What is the average property tax rate in Montana?

Montana's effective property tax rate averages about 0.74% of assessed value per year. On a $400,000 home that's roughly $2,960 per year, or $247/month escrowed with your mortgage. County rates vary — coastal and metro counties can run higher.

How much is homeowners insurance in Montana?

Statewide averages run about $2,300/year, but your actual quote depends on the home's age, roof, distance to coast, wildfire zone, and credit-based insurance score. Get a real quote before writing an offer — lenders escrow the full annual premium in your monthly payment.

How much home can I afford in Montana?

A rough ceiling: take your gross annual income × 0.43, subtract other monthly debts × 12, and that's your max annual PITI budget. Divide by 12, subtract Montana's per-month tax and insurance, then reverse the amortization at today's rate to solve for the maximum loan amount. The calculator above does it in one step.

Does the calculator include PMI?

Yes. If your down payment is under 20%, we add ~0.6% annual PMI to conventional loans. FHA files add 0.55% annual MIP for the life of most 30-year loans. VA loans have no monthly MI (funding fee only). Toggle loan type in the calculator to see the difference.

Mortgage Calculator by State

Real property tax and homeowners insurance vary massively by state. Pick yours to run PITI with the actual local costs baked in — then see how much home you can afford at today's rates.

Frequently asked

Why does a mortgage calculator need to know my state?

Property tax and homeowners insurance vary 10× across the country — from about 0.3% of value in Hawaii to over 2.4% in New Jersey, and from $1,000/yr insurance in Oregon to $5,500/yr in Florida. A generic calculator that ignores state costs will understate your real monthly payment by hundreds of dollars in high-tax or coastal states.

What's included in the PITI estimate?

Principal & interest (from the loan amount, rate, and term), the state's average annual property tax rate applied to the home price, the state's average homeowners insurance divided monthly, and mortgage insurance if your down payment is under 20% on a conventional loan or any FHA loan.

How is affordability calculated?

We back into a home price using a 43% back-end DTI cap on PITI plus other debts. That's the standard limit most conventional and FHA underwriters use; VA files can stretch higher with strong residual income. Use it as a ceiling — most buyers should target 36% or less.