past.”
The report estimates the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services will need an additional $211 million — on top of current funding — for the 2029 biennium to meet “present law,” which is essentially how much the agency would need to continue operations as they are now.
It also includes inflation, Jones said and “spending pressures” are also included in the report, which are things agencies might want the Montana Legislature to fund, but don’t necessarily have the money to do that.
Sen. Laura Smith, D-Helena, said the expected revenues mean the money is there. “There are no excuses for cutting individuals’ health care,” Smith said. “There is enough money. There is a question of political will by this governor’s administration.”
